Hello all- My name is Carey and I have two 5 month old Leopard tortoises. I have many different types of pets, including angora rabbits and parrots, but these are my first tortoises. I got them from a reputable breeder about two months ago. They arrived healthy and have been doing very well until about two weeks ago when I noticed that their activity level decreased drastically and they would not open their eyes or eat much. This past wednesday, a week ago, I took them to a very experienced reptile vet. The smaller tortoise, Bowser, weighed in at 38 grams and was diagnosed with a more serious respiratory infection. The wheezing was quite evident in the quite of the vet's office, but was not in my home where I have parrots. The slightly larger tort, Crush, weighed in at 39 grams and was diagnosed with a less serious RI. The vet told me that the cause was low humidity and prescribed injectable baytril and fortaz to be given at a dose of .03 cc every three days for nine doses total for each tort. Also prescribed were antibiotic eye drops to be given once a day. There was no obvious discharge or bubbles coming from either tort. At the vet's suggestion, I contacted the breeder to get his thoughts and suggestions. He told me that he does not recommend baytril for any young torts and that giving any injectable antibiotics is highly stressful for babies under 50 grams. To date, each tort has had three doses of the injectable antibiotics. For the last four nights, I have been doing soaks in baby food carrots/squash with a little bird vitamins mixed in. Starting last night, Bowser, the more ill of the two, ate some aloe vera plant and wandered around his enclosure with his eyes open. He seems much better and ate again this morning. Crush now seems worse, will not eat although he does open his eyes when he walks around or is being soaked and does take an occasional drink.
The enclosure is a 32 inch long plastic bin. Prior to going to the vet, the substrate was half cypress mulch and half spag moss. I am in Virginia so the humidity has been fairly low in my house lately. I was spraying the enclosure about twice a day and the temp on the cool end was 73 and the basking area was in the low to mid 90's. The humidity in the enclosure would go up after spraying, but went down fairly quickly. I did not have a humid hide, but a half log instead. The torts stopped sleeping in the log about a month ago. After going to the vet, I switched the enclosure to all spag moss and kept it damp. However, I could not keep the ground warm enough and it felt cool to the touch. I was using a reptisun 10.0 bulb and a CHE.
After getting advice from the breeder I switched back to cypress mulch, got a plastic shoe box and cut a hole in it for a hide and put damp spag moss under just the hide. I switched the reptisun bulb for a 100w powersun. The cool end is now at 80 and the basking area is at 100. The hide has 80-90% humidity and the temp is mid 90's. I am getting a heating mat for under the hide today.
I feel guilty for changing things around so much in the enclosure, I am inclined to stop the injectable baytril and possibly the fortaz (though what if that is what helped the first tort get better) and I plan to continue the baby food soaks. I apologize for the long post but wanted to be thorough. I am in desperate need of the opinions of those of you more experienced in dealing with young leopards. Can anyone give me their thoughts/suggestions or opinions on all of this? I am determined to get both these babies healthy again and also do not want to make again whatever mistake I made in the first place that caused them to become ill.
The enclosure is a 32 inch long plastic bin. Prior to going to the vet, the substrate was half cypress mulch and half spag moss. I am in Virginia so the humidity has been fairly low in my house lately. I was spraying the enclosure about twice a day and the temp on the cool end was 73 and the basking area was in the low to mid 90's. The humidity in the enclosure would go up after spraying, but went down fairly quickly. I did not have a humid hide, but a half log instead. The torts stopped sleeping in the log about a month ago. After going to the vet, I switched the enclosure to all spag moss and kept it damp. However, I could not keep the ground warm enough and it felt cool to the touch. I was using a reptisun 10.0 bulb and a CHE.
After getting advice from the breeder I switched back to cypress mulch, got a plastic shoe box and cut a hole in it for a hide and put damp spag moss under just the hide. I switched the reptisun bulb for a 100w powersun. The cool end is now at 80 and the basking area is at 100. The hide has 80-90% humidity and the temp is mid 90's. I am getting a heating mat for under the hide today.
I feel guilty for changing things around so much in the enclosure, I am inclined to stop the injectable baytril and possibly the fortaz (though what if that is what helped the first tort get better) and I plan to continue the baby food soaks. I apologize for the long post but wanted to be thorough. I am in desperate need of the opinions of those of you more experienced in dealing with young leopards. Can anyone give me their thoughts/suggestions or opinions on all of this? I am determined to get both these babies healthy again and also do not want to make again whatever mistake I made in the first place that caused them to become ill.
. Good luck with your little ones and keep us updated.
