Possible R.i?

[Stephenb87]

Hi guys,

My indian star tortoise is now in my care since I last posted.

It has settled in perfectly.

Nice & active (has a few day time naps in its hide to cool down away from the basking light I guess)

It is eating perfectly. I give it an assortment of veg (curly kale, pak choi, rocket, broccoli, red chard, ruby chard & mizuna) finely chopped & mixed with a complete tortoise dry pellet which is dandelion flavour on top of this I use a tortoise diet powder supplement. Contains calcium, fibre ect ect.

The temperature in the enclosure is as follows. Basking area 35-38 c (95-100f) ambient temp is slightly lower than that.

At night time it drops to an ambient temp of 25c (77f)

The tortoise seems in good health & has a great appetite.

But if I pick it up & hold its face toward my ear I can hear a soft popping noise when it's breathing.

Should I be worried about this?

Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks in advance.

Stephen.

Here's a little pic of it in action eating away!

 

[G-stars]

Any bubbles out of it's nose?
The noise might just be her breathing.

 

[Stephenb87]

No bubbles, no breathing through the mouth either.

 

[G-stars]

No bubbles, no breathing through the mouth either.

Based of your temps I wouldn't think it could be an RI, and especially without those symptoms. What's your humidity at? Most likely it's just him breathing.

 

[Stephenb87]

Humidity is quite low, in & around 30%

That's good to hear, when I heard it I feared the worst, also googling it seems to always suggest a R.i. Good to get advice directly from people rather than to just take Googles word on it.

 

[G-stars]

Humidity is quite low, in & around 30%

That's good to hear, when I heard it I feared the worst, also googling it seems to always suggest a R.i. Good to get advice directly from people rather than to just take Googles word on it.

Humidity is quite low, I would try raising it quite a bit. About 60-70 percent is good to help prevent pyramiding with daily soaks and a constant water source.

It seems to me that RI is often over diagnosed. Sometimes you can get similar symptoms from stressed animals. But yours seems healthy, especially with a good appetite.

 

[dmmj]

It really isn't showing signs but stars seem more prone to them. I am not an expert with stars but 77 seems a little low for nights, what is the humidity at? At the moment If it were mine?iu would watch it like a hawk, just to be safe.

 

[Jodie]

I believe stars and leopards are very similar in regards to temp and humidity. I keep my leopards above 80F and babies 80%humidity. Adults I keep the humidity in the 60% range. I would bump your night temp a bit and try to get the humidity up. With that low of humidity though I don't think your temps should be an issue. Good luck. Hope it's nothing.

 

[ascott]

Hi guys,

My indian star tortoise is now in my care since I last posted.

It has settled in perfectly.

Nice & active (has a few day time naps in its hide to cool down away from the basking light I guess)

It is eating perfectly. I give it an assortment of veg (curly kale, pak choi, rocket, broccoli, red chard, ruby chard & mizuna) finely chopped & mixed with a complete tortoise dry pellet which is dandelion flavour on top of this I use a tortoise diet powder supplement. Contains calcium, fibre ect ect.

The temperature in the enclosure is as follows. Basking area 35-38 c (95-100f) ambient temp is slightly lower than that.

At night time it drops to an ambient temp of 25c (77f)

The tortoise seems in good health & has a great appetite.

But if I pick it up & hold its face toward my ear I can hear a soft popping noise when it's breathing.

Should I be worried about this?

Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks in advance.

Stephen.

Here's a little pic of it in action eating away!

I would change out the substrate to something more earth like...not the wood chip things....that enclosure may simply be too dry with the absence of earth substrate.....a clicking does not mean a RI

 

[Stephenb87]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm gonna change the bedding to zoo med 's repti bark. I'm also gonna put a low watt ceramic heater on at night time to bring the temp up.


Done so much research online & you read so many conflicting things, regarding bedding & humidity especially.

Some sites recommend not even having a water dish in the enclosure as it raises the humidity to a level which could give it a R.i

I am grateful for all your help.