Respiratory infection

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

Hello, My russian tortoise seems to have trouble breathing. I've sent out many worried posts if my tortoise had a Respiratory infection and this time I'm 100% sure he does. You see, I woke up today just to turn on the lights of the enclosure when I saw him in the corner in mid-digging, under his ceramic heat emitter. This was usually normal and I was about to get some dandelion greens and duckweed when he opened his mouth to breathe. That worried me a bit because that is a sign of Respiratory infection, But then it could be a yawn, because it is the morning. I tried to shrug it off, but then he did it again, I couldn't shrug that off. Just to make sure I waited a bit and saw him open his mouth again and this time his legs went inside the shell. He was obviously having trouble breathing. I immediately grabbed a mini halogen lamp from my gecko tank and placed it above the tortoise. He stopped digging and started moving and stopped under the lamp, and let out one final open mouth and went looking for food. (He found some pellets on the substrate) I thought he was hungry and placed in some greens and weeds, and he DASHED for it. Then he started eating hungrily eating as fast as he can, He used his legs to tear the Dandelion weed and this is the first time I've ever seen him eat the strongest. Is he sick? Because the only few symptoms is him opening his mouth and sleeping a lot in the day. He doesn't seem to have any bubbles from his nose and he is eating normally? What should I do? Should I take him to a vet?.

 

[wellington]

First, stop freaking out and give us the info we need to actually help.
We need to know the basking temp?
Over all temp?
Night temp?
Substrate?
Type of bulbs used for basking, uvb, and heat?
Diet?
Soakings?
Humidity?
Age of the tort and size?
Stop using the halogen, they are too harsh on a tortoises shell.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

First, stop freaking out and give us the info we need to actually help.
We need to know the basking temp?
Over all temp?
Night temp?
Substrate?
Type of bulbs used for basking, uvb, and heat?
Diet?
Soakings?
Humidity?
Age of the tort and size?
Stop using the halogen, they are too harsh on a tortoises shell.

The basking temp is 85-98 degrees.
the over-all temp is 70-80 degrees, and the cool side is 60-70 degrees.
night temp is 60-80 degrees but in the cool side it is 60- 65 degrees
substrate is repti-bark, and eco earth.
For basking I'm using a 65 watt flood incandescent bulb, and I use a ceramic heat emitter 75 watts, and I use a t5 uvb.
his diet is, Romaine, Mazuri tortoise pellets, Kale, Cucumber (Sometimes), escarole, Watercress, dandelion greens (Grocery), dandelion greens (Outside), clover (Outside), and Cilantro. I use Repcal as the calcium, and Reptivite as the multivitamin.
I soak my tortoise as much as I can, I'm still attending school (I'm 12 years old, not 18) which means I don't really have time to soak him a lot because I'm in 8th grade. But I try to soak him 3 or 2 times each week.
The pet store told me that the tort was 1 year old, but according to he forum they say that he is more than 1 which made me really mad at the store because age matters when taking care of a tortoise. He is 6 inches.
I'll stop the halogen, when I come back from school

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

Im extremely worried and I think I should take him to the vet in case, What is the average cost of a check up?

 

[wellington]

Basking needs to be between 95-100.
Over all day temp should 75-80 a long with the basking temp.
Night temp, seeing you likely are not brumating him should not drop below 70.
Get the temps corrected and for now, let's keep the night temp closer to 75.
I don't think there is a problem with an RI but to be safe keeping the night temp higher and not having any of the too low day temps should fix what might be your concern.
Do this for a week or longer if you feel he is still doing it. Once he is back to normal get the night temps back down to 70.
In the mean time get the other temps corrected.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I see, that you followed the recommendations given in your earlier posts. That's good. And paying attention to your tortoise is good as well (infinitely better than neglection).

On soaking - 2-3 times a week for 15-30 minutes is okay. You can do it in the middle of the day too (so tortoise can warm himself after in the basking spot).

You are right, that open mouth, gulping air and legs movement to help inhaling could be the sign of the respiratory infection. Tortoise resort to this behaviour when cannot normally breath with nose and experience lack of oxygen, but this would happen more often than you describe and you should notice other symptoms: lack of appetite, inactivity, running nose, watery eyes, change of color in mouth. Right now, there are no such symptoms. Occasional yawning and moving front limbs is okay - sometimes you too yawn, sigh and even sneeze.

Even if it's light form of RI, daily warm soaks and correct enclosure temperatures should help without visiting vet.

Try to set his current behaviour as a baseline of a healthy tortoise (appetite, overall activity, yawning, sneezing, breath rate and all that), so you can see what changes from that baseline.

