Something is really wrong with my sulcata :(

[Dragon Ryder]

I bought a hatching sulcata from LLLreptile two months ago and everything's been fine since. Than all of a sudden this past week my tortoise has been sort of breathing with his mouth open and making noises when doing it, but only when i give him a bath. But today in the bath he did the mouth breathing, and also bubbles were foaming from his mouth and i'm really scared that he's gonna die on me. I'm going to make a vet appointment tomorrow morning to see what's wrong but I thought I would post about it on here so anyone who knew about this could help me, Thanks.

Ps... the heat in his enclosure is around 90-100 and cypress mulch is the substrate, with timothy hay in one corner and always damped moss in the other corner.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Sounds like a respiratory infection. They can kill. I spend about $1,000 in vet bills over two summers due to them before I shipped my sulcata out west to a friend where it never rains. He's been fine ever since. Get him to an exotic pet vet SOON and stop the baths since they are clearly aggravating his condition. ALSO, and maybe just as important...The heat in the enclosure is very high. Make sure that he can get away from the heat if he needs to.

 

[Yvonne G]

I keep babies in a moist environment and the temperature all over the whole habitat is 80F degrees, except for directly under the light, where it is about 100F. I think your habitat might be a little too warm. Open mouth breathing usually means respiratory infection. Foaming usually meant over heating.

 

[Dragon Ryder]

I will take out the 100 watt bulb in the habitat and put a 75 watt in instead. The vet said he was busy today so I have to wait till tomorrow to have him seen though. I was looking up respiratory infection and it said to increase the temp in the habitat, so are you guys sure i should make it a little cooler?

 

[Tom]

As Yvonne said open mouth breathing indicates RI. But foaming at the mouth usually means overheating.

How warm is your soak water?

What are you using for night heat?

There are four temps you need to know in your enclosure. Warm side, cool side, basking area, and night. Where is it 90-100 in your enclosure and when?

 

[wellington]

Good luck with your sully. Toms threads below in my post will help,you a lot on how to house your tort. Please read them, and the answers to the questions asked will also help us, to help you.

 

[Dragon Ryder]

The soak water is not to hot, but maybe it might have been yesterday to make him foam like that. And for the night i use a red 100 watt heat lamp. The temps in the habitat(measured right now) are cool side 84, warm side came up as 87, and basking spot changes with my room temp because our air condition just got fixed, it is 90- sometimes a little over 100. These temps are about what they stay all day, and drop a little at night. And thanks for the good luck for him wellington. And thanks for helping me through this everyone it's my first time having a reptile get sick on me.

 

[Tom]

If he is normal at all other times and only did the problem thing in his soak, I'm going to guess the water was too warm. Try going cooler and make sure it is shallow.

Your temps sound good, but those red lights are no good for night time. They see better than we do, so if you see it, they see it. I would switch that out for a CHE set on a thermostat. This will maintain your ambients temps day and night.

Have you read these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Dragon Ryder]

I'll use cooler water from now on when soaking him, and get rid of the red light. And yes I read all of the threads and everything you say is pretty much what i do. The vet is seeing him tomorrow at 1 so i'll let you know what he says!

 

[Dragon Ryder]

The vet said he has a little bit of a respiratory infection and gave me Tobramycin Ophthalmic solution to put drops in his eyes and nose.

 

[Abdulla6169]

I hope he feels better soon