Runny nose, help!!!!

[katyg]

Hi there!

I posted on this site a week or two ago, my worries for my snotty horsfield tortoise!

I took him to the vet and he had a course of antibiotics lasting 9 days, but there has been no change whatsoever.

To be fair he seems fine, he seems to have his own routine, of a mad half hour in the mornings and then completely lazy for the rest of the day.
He eats well, he would have more if I gave it to him!

I only see the snot first thing in the morning, it seems to dry up after he has had his breakfast, and his nose seems dry for the rest of the day!

His legs seem to move alot when he is sleeping, is this a sign of laboured breathing, or is that normal? He will sleep with all his head and limbs out during the day, but tends to tuck himself in at night!

He is in an open topped table, temps are 31-32 under the lamp and 21 at the other end. It's 17 degrees at night.

Funnily enough, when I bought him he had been in a viv with temps over 50 degrees. When I told a pet shop owner that I was going to put him in a table she laughed and said he would get a runny nose!
Could it be that he needed to acclimatise to the temperature drop more slowly?

Any ideas what might be wrong? I wonder if it is a virus rather than a bacteria as it didn't respond to the anti biotics?

[GreenSlider]

i'm not a current tort keeper but 50c is crazy...shopkeeper is trying to cook em..surprised he hadnt renal issues...and possibly the animal got its condition at the place of purchase.. Is there a draught..a prevailing stream of colder air will cause respiratory issues..I keep terrapins and i have had many issues that had to be solved..over long periods of time..these most cold blooded animals are slow to heal..and slow to respond to treatment. I've never had RI (touch wood) in my animals but the tortie brigade should be along very shortly

[purplepixie]

If the shop said your tortoise would get a runny nose if the temps were not that high, then they knew the tortoise was ill before they sold it.

When your tortoise was on the antibiotics, did you keep the temperatures at 32ish at night?
As for them to work properly they should be kept warm all the time. They dont need the light, but they do need the heat for them to work.
Sometimes its the antibiotics used too, baytril is usually the first one used. But this is not always the best one to get rid of RNS.

[AnythingWithAShell]

I think I would want another course of antibiotics though, to be sure. Maybe the first course wasn't quite enough? Antibiotics courses need to be taken fully, even after all signs and symptoms go away, to prevent recurrence. And PP makes a good point about baytril. There's more and more occurrences of resistance cos it's so widely used.

I think I would go back to the vet asap. Maybe the vet could do blood culture tests to determine what's actually happening, while torty gets another antibiotic course?

The leg movement when breathing is normal, as is flopping out/tucking in. Mine chop and change the way they sleep all the time

[katyg]

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply! No, I don't think there is a draught. He goes into a half buried flowerpot to sleep too, so it should be ok.

I'm not sure what the temps were in the viv in the shop, but the one that was sold with him was 50 degrees under the bulb. He was only in it for a week or so before I found out this was the wrong way to keep him and put him in a table.

The vet reckons he could have had it for some time, but I didn't notice it at first. Probably the 50 degrees heat was drying it up as soon as it came out of his nose!!

[GreenSlider]

good luck with him ..

[AnythingWithAShell]

They do tend not to show signs until they've had illnesses for a while.

[katyg]

No, I didn't have the table at 32 all night, the vet didn't tell me to do that unfortunately.

She said to wait for a week or two to see what happens, and then she would take swabs of the mucus and culture it.

I don't know what the antibiotics were, he had 3 injections three days apart.

What does this snotty nose actually mean for a tortoise? Is it always a sign of something very serious?

Ta!

[naomij]

Originally Posted by purplepixie

If the shop said your tortoise would get a runny nose if the temps were not that high, then they knew the tortoise was ill before they sold it.

When your tortoise was on the antibiotics, did you keep the temperatures at 32ish at night?
As for them to work properly they should be kept warm all the time. They dont need the light, but they do need the heat for them to work.
Sometimes its the antibiotics used too, baytril is usually the first one used. But this is not always the best one to get rid of RNS.

i agree, bet your tort had the runny nose whilst in the shop!!!!

[purplepixie]

It does sound like you had baytril as an antibiotic, and you do need to keep them warm at night and during the day, for them to work properly. I am very surprised your vet didnt say.
Is she a tortoise vet?