Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys; it's been forever

I think I can get a good feel from all of ya what may be wrong here; I'll post pix, I just have to remember to take them before cleaning off Rozzie's mouth.

Roz has been eating well like normal, but she developed this strange almost gasping... it's similar to a resp infection sound, except I hear no sticky sort of mucus-y noise like if it WAS a resp infection. We notice that she does it at night when her cage (40 G BR for just her) gets colder (lights out of course). Day time, her bask spot is under two 150 watts; we were reading at 91 F 6 inches off the bask spot, so temp isn't an issue during the day (although my electricity bill's gonna get to be an issue, lol). I used to have her heat rock on a timer for the day to help heat the sand on her cool side, but since she seemed to be gasping a lot, I took it off the timer to keep it on 24/7 (also to the detriment of my elec bill). She's slowed down on her cricket intake, and I'm noticing that her left eye has been tearing a lot to the point that she won't open her eye. I've been cleaning it carefully with warm water, now I noticed that the same thing is happening on either side of her mouth. Can't locate any vets that look trustworthy in Savannah, I'm out of my territory here. Has anybody seen this before? Any ideas? Thanks everybody!
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"Were the diver to think upon the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl."

Yes I have seen it and Clyde had the same thing which ultimately killed him. As far as any help I could offer I was at a loss of what to do, aside from keeping Rozzie hydrated, warm, and perhaps talk to Eve.

I've been bathing her, which she appears to enjoy, but aside from that, she just wants to lay on a heat rock. I can't get this cage any hotter and she just wants that heat rock. My problem right now is I trust 2 vets; one is in NJ, one is in Miami. My trust isn't because they'd bend over backwards to fix this... on the contrary, no matter what vet I talk to they say what we all know- "Well usually by the time you have a lizard exhibiting symptoms, it's it bit late to help them much so here try this, it's the best I can do..."; but at least they try and they're honest with me.
Now I'm in Savannah and I'm trying to locate a herp vet and the best 2 I got were the VCA and "Richard Bink" but I didn't exactly hear glowing reviews about that facility... and it isn't even avian/exotic type exclusively. The place where I get my feeders is MOSTLY a fish store, so I'm hesitant to hear their recommendations for a vet. It's just a mess... I don't know what to do for her aside from the baths, heat & hydration, you know? I have jump start & the hyrdrolife. I'll keep at that and keep cleaning her mouth.
Thanks, Boost. I haven't been on the forums in a long time and I just recently saw Eve wasn't a mod anymore, I was like Auuughhhh noooo..... my answers....
:/
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"Were the diver to think upon the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl."

When mucus is present and her mouth and eyes are tearing
and is off feed and seeks warmth 24/7 along with her activity
level diminishing, chances are good that it is a URI. The noise
or popping sound does not need to be present in all cases.

If the eyes are tearing and mostly closed, the fact that tears
and sand/dust don't mix is a good reason to clean out the
sand for now and lay paper towels down instead.

A heat rock is not a good idea. There have been serious
belly burns ... some proving fatal by heat rocks. When
they malfunction they can sometimes over heat, thus
causing severe burns to the ventral side of the lizard.
An under tank heating pad is much safer when installed
under the area where the hide or cave is set. This would
only be used during the cooler nights.

If you can raise your basking site and/or lower your basking
light, this is a good deterrent to using a heat rock. Reptiles
are not supposed to heat their bodies from the surface of
the ground or a rock but mainly from above where they
are more colorful and have better heat resistant scales which
which better absorb UVB rays more safely, unlike the lighter
less colored/more delicate ventral scaling.

You can also use a heat emitter if the bright light at night
is an issue. Or buy a black light bulb which emits a good
amount of night time heat with a low/dim glow instead.
You can also contain more heat in her tank by blocking
off some of the screen top. You can use cardboard or
plastic ... just so it's not in the immediate area of the hot
basking light ... for safety reason. Also by covering the
back and sides of her tank with insulation of even card
board.

I would be more apt to get her to most any vet and explain
that on this forum someone has suggested that she may be
displaying URI (upper respiratory infection) like symptoms.
They will likely get her on a baytril (antibiotic) regime.

This will be better than doing nothing and letting her continue
to deteriorate. Chances are better than good that she may
soon begin to rehab soon after the therapy begins.

Generally a lizard with a possible URI is not soaked/bathed
as this may aggravate the infection. You may feel she loves
her soaking but this may cause her some stress. Any added
stress at this time could maybe intensify her condition. If
you are orally hydrating her, this should be sufficient.

Sorry for the long post.
Good luck with her,
John

I agree with John-C. Your Collared most likely has an Upper Respiratory Infection. Definitely recommend doing as John suggested. Get your Collared to the Vet at the earliest to get evaluated for the possible URI and anti-biotics - don't wait! Raise the temps in the tank immediately both at the basking and the cool end of tank like John suggested, get rid of the heat rock (use other nighttime heating sources as suggested by John and especially during this rehab you will need some type of nighttime heating to help keep temp up in the 85-90 range, closer to 90 is probably better), stop bathing your Collared as well. Most likely you'll need to keep the temps elevated on both sides of the tank during the daytime and at nighttime (basically around the clock) for at least 30 days or whatever timeframe your Vet recommends and along with the anti-biotics you get it will take some time for the URI to clear up.

Its a respitory infection, describing mnay of the same symptoms of the the one that killed mine. Cultured with a drug resistant Pseudomonas that refused to be killed of after 3 different antibiotic treatments.