just want to make sure, opinions needed.

[Skyler Nell]

So my two desert tortoises both have slightly moist noses, and their eyes look a little swollen.
They are still active, eating and, pooping fine.
Should I take them to the vet or just keep an eye on it?

 

[Yvonne G]

If it were my tortoises, I would "up" the temperature in the habitat and just keep an eye on them for a week or so. If it doesn't get better, then a trip to the vet is in order. You might also try the vitamin-water soaks for a while.

 

[Kristina]

I agree with Yvonne completely. Sometimes if they are a little under the weather, bumping the temperature up 5-10 degrees and several nice warm soaks with vitamins and baby food (I think you did this for Donatello in the past) will really help. I had a Russian that had a slight runny nose when I got her, she was better in a week after higher temps and some vitamin and babyfood soaks.

 

[Laura]

and I wouldnt hibernate them... at least not yet...

 

[Skyler Nell]

Okay thank you so much!
That's what I figured but I just wanted to make sure,
so if the runny noses persist, I should take them in even if they're active and eating still?

 

[Kristina]

If they still have runny noses after about a week or so, then yes, I would take them.

 

[franeich]

What kind of vitamins do you use in the soak?

 

[Tom]

I didn't see it mentioned above, but they do come in at night, right? As much as I hate to say it, I'd keep them indoors, under a MVB, on a dry substrate until this resolves itself. I do 80-90 degrees during the day with a 110 degree basking spot and I wouldn't let them drop below 80 at night. I'd also do two warm water soaks a day to make sure they stay well hydrated during the "hot, dry" treatment.

The sudden, cold, damp weather we've been having could certainly cause what you are describing.

Oh yeah... I definitely agree, DO NOT let them hibernate in this condition.

 

[Skyler Nell]

There was no plans for hibernation! So no problem there. I keep them inside all the time, well they get time outside of course but they have indoor enclosures. How should I keep the heat up at night? Because that's the only time it gets chilly. Otherwise their temps are nice and warm!

 

[franeich]

Do you have heat lamps now or do you just rely on room temp. Maybe an enclosure pic or description would help the experts to give advice.

 

[Tom]

There was no plans for hibernation! So no problem there. I keep them inside all the time, well they get time outside of course but they have indoor enclosures. How should I keep the heat up at night? Because that's the only time it gets chilly. Otherwise their temps are nice and warm!

You can heat the whole room, use a "night" bulb (black, blue or red) or use a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE).

How cold is chilly? Most houses don't drop much below 68 or so, and I wouldn't expect that to make a 3 year old DT sick if he's able to warm up during the day. It would just be nice to figure out WHY this is happening. Something is off and we can all learn from it, if we can figure it out.

Are you doing the humidity thing that I advocate so much? If so, one of the main caveats is that temps have to stay no lower than 80 night and day. Cold, clammy conditions will definitely make a CDT sick. I've seen it 100 times. Used to get them in all the time down in Hermosa Beach. CDTs do NOT do well anywhere near the beach just for everyone's information.

 

[franeich]

Now that it is Halloween time you can buy black light bulbs for $1 at riteaid.

 

[Kristina]

Walmart too, and they are 75 watts instead of the normal 60 watts that I usually get 2 for $6 something. I have been stocking up on them

 

[Skyler Nell]

OH okay! awesome
I will get some tomorrow!

 

[Madkins007]

There is evidence that an incandescent black light bulb looks about the same to a tortoise as a regular light bulb of the same wattage would look to us- tortoises can see a wider spectrum of light than humans can and UVA (from a black light bulb) may look like regular light to them as far as we can tell.

One source- http://www.reptileuvinfo.com/docs/exotic-vet-vol9-3.pdf

Just to make things more interesting- exposure to UVA in lots of animals is what helps set the circadian rhythms and sleep cycles.

We know torts sleep under blacklights and so forth, but it would be interesting to see if we could figure out if they sleep BETTER somehow without them. I don't have an answer here, just the questions.

 

[Yvonne G]

The incandescent black bulbs we buy at, for instance, Wal-Mart, are just regular bulbs. They have less than a tenth of a percent of UV. They're not made for their UV properties, but rather as a novelty item because of the way things look under its light. They are great for heating at night time, and I've found them to be more efficient than the CHE. Since most of the tortoises are inside a hide at night, I really doubt that a tenth of a percent of UVA is going to harm them or keep them awake.

 

[Skyler Nell]

You can heat the whole room, use a "night" bulb (black, blue or red) or use a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE).

How cold is chilly? Most houses don't drop much below 68 or so, and I wouldn't expect that to make a 3 year old DT sick if he's able to warm up during the day. It would just be nice to figure out WHY this is happening. Something is off and we can all learn from it, if we can figure it out.

Are you doing the humidity thing that I advocate so much? If so, one of the main caveats is that temps have to stay no lower than 80 night and day. Cold, clammy conditions will definitely make a CDT sick. I've seen it 100 times. Used to get them in all the time down in Hermosa Beach. CDTs do NOT do well anywhere near the beach just for everyone's information.

I'm not really doing the whole humidity thing right now. They are in temporary housing right now. I'm in the works of planning and building a new large indoor enclosure for them together (hopefully that works out) I feel like Donatello may have had something and exposing them to each other allowed him to pass it to Franklin(the younger) but they seem to be just fighting it off. If you don't remember I brought Donatello in to the vet about 9 months ago for a URTI but it wasn't confirmed as being that by blood work or anything. He was put on Baytril givin orally for 10 days which helped for the time being. I will post pictures tomorrow so you can see the swollen eyes. The younger ones is especially bad. I'll also post pics of the enclosures. Thanks!