My Tort is recovering from a Lower RI - Any advice?

[CylonSurfer]

My Marginated Tortoise came down with a lower respitory infection which has now been treated with antibiotics and he is on the road to recovery. He seems to be doing much better but is currently housed in a more sterile environment while he recovers (which he hates). Just wondered if anyone had any advice on whether or not I should try a different substrate? I used to keep him on coco coir with a basking site of around 35c and ambient temps of about 24 - 25c, keeping up the humidity to between 50 & 70% by dampening the coco coir. We have no idea how he came down with the infection and are concerned that perhaps coco coir is not the most suitable substrate for him.

 

[Bee62]

My Marginated Tortoise came down with a lower respitory infection which has now been treated with antibiotics and he is on the road to recovery. He seems to be doing much better but is currently housed in a more sterile environment while he recovers (which he hates). Just wondered if anyone had any advice on whether or not I should try a different substrate? I used to keep him on coco coir with a basking site of around 35c and ambient temps of about 24 - 25c, keeping up the humidity to between 50 & 70% by dampening the coco coir. We have no idea how he came down with the infection and are concerned that perhaps coco coir is not the most suitable substrate for him.

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I don`t understand why a tortoise with a RI should live in a enclosure without a normal soil. But when the treatment with antibiotics is done there is no reason to keep the tort without substrate any longer.
I use orchid bark for all my torts and it works fine. It is never getting too wet, even when I sprinkel it with water.
70 % humidity is too much for a Marginated tortoise. How are your night temps ? The temperature of the basking spot should be a little bit higher: 39 c.
Mayby your substrate was too wet and the night temps too low that he gets the RI ?

 

[wellington]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I don`t understand why a tortoise with a RI should live in a enclosure without a normal soil. But when the treatment with antibiotics is done there is no reason to keep the tort without substrate any longer.
I use orchid bark for all my torts and it works fine. It is never getting too wet, even when I sprinkel it with water.
70 % humidity is too much for a Marginated tortoise. How are your night temps ? The temperature of the basking spot should be a little bit higher: 39 c.
Mayby your substrate was too wet and the night temps too low that he gets the RI ?

Actually 39c is 102F according to the conversion site I use and that's fine for a basking spot.
The over all temp should be 80-85 while he is sick. I would not let temps fall at night while he is sick either. There's no reason to not use substrate and keep up the correct humidity for your specie as long as you don't let temps drop. I would keep the mentioned temps for at least two weeks after you think your tort has fully recovered before going back to normal.