Respiratory infection?

[lexirainbow]

I have a leopard tortoise who is 1 year and 6 months old. He's about 4 and a half inches. A few days ago I heard a squeaky sound coming from him, I soon found out it was a sneeze. Since then he's had a bubbly nose but no more sneezing. I haven't had any health problems with him before and nothing has really changed. Since I heard the sneeze, though I changed the basking light to a higher wattage.
Substrate: organic potting soil
10.0 UVB bulb
120 wattage basking light
I already made a veterinarian appointment to see what they say, but I wanted to see what you guys had to say too. Can anyone help me?

 

[Neal]

Can you give us the details of your temperatures during the night and day of your enclosure?

 

[stinax182]

soak him in warm water a couple times a day and make sure he dries off under the light. try to keep his whole enclosure warmer, or possibly move him to a smaller house that you better control until the appt?

 

[lexirainbow]

The vet gave me Baytril to give to my tortoise and the hot spot temp during the day is about 95 degrees and 70 at night.

 

[Yvonne G]

Just so you are aware:

Some leopard tortoises are allergic to Baytril and have bad adverse reactions to the drug.

 

[Tom]

Have you started the Baytril yet? If not I wouldn't. Baytril and other drugs address the symptoms, but they don't address the cause. Your leopard got sick for a reason. Have you discovered the cause and corrected it?
I think your temps are too cool, especially at night. I like to keep the basking spot around 100 for 12 hours a day. Your 95 is fine. Then I like an ambient of around 80 in the rest of the enclosure 24/7. This is easy to accomplish with a ceramic heating element on a thermostat. If you do these things and keep it even a little warmer than that for a few weeks, you might not need the anti-biotics.

Last thing, is your 10.0 the coil type bulb? I recommend against those. They can damage tortoise eyes. If you want more fluorescent light, then I recommend the long tube type fluorescents.

 

[lexirainbow]

I have a long tube fluorescent. I already started the Baytril, the vet gave the first dose. I didn't want to go against what the vet said, especially since he said he has many leopards himself. I'll see what happens, hopefully everything will turn out okay.

 

[lexirainbow]

By the way, the night time is 77 degress, sorry.

 

[lexirainbow]

How would I know if he has an allergic reaction to the drug?

 

[princessdreamsxxx]

One of my Leo's struggled to breathe and was very unsettled head would go in and out of the shell the back legs went stiff and struggled to move any reaction that you have not seen before could be a reaction to the drug just keep an eye in the tortoise I am surprised the vet even issued baytril it is really dangerous for Leo's I found out due to the vet I used being not informed enough about tortoises I now use a specialist vet baytril is fine for your what I would say a normal garden tortoise eg. Hermans, spur thighs, horsefields I was lucky my leo survived I pumped as much of the baytril out by flushing her

 

[lexirainbow]

My leo hasn't been acting any different, and actually I haven't seen any bubbles come out of his nose. I hope this progress keeps up.