Hatchling with Possible URI

[alyssa lobello]

Hello,

Going to be taking a 1-2 week old red foot to the vet for what I think may be an upper respiratory infection. He is not eating, stretching his neck out every once in a while, keeps both eyes closed most of the day (one barely opens), seems to want to sit in his water dish a lot and have started to see him open his mouth for a second when not eating.
I don't know all of his back story but he hatched in an outside yard and may have been out for a few days before he was found and may have eaten a little bit. Since I got him a few days ago he has been very inactive although he seems to be moving around just a little more (not enough to be optimistic about).
Has anyone had a tortoise this young be successfully treated, assuming I am correct with what he has? In my experience animals this young don't pull through illness very often. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a hard call tomorrow but wanted to know if there were any success stories.

 

[Tom]

They get sick for a reason. Usually cool temps. Warm temps will often fix it. How are you housing the little guy? Should be in a warm humid closed chamber. Under normal circumstances, 84-85 24/7 is a pretty good temp for a RF, but I'd go 86-88 if he's showing sign of a RI. It should be this temp at night too, and RFs don't need a basking area. Many people have a basking lamp during the day and have it off at night. Room temp is too cool. This is one reason why they need a thermostatically controlled closed chamber.

Most vets don't know much about tortoises or tortoise care, and they frequently do things that make it worse. Be careful. No vitamin or calcium shots, and no injectable Baytril. Its caustic and literally burns them at the injection site. It was common for vets to use this years ago, and many haven't learned better. Vets learn many things in vet school, but tortoise care is not one of them.

 

[alyssa lobello]

They get sick for a reason. Usually cool temps. Warm temps will often fix it. How are you housing the little guy? Should be in a warm humid closed chamber. Under normal circumstances, 84-85 24/7 is a pretty good temp for a RF, but I'd go 86-88 if he's showing sign of a RI. It should be this temp at night too, and RFs don't need a basking area. Many people have a basking lamp during the day and have it off at night. Room temp is too cool. This is one reason why they need a thermostatically controlled closed chamber.

Most vets don't know much about tortoises or tortoise care, and they frequently do things that make it worse. Be careful. No vitamin or calcium shots, and no injectable Baytril. Its caustic and literally burns them at the injection site. It was common for vets to use this years ago, and many haven't learned better. Vets learn many things in vet school, but tortoise care is not one of them.

They get sick for a reason. Usually cool temps. Warm temps will often fix it. How are you housing the little guy? Should be in a warm humid closed chamber. Under normal circumstances, 84-85 24/7 is a pretty good temp for a RF, but I'd go 86-88 if he's showing sign of a RI. It should be this temp at night too, and RFs don't need a basking area. Many people have a basking lamp during the day and have it off at night. Room temp is too cool. This is one reason why they need a thermostatically controlled closed chamber.

Most vets don't know much about tortoises or tortoise care, and they frequently do things that make it worse. Be careful. No vitamin or calcium shots, and no injectable Baytril. Its caustic and literally burns them at the injection site. It was common for vets to use this years ago, and many haven't learned better. Vets learn many things in vet school, but tortoise care is not one of them.

They get sick for a reason. Usually cool temps. Warm temps will often fix it. How are you housing the little guy? Should be in a warm humid closed chamber. Under normal circumstances, 84-85 24/7 is a pretty good temp for a RF, but I'd go 86-88 if he's showing sign of a RI. It should be this temp at night too, and RFs don't need a basking area. Many people have a basking lamp during the day and have it off at night. Room temp is too cool. This is one reason why they need a thermostatically controlled closed chamber.

Most vets don't know much about tortoises or tortoise care, and they frequently do things that make it worse. Be careful. No vitamin or calcium shots, and no injectable Baytril. Its caustic and literally burns them at the injection site. It was common for vets to use this years ago, and many haven't learned better. Vets learn many things in vet school, but tortoise care is not one of them.

Thank you for responding, he is in a container with forest floor, a shallow water dish, and small hide. He has a temp of about 90 day and night. I have been doing multiple soaks a day, with and without food. I also take him into the shower with high water temps so it gets humid. He has been a little more active, not sure if its in a good way. He had quite a bit of drool on his lower jaw at one point and he has been raising himself up with just his back legs and moving his tail. He can move his front legs. I've never seen this behavior before. I held off with the vet to get more info but the one I would go to does have exotic animal experience including different reptiles if that helps.

 

[Tom]

Thank you for responding, he is in a container with forest floor, a shallow water dish, and small hide. He has a temp of about 90 day and night. I have been doing multiple soaks a day, with and without food. I also take him into the shower with high water temps so it gets humid. He has been a little more active, not sure if its in a good way. He had quite a bit of drool on his lower jaw at one point and he has been raising himself up with just his back legs and moving his tail. He can move his front legs. I've never seen this behavior before. I held off with the vet to get more info but the one I would go to does have exotic animal experience including different reptiles if that helps.

What kind of container?
How are you heating it?
Is the whole thing 90 degrees, or just under the heat source?
What is the humidity?

 

[alyssa lobello]

Under the bed storage container with lid over all but bulb area
Powersun 80 watt bulb and ceramic heater
It’s 90 under the the heat source, he hasn’t moved far from it so haven’t been checking temps elsewhere but can
Don’t have a humidity gauge to give an accurate percentage. Keeping soil moist, not damp or soggy

 

[mark1]

Hello,

Going to be taking a 1-2 week old red foot to the vet for what I think may be an upper respiratory infection. He is not eating, stretching his neck out every once in a while, keeps both eyes closed most of the day (one barely opens), seems to want to sit in his water dish a lot and have started to see him open his mouth for a second when not eating.

not tortoises but my vet treated both of these guys ,can't remember what they weighed at the time , i believe it was like 26 grams ..... i have little doubt they would have died from the respiratory infection they had, they were doing very poorly .... both were treated with ceftazidime

 

[alyssa lobello]

not tortoises but my vet treated both of these guys ,can't remember what they weighed at the time , i believe it was like 26 grams ..... i have little doubt they would have died from the respiratory infection they had, they were doing very poorly .... both were treated with ceftazidime

And they made it, that’s great to hear!

 

[mark1]

And they made it, that’s great to hear!

i told my vet they were kinda small , he told me they were behemoths compared to gecko he just saw ....

this is the guy on the bottom 2yrs ago ...... he's quite a bit bigger now .......

 

[mark1]

Vets learn many things in vet school, but tortoise care is not one of them.

most any turtle tortoise research i've seen, if not all , was and is done by university veterinary programs ....