poorly tortoise

[nicky]

HI, I HAVE A 3 YEAR OLD HORSFIELD AND I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE COULD HELP ME, I HAVE BEEN UP AND DOWN TO THE VETS WITH HER SNEEZING AND HAVING A SNOTTY NOSE. THE VET GAVE ANTIBIOTICS BUT DIDNT WORK THEN HAD A SWAB TO REVEAL A BUG HAD A DIFFERENT ANTIBIOTIC BUT STILL SNEEZING AND SNOTTY. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS NORMAL OR IF SHE IS SERIOUSLY ILL.

[Becks]

hi there sounds to me like your tortoise has rns .. do u know what ur vet has been giving her ?
luv becks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Nicky,

First of all welcome.

As for your question, its definately not normal to be sneezing and having a snotty nose.

May I ask what do you house your tortoise in, is it a vivarium by any chance?

Can you post a picture of your tortoises runny nose, or elabourate on symtoms, how long has the nose been running.

I am not an expert but there are several eople here who are very experienced and will no doubt have more answers for you especially if you can give them as much information as possible.

Ade

hi nickey

sorry to hear about your poorly tort

unfortunatly this does not sound normal

perhaps if you told us a bit more the experinced keepers will be more equiped to advise you

where did you get the tort from
how long have you had it
how long has it been poorly
what was 1st lot of antiobiotics what is the tort getting now
where was the vet is the vet experienced for treating torts
apart from the runny nose syndrome how is the torts general health
could you describe the torts living conditions temp lights etc


sorry for the long list ... but this info will help you get the correct advise

linda

[nicky]

the snot is like a clear glue when i wipe it of it is like a clear jelly, the tort lives in a vivarium with uv and basking lamp at between 30 -32 degrees in day and just has heat mat at night, dont know what antibiotics were called cos we took tortoise to vets every day for the injection, we got the tortoise from our garden centre that sells all sorts of animals and reptiles

[nicky]

i have had the tortoise about 6-7 months and the tortoise has been poorly about 6 weeks ,she is eating normal doesnt seem to drink alot but we bath her

[Henry-flash]

Welcome to the forum

I wonderdo you know if the vet you saw was a tort specialist as if not then I'm afraid they won't be of any help. Sounds like RNS to me, but I could be wrong. The usual treatment for this is a course of baytril.

Sorry to also tell you that this is most likely caused by the vivarium they are death traps just a way for shopsto make money! The same goes for the heat mat. The tortoise needs to be in a open topped enclousure with UV and heat during the day. They are usually ok with no night time heat in average homes. I would post some pics of my setu, but I'm having problems uploading them

hi nicky

i think the 1st thing to do for your little chap is get it out of the viv

you could make or buy a tort table or for now use a wooden drawer or storage box have a look in the housing threads and compettion pictures for ideas

then either get some baytryl or go back to a specialist vet

you could use the search button to look up RSN and its treatment

hope this helps a bit nicky

linda

[Eire_Ade]

Hi Nicky, Pete is right about the viv, sorry, thats why I asked cos I had a feeling this was the cause.

I hope your tortoise is better soon, but its so important the vet was a tortoise vet, so many ourt there that havent a clue.

Baytril is the antibiotic used for RNS like Henry Flash / Pete says.

Please keep us up to date.

Ade

[nicky]

baytril im almost positive was the first and second course of antibiotics she had but when she had the swab done it said she was resistant to that soi they tried another one which doesnt seem to have worked