My husband and I both work at a pet store and we have a lot of different types of snakes at home but are fairly unfarmiliar with tortoises. About 2 weeks ago a woman came into the store and left a box there where we later found she had abandoned what looks to us like a sulcata. he seems to have some pyramyding and we knew he was most likely very poorly cared for. We took him home and got him on a good diet and a nice warm environment. He also has a upper resp inf. He was eating very well at first and his upper resp was improving very quickly for the first week. Now for about 5 days he has not been very active and also not eating as well. His upper resp is now getting worse and today when I soaked him i can see that around both sides of his neck and on his knees and ankles etc he has very very raw open skin. I have some terramycin ointment but he won't let me put it in these areas. Any suggestions and also what to try nest for his Resp inf? I know he needs to go to the vet but we are both currently working 60 hrs a week and it will be a few more days before I can get him in. Just wondering if there was anything i could try at home until i can get him in? I would be able to get pretty much any antibiotics that would be needed for him from our store's vet, but don't know what to ask for. He is not a herp vet so he wasn;t much help when he looked at him either. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, we don't want him to die or get worse over the next few days. Thanks
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Jeff West
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New sulcata sick
Replies (1)
The best thing you can do is rush that vet appointment. If you're stuck on time, perhaps you can arrange dropping the tort off for the day before work, or asking for an extended lunch break or somthing.
RI's should never be treated lightly because of the risks associated if it spreads to pneumonia. The lungs in most reptiles are very unlike those in mammals. There isn't much available to expell unwanted pathogens and debris.
Secondly, in the short time before you see a vet, and especially afterwards, make sure the husbandry is ideal, yet rather sterile. Use newsprint as a substrate and change often (perhaps set it up at work if you'll be there 12hrs a day).
Ian
ps, if this store sells reptiles, you need a new store vet.
