Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an adult eastern box turtle that is having a slight issue and was wondering figured I'd get some other opinions on what to do. He is being kept in a 3 foot by 4 foot cage during the winter with 80 degrees on the warm end and 70 degrees on the cool end of the cage. He has a sunlight that is kept on for 13 hours a day. His bedding is a mixture of eco-earth, bark, bed a beast, and moss. Everything has been fine, except i've been having trouble keeping the humidity up. Earlier today when I was doing the usual check up I noticed that he was breathing a bit differently. If you listen really closely it sounds like he has a slight stuffy nose or something. He hasn't had any nasal discharge or sneezing or open mouth breathing or heavy breathing,though. He hasn't been eating a lot lately, but that is not unusual during the winter. Everything else seems fine. So I set up a ten gallon tank (I know it is a bit small, but it is the only other tank I have. He'll be getting out to walk around every day) in order to regulate the humidity better to see if that helps. I'm going to monitor him the next couple of days to see if anything changes. I was wondering if I should be doing anything differently or if anyone had any idea what it could be? Thanks for all the help (sorry if it is a bit lengthy).

The breath noises could well be the result of a lack of humidity. Irritated airways can sometime lead to full blown infections. Please keep a close watch on your turtle, looking and listening for any changes.

I'll ask about a couple of things because I noticed that you hadn't mentioned them in your post.

Does your turtle's setup include a water dish or something for it to drink from and soak in?

Does your turtle's setup have any sort of partially covered hide box, log tunnel, or some similar arrangement?

You can alleviate the affects of a lack of humidity (to a limited extent) by making sure that your turtle sits in shallow water and drinks and soaks for about 15-30 minutes each day. Using a separate container for soaking your turtle can actually be a useful tool in monitoring how long 'bath time' is.

A covered hiding place can conserve humidity in a confined space. In fact if your lighting is rigged in a way that permits this, you may be able to cover the setup itself, at least partially. If you don't already have them, create little 'garages' for your turtle.

Keeping the substrate material moist, and misting with water on a regular basis will also help, of course. If you mist well right before turning off the lighting, and can then loosely cover the entire setup for the night, you can give your turtle a nice humid environment for at least a few solid hours per day.

Including foods with higher moisture content(such as fruits) in your turtle's diet can help keep it hydrated as well. Just remember to keep the diet varied.

Hope that helps.

I forgot to mention this: if you can, try to raise the overall tempratures in the setup so that you have a range of 75 to 85 degrees. That might help with your turtle's appetite.

If you put lots of tropical house plants in your set up it will hold the humidity a lot better too. Ivy, ferns, strawberry plants etc.
Terry

Hi Nikke, welcome to the forum

I would also advice taking your turtle to your herp vet.
Respiratory problems can develop and get serious with
alarming speed.
I hope your baby feels better soon ~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

Thanks for the help. I quit keeping a water bowl in his cage because he would never go in it without me placing him in it so I figured I'd give him more room and just take him out every day to soak. I think I'm going to put it back in to help with humidity, though. Right now I was just fake plants to give him hiding spots, so he doesn't have a hide spot. I never thought of placing live plants in his cage, but I have a couple questions. Would the sunlight bulb he has right now be good enough light for the plants? How deep would the soil have to be for the plants, is it better to keep them in pots? Is the substrate I have right now ok to use for the plants? Once again, thanks for the help. I'm watching him closely and if anything changes he's going to the vet.

The lighting that you're using should be fine for a large variety of plants. A few suggestions for choosing suitable plants:

First, avoid plants that may be toxic. The link below includes a list of toxic plants, as well as a general overview on the subject.

Then, narrow your search to plants that thrive in partial sun (ferns for example).

Consider the watering requirements of the plant, if you decide on planting directly into the subtrate: pick plants that have watering requirements that are compatible with what your turtle needs and with what you can reasonably provide.

Substrate depth required would depend partly on the size of the rootball of the plant that you buy: a small fern in a 4" pot won't need much depth. A plant in an 8" pot will.

Anytime I have to overwinter an adult turtle indoors, I buy a few ferns in 4" pots, and transplant them into an 8" diameter clay 'azalea' pot (shorter/shallower than a standard clay pot). The clay pot is heavy enough that an adult turtle can't knock it over, I can fit several small plants into it, and it takes some of the guess work out of the watering. This technique works perfectly for me, but might not be right for everyone.

