Alexio
Active Member
Are you using a thermostat to regulate the heat mat? If not you need to unplug it heat mats can reach temps of over 130f. Your ground is burning hot and your air is room temp.
Are you using a thermostat to regulate the heat mat? If not you need to unplug it heat mats can reach temps of over 130f. Your ground is burning hot and your air is room temp.
I'm saying choke as well possibly. Just showed my dad who isn't a vet but is a DR and said looks and sounds like a choke more than anything.
Yes, I use a thermostat with the heat mat. It is pretty small it covers less than 1/3 of the tank. I only use it at night. It comes on if it drops below 78 degrees. My breeder told me not to use a CHE. So this was the only thing I could think of.
Ya. I'm going to get one tomorrow.That's interesting, did they say why not to use a heat emitter?
Full disclaimer; I love heat mats and heat tape, I use tons of heat tape but I use it for snakes. I hate it for tortoises because tortoises naturally go underground to escape high temps and low humidity. So a tortoise gets too warm above ground and goes under ground where there's a heat mat and its even warmer. Or in the reverse case I don't think a tortoise, if it got cold enough would burrow to seek get warm.
Heat mats also do nothing to warm the ambient air temperature so the air can be cool and the ground can be hot which is not beneficial either. You would get much farther in my opinion using your thermostat on a ceramic heat emitter.
It's funny you mention high humidity. About 10 days ago I was on here trying to figure out how to get the humidity up because it was too dry.Indian stars are very prone to RI's especially with high humidity and not being kept warm enough. I would be very cautious with the other two possibly having it. Unless of course you can prove he did choke.
The bubbles are leading me to think it's RI though.
I hope everything goes well. Best of luckWell, I'm feeling pretty sad. My daughter's been upset and crying (Luna was hers). So I guess I'll head to bed. Thanks everyone. Tomorrow I'll get a heat bulb and I'll get the other 2 in to see the vet this week. Anyone know of an inexpensive one in Pittsburgh. The one here charges $75 a piece for a consult. Oh, well.
It's funny you mention high humidity. About 10 days ago I was on here trying to figure out how to get the humidity up because it was too dry.
I would say something like this or the tort ate something non-food. They do that on occasion. Again RI is unlikely as this seemed very rapid and with an RI they would decline much more slowly. I have treated RI's quite a bit in rescued torts and turtles and even those that were too far gone to save lingered much longer.She has made that sound a couple of times in the past while eating. One time she was drinking and the water came right back out of her mouth. Do you think maybe she had some kind of a problem with her throat, like a cyst? And maybe it just got worse over time?
I'm also curious about the source of these babies. How were they started? Dry routine or humid routine with daily soaks?
The symptoms point to RI in my opinion, but there could be other contributing factors at work too.
Melissa, I was just able to watch that video. This looks like the baby is struggling to clear her mouth or throat. Disclaimer here: I've only cared for tortoises since end of June'15 and learned most that I know from the people on this forum. I have never seen a baby tort with URI other then on some posts here in health section which I still try to study diligently to be aware of potential problems I may encounter with my babies. I just want to know the first aid in baby torts other than general common sense stuff. Anyway, just wanted to tell you that I've seen my baby RF do something just like that one time after getting a freeze dried river shrimp in her mouth which was either too big or went in sideways and got lodged, not sure, but she did this same thing with her arms, that looked like she was trying to wipe her face off. She was also doing this same heaving-like motion when the bottom of her chin would bulge... That thing with mine happened few months ago when I was still chopping up their food very very finely just to help my little Tucker get enough calories (he's my "special needs grand-tort"). That scared me so much that to this day I'm in no hurry to get their diet to regular consistency. Again, i don't know what URI would look like but this with your baby start to me looks like she's trying to clear her throat. Towards the end of the second video it even looks like agonal (right before dying) gasping breaths. Again, I am so so very sorry for the pain you have experienced
Toward the end you can hear the sound she is making.