 

[dd33]

If you want to know for sure find a vet that will submit samples to the University of Florida. See here:

Chelonian Tests and Panels » Comparative, Diagnostic & Population Medicine » College of Veterinary Medicine » University of Florida

See bottom of page for keys to sample types and test fees. Keys

cdpm.vetmed.ufl.edu

A diagnosis of a respiratory infection without this type of testing is just a guess. These are specialized tests that are not done in a normal vets office.

 

[mark1]

the best diagnosis for pneumonia is symptoms and an x-ray ......... for me personally , symptoms is enough ........

 

[dd33]

An x-ray can tell you there is a problem but not what pathogen is involved. I suppose you could make the argument that you don't really need to know exactly which pathogen is involved since none of them are truly curable, you are just managing the symptoms for as long as the animal lives.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

Basking needs to be between 95-100.
Over all day temp should 75-80 a long with the basking temp.
Night temp, seeing you likely are not brumating him should not drop below 70.
Get the temps corrected and for now, let's keep the night temp closer to 75.
I don't think there is a problem with an RI but to be safe keeping the night temp higher and not having any of the too low day temps should fix what might be your concern.
Do this for a week or longer if you feel he is still doing it. Once he is back to normal get the night temps back down to 70.
In the mean time get the other temps corrected.

I changed a few things and the basking area is now 95-100 degrees.
The overall temp is 79-85
the night temp was 70
and the cool side is now 80.
My tortoise opened his mouth only one time today and he is still strong little boy.

 

[mark1]

An x-ray can tell you there is a problem but not what pathogen is involved. I suppose you could make the argument that you don't really need to know exactly which pathogen is involved since none of them are truly curable, you are just managing the symptoms for as long as the animal lives.

the common curable ones will respond to the basic antibiotics any vet would use ........ if they can't get a response after a couple tries , then they may want to attempt to figure out what it is ...... it's absolutely no different in human medicine ........

 

[dd33]

the common curable ones will respond to the basic antibiotics any vet would use ........ if they can't get a response after a couple tries , then they may want to attempt to figure out what it is ...... it's absolutely no different in human medicine ........

Are there really curable causes of respiratory infections though? 10-14 days of Baytril injections isn't going to cure mycoplasma, it will almost certainly be back.

 

[mark1]

pseudomonas, aeromonas , citrobacter, staph, klebsiella, along with a variety of fungal or parasitic causes ......... all curable ..... i've had quite a few turtle with pneumonia that were cured with antibiotics........

 

[wellington]

Are there really curable causes of respiratory infections though? 10-14 days of Baytril injections isn't going to cure mycoplasma, it will almost certainly be back.

If it was full on RI then a vet should be seen. This i don't believe is it. Usually with the first signs, raising the temps, will fix the problem.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

Update on Tort today,
I fed him some Romaine and Dandelion greens and this time he was charging for the food like a beast
The cool side is 75-80 degrees.
overall temp went down tho... currently its 79 degrees.
basking light is now 90-95 degrees.
Still no sign of mucus or anything coming out of his nose, still very strong, clear eyes too.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

I just checked my tortoise right now and I think this has been going on for a while but It just struck to me now that it doesn't seem to be normal. My tortoise is blinking, A lot, and not like slow, like fast blinking. Is this normal because when I see videos of tortoises they usually don't blink a lot. I think this started when he got the first signs of RI

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

If he blinks both eyes and eyes are clear (no mucus and such), it could be just too dry in the enclosure. You didn't mention humidity after increasing temperatures.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

If he blinks both eyes and eyes are clear (no mucus and such), it could be just too dry in the enclosure. You didn't mention humidity after increasing temperatures.

oh, after I increased the heat, the humidity level dropped. Will this affect his health>

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Yes, pretty the same way, as too dry air affects humans health: irritated eyes and nose and such. Adult tortoise can survive in dry conditions, but certainly won't enjoy them. Specie doesn't matter - both tropical and desert tortoises would benefit from humid air (however, comfort zone for them would be different).
Try to pour about glass of water in the corners of the enclosure (to damp lower substrate layer), this should help to raise humidity. Or quarter of a glass in substrate just under the basking spot (it's kind of quick win, "corner method" is better).
Under humid conditions (you should target 60% level) he should feel fine.

 

[Mr. RussianTortoise]

I think my tort is feeling a lot better, he was very active today and tried to bite my finger because he was hungry. I haven't seen him have trouble breathing, no opening mouth, no other signs of illness too. Just to make sure I'm going to still keep his enclosure warm for tomorrow and if he is alright tomorrow I'll return the temperatures to the right temp as Wellington said. I sprayed his enclosure's substrate with water to add more humidity. I have Eco earth which retains a lot of humidity and Repti bark. However, according to the Zoo med website it says that Reptibark does retain humidity which seems very odd to me because reptibark is bark. Can anyone help me out.