I want to know how tortoises get a respiratory infection. My two Aldabrans live in an isolated pen with the pond on the other side of the fence one side and the Russian tortoise pen on the other side of the fence on another side. The driveway is on the third side and the street is on the last side. If respiratory germs are airborne, then I could imagine that maybe a live germ was blown over the fence from the Russians, however none of the Russians are showing any respiratory symptoms. And I always enter the Aldabran pen from the drive way, never from the Russian pen, so I didn't carry germs into the pen on my shoes. The biggest Aldabran had a foaming mouth about two weeks ago. His water dish was empty, so I just figured he needed water. But then I started noticing he has a lot of saliva, actually dripping out of his mouth when he's resting. He still eats, though, thank goodness. The other tortoise is just fine. So how did he get this germ? I'm lucky in that I know the vet who used to practice at our local zoo and she came out and had a look at the tortoise last week. She said for sure respiratory infection. I'm now giving the tortoise two huge Baytril tablets per day. He will eat out of my hand, so its not a problem getting these into him. One day I put them into a piece of banana and the next day I bury them in a glob of moistened Mazuri. I also increased, or rather, started up the night-time heat in their shed. Just keeping him warm at night seems to have helped quite a bit.
BUT WHERE DID THIS GERM COME FROM?????
Yvonne
BUT WHERE DID THIS GERM COME FROM?????
Yvonne