This is an emergency!!!

MY tortoise just had bubbles come out of his nose this has never happend!! what do i do? it has been warm in there and he did eat some yesterday. He was fine yesterday but last night it got down to 60 degrees becuase his night time light broke. i aredy went out and got him a new one. does this have anything to do with it? please anyone help!

I am not a tortoise expert by ANY stretch of the term....but I wouldn't think his light going out just for last night would cause him to come down with an illness already by this morning.

Hopefully someone with more tort knowledge will step in soon to give you better advice, but for now I would say to simply make sure he is nice and warm, and make a vet appointment first thing Monday morning. As long as he is still eating and active, he'll probably be fine until tomorrow.

Depending on what kind of enclosure you have him in, I'm guessing that since you are in Ohio, it may have been getting a bit cooler than normal in his enclosure, I know I've had to "up" my heaters a bit in a couple of enclosures, the Iowa winter has been kicking in here. Double check to make sure he's got proper warm temps, with an accurate thermometer.

Good luck.

Sounds like a respritory infection, and he's probably had it for a while if he's got mucus bubbles coming out of his nose. You need to get him to a vet as soon as possible.

What are the temps in the cage normally? and what type of tortoise is it?

He is a cherry head red foot tortoise. His temps should be around 80-85 degrees in his warm area.Those are his noramal temps during the day. But at night i try to keep it around 75. i have had a heater in there at night since late october to keep it warm to prevent this. i took him out of his tank and just misted him, then the bubbles started. thanks everyone for there fast replies.

ok i made a vet appointment and cranked the heat

after a little reading online and some experience with redfoot torts it recommended to give them a basking spot of about 90 degrees. I housed ours outside this summer when the temps were warmer and they were kept at about 88-90 degrees in the day and low 80's high 70's at night with no respitory issues. Hope all works out for you.

Thanks everyone your all a good help

Hello,

Great thanks for helping her. Yes, the basking of 90 is much better than 85. Especially if he has a respiratory infection. Did you get him to the vet today?
I hope he gets to feeling better soon.

Tracie

I just got it up to about 90 today. i have a vet appointment for tommorow. Wish him luck

Please let us know what the vet has to say, good luck!

Here's a really good link to some tort info that you may find helpful as well:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/vivarium.htm