- Joined
- Jun 20, 2009
- Messages
- 109
I just purchased a 3yr old female leopard tortoise a week ago and am noticing she has a bit of a runny nose. I’ve read up on RNS but also see that things such as housing/diet/stress can cause it and when it comes to her ALL of that was incorrect prior to me taking it in. She was kept on a good sized tortoise table but the substrate was only dried wood shavings (aspen), there was a heat light only (no UV, no water dish in the enclosure, no stress free place to hide). She was fed only grocery store prepared spring mix greens (no gasses or hay) and was used frequently as part of this persons reptiles shows, birthday parties and has also traveled hours to expos. Her breathing sounds ok, no raspy .. she eats well and when allowed to safely free roam it is very active. I have it housed on a tort table with 10% UV, heat is 90-95 in the warm end and drops down to 70 in the evening. Her diet is still some spring mix but I am trying to add dandelion, collard, endive, fresh grasses and timothy hay in the hopes of getting it switched over to a better diet (so far she turns her nose up at it). The shell itself seems to be nice and firm but does have pyramiding. Now that her set up is correct should I wait and see if the runny nose clears up on it’s own (and if so how ling do I wait) or should I take her to a vet immediately? I’ve also read that increasing vitamin A and C through crushed tables would help but am too nervous to try that until I head some more expert opinions on it..