My sulcata baby needs help!!!

[AudgePaudge]

Hi every one. My baby is in trouble. We are about to take him to the vet. When we set him on the table, his head slowly sinks to the ground. Then, he pushes up and opens his mouth very wide. We already know he has a respiratory infection and we are already giving him medicine.

 

[AudgePaudge]

We called the vet and they said that his symptoms are very unusual.

 

[AudgePaudge]

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on and how I can help?!

 

[Alexio]

What is your setup like? What kind of temperature is he being maintained at?

 

[AudgePaudge]

he is at 95 all the time because of his upper respiratory. He has a UV headlamp and has wood chips in his tank

 

[AudgePaudge]

UV heat lamp

 

[dmmj]

95 all over? It's too warm you want between 80-85 when he is sick. what medicine are they giving? Is your tortoise eating?

 

[AudgePaudge]

He won't come out of his shell now. I can't check the Med label right now. We've had to force feed him for the past 2 days.

 

[Dizisdalife]

They way it drops it's head and then opens it's mouth sounds like open mouth breathing. Its a symptom of the upper respiratory infection. It will take a few days for the antibiotics to work, if they do work. It takes a while for a tortoise to show symptoms of a URI and then it takes even longer to get rid of a URI.

When the tortoise is working hard to breath they are not likely to be interested in eating. Sometimes soaking is useful to hydrate the tortoise. Use warm water, around 90°F. To get some nutrition into the tortoise you can add baby food to the warm water soaks. Use 100% carrot baby food in a 50-50 mix with the water.

 

[Yvonne G]

I set up sick babies in a smaller "hospital" tank. For hatchlings I use a 10 gallon aquarium. The overall temp inside the tank is 80-85F degrees and it's covered to keep the cool house air out. I soak sick babies daily in half warm water, half Gerber strained carrots, and I leave them in there for at least a half hour, and longer is even better. Don't make it too deep. With him every so often gasping for air, if it's too deep he may gasp in a mouthful of water.

 

[AudgePaudge]

He passed

 

[Winzlow]

So sorry to hear that.

 

[dmmj]

sorry you have my condolences

 

[Bee62]

So sorry ! It really hurts to read that your little baby passed.

 

[Gillian M]

Oh, I'm so sorry to know that your tort died.

Please accept my sincere condolences.