Advice

[Sulcata Lover]

Hey Guys,
My small sully looks like he possibly may have a slight RI....Not sure yet, Im going to bump the heat up and watch him for a few days. I have just noticed a bubble or 2 coming out of the left nostril...No weezing or noise just a bubble..He is still eating like a horse and acting normal.... What I need to know is, If he does end up having a RI, I would like to do the terramycin soak,.. I read in other posts, the correct amount is 1/4 teaspoon per quart of warm water...OK, for how many days..Everyday, every other day???
I have 2 Sulcatas, we've been down the RI road before. If I take him to the Vet, I'm Going to get Baytril. I would just like to try a less aggressive antibiotic than the baytril..I have heard a lot of people having success with the terramycin.
Rocky weighs about 2.8 LBS

Hey Maggie, If you read this I would sure like your input!

Thanks
Jeff

 

[Tom]

If you've raised three sulcatas and had respiratory problems with all of them, something is wrong. Please re-evaluate your housing and husbandry practices. Typically, RIs happen because of too low temps. Sometimes the day temps are chronically low, sometimes the night temps drop too low. Bumping the heat up is a good first step. What are your temps and how are you measuring them? We need: Cool side, warm side, hot SPOT and night temps. What size is the enclosure? What are the day and night ambient room temps where the enclosure is located? What part of the country are you in? Something is off and I'd love to find out what it is. Fixing the problem should solve your symptom (URTI).

 

[Sulcata Lover]

Hello,
I should probably clarify my post. When I said we had been down the RI road before, I meant my 2 sullys have had it 1 time each.
The larger male, I rescued from a 10 gallon tank in a pet store. He was sick when I got him. The smaller one "Rocky" had this once before when our power went out for 2 days. My wife and I kept him as warm as we could in front of the fireplace...But still it wasn't enough. If anyone lives in Northern California, you will remember that January storm 2 years back. What Im seeing now, are only symptoms...it may be nothing, for all I know, he could be blowing water from the last drink he took... The post was just to get info on the terramycin treatment..

Thanks
Jeff

 

[Yvonne G]

Ok, here's what I do:

If I see a bubble or some sort of SLIGHT discharge, but the tortoise is eating and otherwise acting normal, I just leave the animal alone...no treatment, no handling. Just let him be a tortoise.

If the discharge gets worse or continues longer than a week, then I'll soak in Terramycin. I buy the medication at the feed store. It is packaged for swine and cattle, but its the same stuff you would get from your vet at twice the price. I use one quarter teaspoon per quart of warm water and soak the tortoise for as long as possible. The longer you leave him in the water, the more probability there is for him to absorb some of the medication through the thin skin under the neck and around the cloaca. I only do this for about a week.

If this doesn't work, and the mucous gets thick and turns colored or the tortoise stops eating, then I go to the big guns (Baytril injections).

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Jeff...You won't get any better advice then from Yvonne. I do it differently, I hit the animal from as soon as I see bubbles because I think the longer you wait to react the harder it is to get rid of whatever he's got. But...they get a bubbly nose from being too dry also. So you have to make a decision is he too dry? Too cold? Sick? Any of those 3 will make a bubbly nose. If you think he is sick because you are sure that your husbandry is correct then I start the Terramycin soaks. Like Yvonne says it's about one quarter teaspoon per quart. I use just a little more Terramycin just because I am a little more kinda gal. Yvonne has given you great instructions. But when it comes down to getting injections I like to use Naxcel, it's not as harsh as Baytril and it doesn't hurt like Baytril does. I hope you feel you have gotten the instructions you were looking for...Keep us posted and please continue to ask questions...

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm glad that Maggie brought up the other reasons that a tortoise gets bubbles in his nose or watery eyes. Sometimes I tend to zone in on only what you are asking and forget that there might be other reasons.

The other end of the nostrils in a tortoise don't go down the throat like they do in mammals...they end up in the roof of the mouth. So, sometimes you might see whatever is in the mouth coming out the nostrils. Its not uncommon to see water coming out after a drink. And if there is a lot of saliva after eating, you may see some of that saliva coming out the nose.

And, like Maggie says, if you're keeping your tortoise too dry, it sometimes causes slight bubbles out the nose.

Don't be too quick to use an antibiotic. I really like to save the medication for when the animal really is ill, not for just a suspected illness.