Respiratory Infection

[alalsip]

So, I've had Falkor almost a month and yesterday I had to take her to the vet because she started breathing really hard and open mouthed. She only 6 grams and she will be 8 weeks Thursday. My poor baby :-( I'm hoping to send a fecal in next week to check for parasites. I wish she would start growing already!

Temps : 100-115 basking, 80-85 cool side, 72 at night
100 gallon tank
36 inch t5 ho 10.0 uvb
30-40% humidity - West Michigan is horrible for humidity. Our ambient humidity is 60-70% all the times.
Cannot run a humidifier, her tank is in the wide open living room.
Tile substrate
I use an Accurite thermometer
Small Superworms and dubia
Collard greens and acorn squash, just got the trio from Walmart so starting that today, but she's never touched her greens :-(
Calcium with d3- 3 days
Calcium -2 days
Multi vitamin- 2 days

Going through our first shed so daily baths, before the every third day or so.

Anything I can do to prevent this from happening again?

 

[PatsyB]

How's he doing this morning? How'd you do giving him the injections?

Everything sounds right. The only thing I can think of is be careful with the baths. If you bathe him in the bathroom, keep the door open so you don't let too much humidity build up. Dry him completely right when he gets out of the bath so he doesn't catch a draft while he's wet.

 

[alalsip]

She's so stinking small she still gets a bath in the kitchen sink which is completely open and "part" of the living room. But I'll have to remember that when she gets bigger. The bathroom does have an exhaust fan too And Falkor and I get 10 minutes of cuddles after a bath with her towel and me. Generally she gets skin to skin time to get her warm and dry quick. Once she is ready, she goes back into her home. She has only two times she comes out of her tank, bath and cuddles at bedtime. Other then that, I talk to her a lot. I don't want her out to much, even before she got sick, because I didn't want her to get an RI! Ugh

 

[PatsyB]

Sorry I called her a he I should know better with a girl named Dexter and a boy named Luci LOL!

Luckily you caught it quick and took her to the vet. Someone on FB just had a dragon diagnosed with RI and within a week it was better. I think with the little ones their little immune systems aren't developed yet so they can easily catch things in spite of our best efforts. Do you have a CHE or something to warm the tank at night? When I first got Luci from Petco he was so tiny and I noticed when he opened his mouth he had a lot of saliva. I read that was one of the signs of RI and that upping their heat at night would help. I was worried about him but after a night with the extra warmth he was fine. The saliva went away and there was never any clicking or coughing.

 

[alalsip]

I don't have a che for her yet, but that's a good idea. Her tank stays above 72, and I've been putting a sheet over the top the last two days so the temps have gone up a little more on the cool side. 85 constant on the cool side. I'll look tonight to see how they look. What page are you a part of on fb? I saw someone with a baby that got sick too, that's why I freaked about Falkor and caught it quickly.

 

[alalsip]

Oh, and no worries about calling Falkor a boy. I'm still hoping it's a she I'm figuring it'll be a few months before I can be 100%

 

[PatsyB]

I saw the post on BDO. I commented on your photo last night when you were talking about giving her shots. When I saw this post this morning I had to go back and look to see if it was the same Falkor, LOL! So many people have the same names for their dragons.

That FB page is way too busy for me! I love this forum because there is no drama and it's easier to reply to people and help people here. I feel like the information you get on the forum is paid attention too. On FB I get tired of scrolling through to read what people say.

I wish we used our FB page a little more but I don't know how.

 

[alalsip]

I like bdo, but I get sick of the same people posting all the time. And the same questions over and over. I've learned a lot here and there. I love the nutrition chart and the vitamins Beth makes! Plus you tend to get answered faster on bdo. And yeah, that was my Falkor. You must have been talking about Mucho then. Lol

 

[jarich]

Sounds like a pretty great set up. Love hearing that people offer a larger enclosure to their young lizards.

Did your vet take a swab at all? An RI can be caused by a number of things, but what you are describing can also have a number of causes besides RI. Its often hard to tell with really young lizards like yours without running tests. As Patsy said, bumping up the heat a bit can help their immune system kick in stronger and will often clear this up for them if it is an RI.

I would perhaps suspend the baths for a bit and leave the cover off. The humidity levels you are talking about are pretty much perfect (35-45%) so that is not the issue. Covering the enclosure will limit ventilation, and that is something you dont want to do if it is an RI. She should shed just fine on her own without baths, but its possible she is changing temperature too quickly with baths. The added stress with such young ones is also a concern. Id recommend very limited handling until the issue clears up. I know its hard to step back sometimes, but they often need some down time to recover.

 

[alalsip]

Well, since she's so little I really only hold her once a day (that's all I did before she got sick anyway) and that is at bed time. So I guess I just won't hold her except to give that nasty shot to her. No labs run, but she's already getting better. I'll take the sheet off and just keep an eye on the temps. I might add a small bulb to the cool side since it drops to 72 (regular room temp) with the sheet off during the day. It's actually helped to regulate the temps a bit since the enclosure has so much open! It's got a full screen top. I'll just keep feeding her in her enclosure then. I switched to feeding her in her enclosure when I saw ask the baby beardies getting sick on bdo. She just doesn't eat that good this way and I was going to switch back to taking her out and feeding her in a feeding tank. It's so hard dealing with them when they are so little....

 

[jarich]

Ah, I think I understand a bit better about the sheet. Could you post a picture maybe? You might want to keep some of it covered, especially around the basking area, so that the heat stays in.

 

[alalsip]

- top

- full tank

 

[PatsyB]

Be careful with that sheet on the light!

 

[alalsip]

Oh yeah, it never touches the light. In fact, the screen isn't even warm by the sheet, the heat goes all downward. Out hermit crabs have a similar set up, we just make sure the fabric never touches the lamps