Help! Respiratory infection????

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Erimis

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I have noticed some things with one of my cheryhead hatchlings. She is about 6 months old and 71g today. Two weeks ago she was 85g!!
I had been weighing the torts (5 cherries) every 2-3 days when I soak them, and she had been steadily gaining. Had company and didnt soak or weigh so often. :(
She has been a good eater- she normally comes out first thing in the morning to eat. The rest of the cherries eat at noon. Last week I found her flipped over twice. First time right under basking light!! It is a flat area so dont know how she ended up on her back. The longest she could have been flipped is 4 hours. The following day I found her on her back in the moist hide. They have several inches to bury in moss so I'm sure one of the other torts could have been under her and flipped her. Dont know how long she was on her back. This morning she was out very early- before any lights on. And she has been a bit restless last few days. Walking back and forth in the tank. I took her out to look at her and she was tail swishing, thought she might be constipated. So soaked everyone, she still tail swished but no poop. I started cleaning tank and looked back and she had head under and was blowing bubbles, so I got her out- mouth was foamy and she stretched her neck out and seemed to gasp a bit.
No nose or eye discharge, but eyes are not right. If she were a dog I'd say her third eyelid was out, I' ll assume torts have those too.
Tried to put Terramycin in, not sure that really worked.
I'm researching, my plan thus far: put her in ISO tank, heat around 95? Keep clean. I have ReptAid, Acidophilus for reptiles and an electrolyte soaking solution.
Also, she has several new spots of shell rot- did not have a week ago. No other torts have any shell rot.
Tank specs: under basking light is 90, cool side is 75, the moist hide was around 85- however I one of the two heating pads on that side stopped working recently. I did not think to check temps before I left this morning. Humidity is 70-80% after I mist or pour water in. It will drop to 40-50% if I dont do that 3x daily. The torts seem to switch every few days: moist hide , then bury in moss on the dry side.
Advise? I am a vet tech, I do have access to meds. But not a reptile practice.
Thank you! Missi
 

Laura

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i would guess she is being bullied.. i would seperate her and see if she does better..
a Tortoise with its head under the water while soaking... is drinking.
 

tortadise

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Well I have to agree with laura. Seems like she is being bullied. Also to rid the shell rot problem you need to keep the substrate dry and not so wet. You can do a few things to keep humidity up. Take the substrate out add some gravel or rocks on the bottom few inches first, Place a tube in one of the corners so you can fill up the rock layer with water. Place some weed mat on top of the rocks then add the mulch or coco coir. The water in the bottom rock layer with the heating pads will create a warm humid effect for much longer than you have experianced. Humditity that torts need, needs to be warm. The humidity spikes when the warm water your placing is only warm. It then drops when the water is cool and just turns to be wet damp substrate. Or you can add a humidifer or fogger to the enclosure. I would seperate the little bugger from the others. Upper respiratory can be spearheaded with keeping the temps minimum 80-85 for a few months, even on the cold side. More than likely the watering down the enclosure has led to this. Let us know if you need anything else. For now I would not use any meds until a definite case to use them will be needed. Dont want to treat something that has a different cause.
 

Erimis

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Interesting, I hadn't thought of her being bullied. She is one of my most social torts. I haven't seen bullying but I guess I may be seeing the end result.
She definitely wasn't drinking, head was tucked in rather than neck stretched and leaning down. Haven't seen any more foam around her mouth.
I have her in an isolation tank for right now. Will keep close eye on her.
Thanks for the humidity idea, I will try the rocks. Will get my hubby motivated to make my new enclosure here shortly.
 

tortadise

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No problem. More than likely its not an RI. Those show signs of eye issues, heavy weezing, blowing bubbles, and can become lethargic. Humidity can be way misunderstood to attain high levels. Usually most of the time people think water, but the water has to be hot to create a moisture and humidity level increase that is beneficial to tortoises. Cold humidity is very dangerous to torts, and actually causes colder temps and can be a direct result of RI, and lots of shell rot. The substrate doesnt need to be wet just the ambient air in the enclosure needs to have the humidity.
 
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