Hope that helps.
Link

I forgot to mention this.
Commercially grown plants are typically shipped with a heaping helping of slow release fertilizer in the pot, and pesticide residue on the leaves.
As a precautionary measure, I would urge you to thoroughly wash down the plants' foliage, and to remove all of the slow release fertilizer from the soil. You may have to change out the soil altogether, and replace with fresh potting soil.
If you do completely replace the soil, be sure that the replacement product does not contain any fertilizer or other chemical additives.

When I replace plants in the varverium, I take the whole plant out of the pot, shake off all the soil, and rince off the whole plant, especially the root, in warm water. Then I replant it in the vervarium.
Terry

Good advice on washing and repotting plants,
that is what I do as well.No point in taking chances.
I have ordered some of those tree fern pots
to plant in, not sure yet how they will work,
but I thought it would be more natural than clay pots,
and help add to the humidity.

While we are talking about plants, does anyone have
any thoughts on the african violet? I saw it on several
safe lists, but then I saw itwas on some of the not safe ones.
At any rate, I didn't put it in. I just wondered why
some of the sites would say yes and others no...odd
Happy Planting~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

I think it can cause an upset stomach in cats and dogs? Being a soft plant (stems and leaves) that does not like it's roots to sit in water it might not be a good choice, a digging turtle would likely tear it to shreads. lol The same with the other plants, if you put them in a pot then put the soil around the pot the turtles are less likely to dig into the roots.

Different plants turn up on lists for different reasons:

Poinsettias appear on toxic plant lists, primarily because they are in the euphorbia family, which family includes many toxic plants. Poinsettias actually aren't very toxic at all.

The sap of ficus plants (including rubber plants) can be an irritant but is not toxic, but the plant still appears on non-safe lists occasionally.

Aroids as a family also tend to be toxic (including philodendrons, peacelilies, and jack in the pulpit), and yet many animals and birds eat the fruit produced by some of these plants with no ill effect.

I know that the fuzzy leaves of plants such as lantana, chrysanthemum, and african violet can irritate to sensitive skin, so that might be a reason why violets are mentioned on some lists but not others.

Also, keep in mind that some toxic plant list include plants that are toxic to humans but not other animals, whereas other lists have been created as aides to pet owners.

Does anyone know of a super easy, hady plant that I could put in his tank, I'm open to any suggestions. It needs to be really hardy because I am lacking even the smallest of green thumbs, I'd even go as far to say everything I touch dies (plant wise). I just got done watering my turtle for the day and am happy to say I did not hear the noise anymore. I would think it was my imagination other than the fact I listened for at least twenty minutes. The increase in humidity has helped a lot though, his skin a shell are looking a lot better.

Glad to hear that your turtle is sounding ok...keep an eye on him anyway!

I think that I mentioned this previously, but in a situation like yours I like to use ferns...some of the varieties with slightly leathery (for a fern) foliage, like table ferns (pteris), autumn ferns, or button ferns have worked well for me in the past.
Just water them *thoroughly* at least once a week (might be twice depending how dry your house really is).

I emphasize *thoroughly* because this is a common mistake people make with houseplants. It's important to really drench the soil of a houseplant when you water, so that all of the soil in the container becomes moist and all of the roots get a drink.

When you mist the setup, mist the plants, too.

Thanks for the great information, I was looking on safe
turtle plants, but hadn't thought it would be an irritant
that but it in the no list.
Thanks for the fern names, I have been looking for
specific ferns that would do well.
Anyone had any luck with flowering plants on the safe
list, like Nasturtiums etc?
Thanks~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

I'm not sure how well they would grow, but I have had the little common annual begonias grow in the house. I don't see them listed anywhere but you'd probably want to double check.

Dracaenas would probably be a good option too, they don't bloom but most of them are hard to kill. Some can get rather large though.
http://www.traditionalcats.com/Education/Medical/toxic_plants_and_poisons.htm
This is for cats and dogs, but lists safe plants as well, you can double check it against a safe for reptiles list.

>>Anyone had any luck with flowering plants on the safe
>>list, like Nasturtiums etc?
>>Thanks~Nikki

I don't know all that much about plants but that one you mention is often listed as a food for tortoises.
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PHRatz