Hello, please help!

[Wicked Demon]

My name is Aaron, I am the president of Colorados marine aquarium society, and I just got a leopard tortoise and have had him a couple weeks.
He has been blowing lil snot bubbles from his nose since day one, and I believe it is a respritory infection.
The person I got him from was housing him(?)(I dont actually know the sex) in an open top rubbermaid bin with a light, a food dish, and wood chip substrate.
I know from previous reptile experience the wood chips have the potential to be a bad choice due to dust issues.
What kind of humidity/ heat/ diet/ environment would be nessesary for proper care, and treatment of the turtle flu?
Thanks in advance~

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Aaron:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

So, may we assume that you are in Colorado?

If you think the little guy has a respiratory infection, you need to make the temperature warmer than normal. I would actually cover the habitat to keep the cooler house air from flowing in. Make him be an overall temp of between 80 and 85.

Is he still eating and acting normal? If yes, then that's all I would do for now. If he isn't eating, a trip to the vet is in order to get some antibiotics. If memory serves, some leopard tortoises are allergic to Baytril, so if the vet wants to use that one, you might suggest he try to find a different one.

Soak him in warm water every day. For some reason, sick turtles and tortoises really like soaking when they don't feel good.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi Aaron! Welcome to TFO. How big is this guy?

 

[dmarcus]

Hello Aaron and welcome to the forum...

 

[ascott]

Welcome to the Forum The We LOVE PICS . And yeah to what Yvonne said

 

[CLMoss]

Welcome!

 

[Wicked Demon]

Thanks for the welcomes!
The tort is 5" in carapace length, and eats like a horse every day, which brings me to my next question.
When I picked him up (hes a he till I know otherwise) I was given a bag of salad and tolf that was his food, I thought this cant be right?

 

[Yvonne G]

Tolf? Is this your smart phone being smart? I don't recognize this.

For an indoor Russian that can't be out grazing on plants and weeds, the bagged lettuces is quite ok. I use either Santa Barbara mix or Spring mix. And to that I'll add anything from outside that I can find, like hollyhock leaves, squash leaves, dandelion, mullberry, etc. Its getting hard to find stuff outside now because of winter, but the spring mix is ok. If you want to also buy other greens like collards, turnip, mustard, endive, escarole, etc. all these are ok.

 

[Wicked Demon]

Lol, no thats not a smart phone, thats me not looking at what I type prior to the send button.
Russian? I was under the impression leopard torts were african? Is that diet still ok? I bought a container of Zoomed grassland tort food, (looks like lil turds) he doesn't even look at them, so I started crushing them and sprikling them on moist romain leaves to work them into his diet.

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh wow...where did I get "Russian" from. It says right there in black and white that you have a leopard. Sorry!

The diet I gave you is still ok. Some people here use the pelleted foods for their tortoises. I think its a good idea, especially if they'll also eat the greens.

For the leopard, you can also take scissors and clip some grass to add to the greens.

carolinapetsupply.com sells a product called chopped salad hay and another called organic herbal salad mix. These are fresh dried hays cut small for small tortoises. I usually soak a bit of it in warm water while I'm chopping up the tortoises' greens, then sprinkle the moist hay over the greens. This helps them get a taste for grass and helps them get ready to graze when the weather gets better.

 

[pdrobber]

welcome. cypress (wood) substrate is commonly used by members here...it's usually kept with some amount of moisture in it which helps with the dust flying around...

 

[ascott]

The grassland tortoise food works well if you add some warm water to it and let it sit then muck it about and either mix in some yummy stuff or feed on top of some yummy stuff or feed it alone and let it be the yummy stuff...lol..I have a little Redfoot that is convinced it is fricken AWESOME!!!! Lol

If his appetite is good, if his activity level is good, if he is staying hydrated ..why are you thinking he has a resp. infection? Simply because of the bubbles? Are they clear bubbles? Are they present always?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Yash Raj]

Welcome.

 

[Wicked Demon]

The grassland tortoise food works well if you add some warm water to it and let it sit then muck it about and either mix in some yummy stuff or feed on top of some yummy stuff or feed it alone and let it be the yummy stuff...lol..I have a little Redfoot that is convinced it is fricken AWESOME!!!! Lol

If his appetite is good, if his activity level is good, if he is staying hydrated ..why are you thinking he has a resp. infection? Simply because of the bubbles? Are they clear bubbles? Are they present always?

The reason I think its a respritory infection is the snot bubbles come from his nose quite often, and occasionaly from the mouth, but if its normal to have a little mucus in the nose and mouth he is probably fine. I just try to catch animal problems in the early stages so its easier to treat, and doesn't get expensive, and since I have a zoo here-- expensive can get really expensive.

 

[wellington]

My name is Aaron, I am the president of Colorados marine aquarium society, and I just got a leopard tortoise and have had him a couple weeks.
He has been blowing lil snot bubbles from his nose since day one, and I believe it is a respritory infection.
The person I got him from was housing him(?)(I dont actually know the sex) in an open top rubbermaid bin with a light, a food dish, and wood chip substrate.
I know from previous reptile experience the wood chips have the potential to be a bad choice due to dust issues.
What kind of humidity/ heat/ diet/ environment would be nessesary for proper care, and treatment of the turtle flu?
Thanks in advance~

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies

Check out this thread on how to take care of him. I have a leopard also, pretty much the same as the sulcata. Good luck, hope he is okay.

---

Sorry, I didn't welcome you with my last post, Welcome Also check out this thread. http://www.ivorytortoise.com/caresheets/sulcata_&_leopard_tortoises.html

 

[ascott]

You say clear bubbles from nose and mouth? What temps are you keeping...what is his cool side...warm section...hot side?

 

[Wicked Demon]

I am working on controling the environment, I will let you know as soon as I have stable numbers, the setup he came in was less than desireable.

 

[ascott]

Aaron....you have the other thread going about housing leopard with beardie right....so here you may find that if you use the rubbermaid tub with some organic soil and coco coir and use long tube uvb light and a heat lamp some plants for hiding and shallow water dish....use some barrier to cover a large part of the enclosure opening to retain warmth and humidity your tortoise may come around on the clear bubbles ...keep no cooler than 80ish with a hot spot of 95-100ish....the substrate you showed in your other poll thread can lead to irritation in eyes and nose of your tortoise....you know? . IMHO

 

[Wicked Demon]

Substrate- Thats exactly what I thought, I am getting soil today.
Enclosure- I am picking up an acrylic sheet to cover a large portion to keep drafts out and heat in.
Light- Would 6500-10k power compact, or T5 lighting work? He came with a crappy clip light and 100w exo terra sun glo- and 75w red bulb that has no marks, both look to be very old. Incandescent bulbs dont last very long anyway, so I will be using a high powered aquarium fixture provided I can obtain the correct spectrum bulbs.