Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so recently i adopted a BTS with some kinda serious problems. He had an eye issue that occured originally because he got dust in his eyes from the bark he is housed on. He has been on medicine for that for a few weeks and it seems to be improving. But the day i got him home i noticed his breathing was heavy and i could hear some noises coming from his throat/chest area. I took him to the vet and sure enough he has a respitory infection! It seems to be getting worse quickly, he is bubbling at the mouth a little and breathing very heavily with pronounced clicks and gurgles.

the vet took a culture and has put him on Baytril for the time being.

My questions are..first i want to get him off that dusty bark but i feel like he should be in a substrate he can burrow under so he doesn't feel stressed. What kind of substrates do you guys use on your skinks? Also, has anyone ever had a BTS with a pretty bad resp. infection? Is there anything else i can do for him? So far i've raised his temps into the 90's. At the moment he is still eating, although he wont really chase live prey.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

n/p
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Edward
Carpe diem

First you need to describe your cage size & setup. Newspaper is good when skinks are sick or quarenteened but for long term substrate try large shred Aspen, two or three inches deep works well. BTS need to burrow in order to feel secure without it they stress. Sick and Stressed means a lowered Immune system. Preimier Pet and Nepco make large shred Aspen which has been kiln dryed so there is minimal dust. All wood chips have some degree of dust particles.
Baytril in Oral form is pretty safe, when injected there can be abcess or scale loss depending individuals medical condition. Follow up with vet as conditions change. Eye Infections can also be part of the Respiratory Infection, your vet can explain this better since he/she is treating BTS. Basking sites usually run 92f-102f with ambient cage temps 75f to 82f depending on the square footage & height, location of cage, and UVB light fixtures can also raise cage temps so it is best to use a digital thermomter to record daily temperature ranges. The main purpose of the spot light is to create an area for belly/body heat. You might try a tile under spot light or hide box in close proxsitity to allow warmer area for your BTS to chose from. Added body heat, not just air temperatures, will help antibiotics. Kale, Mustard greens, Collared greens, Red Leaf lettuce, Hybiscus flowers, along with a Reptile multi-vitamin will add extra micro nutrients to assit in recovery. Some breeders use exculsively Flexwatt heat tape in rack systems but the Spot light has psychlogical benefits for diurnal lizards. Different setups work for different breeders, better to compile many sources of research and compare information to see which will work for you. No one setup is concrete regeim. See what your BTS likes and helps your situation.
As far as feeding, live prey is not necessary but ones' own preferance. Canned low fat Dog or Cat food mixed with fresh vegetables & fruits will provide nutrients needed. RepCal Bearded Dragon Food (pellets) will also provide supplementation. Superworms are a readily devoured live prey item. I crush the mandiles with pliers to prevent superworms from damaging Intestinal tracts as a precautionary measure, mandilbles will keep moving even after superworm is dead/eaten. Gravid females are often fed pinkies, which are high in Calcuim, so the many growing fetus do not deplete the mothers' calcuim levels in her skeletal system. Frozen/thawed pinkies are often prefered because freezing will kill any parasitic worms prior to feeding. This is not to say all mice carry parasites but it is a precautionary measure. Hope this help you alittle.

I agree to bump up your temps. Especially when on antibiotics. Since reptiles are ectotherms they need increased temps to boost their metabolism so that they can utilize the antibiotics.

Have they done a chest xray? If the doctor has recommended one I would do it.
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Stacey