Omnomnami
Nichole Schaan
Well, I'm hoping I caught this early enough to treat it on my own and fast. I woke up first thing this morning and called a vet to get him in...sadly, all of the reptile vets in a 100 mile radius won't be back until next week...I would drive that far for a vet if the roads weren't covered in snow and ice now.
The only thing that I can think of that caused this is the climate outside getting colder and VERY dry so it must have messed with the temps and humidity in the reptile room...It's terrible where I'm at. But, getting to the point, my Pied has been showing small signs of a RI. He has the crackling and bubbling but he doesn't have any signs of struggling for breath or gaping yet...I got a quick look at the inside of his mouth and there isn't much mucus build-up, just a bit of bubbling...not even noticeable enough to capture it on camera.
The thing that worries me most is that I found a small amount of blood on the edge of his mouth last night and I wiped it away with a soft damp towel which he didn't seem to mind. He hasn't had any blood on him today so I'm hoping what I'm doing is working...
I have been reading several sites and have made some changes to fight against the weather here. I moved him in to a new tub and in to my bedroom that is across the house from the other animals. He has a heat pad that is raising the temps to the mid 90's on one side of his tub and mid 80's on the other side (He's being housed in a 32 quart Sterilite tub as usual). His substrate is news paper and he has his usual hide and water dish that has been cleaned for his new home. I also raised the humidity a bit and will raise it more once I see that he's almost completely better (I heard that too much humidity at once can cause them to drown in their own mucus which is why I didn't raise it much yet).
I'm very cheerful that his feeding response is as good as always. I just offered him a live rat fuzzy and he tagged and ate it without hesitation and I was surprised to hear that his breathing wasn't very crackly while he ate. His last meal before this was last Wednesday so he got to eat a day early.
He also just shed about two weeks ago!
If anyone has more advice for me, I would greatly appreciate it and so will Piper!
The only thing that I can think of that caused this is the climate outside getting colder and VERY dry so it must have messed with the temps and humidity in the reptile room...It's terrible where I'm at. But, getting to the point, my Pied has been showing small signs of a RI. He has the crackling and bubbling but he doesn't have any signs of struggling for breath or gaping yet...I got a quick look at the inside of his mouth and there isn't much mucus build-up, just a bit of bubbling...not even noticeable enough to capture it on camera.
The thing that worries me most is that I found a small amount of blood on the edge of his mouth last night and I wiped it away with a soft damp towel which he didn't seem to mind. He hasn't had any blood on him today so I'm hoping what I'm doing is working...
I have been reading several sites and have made some changes to fight against the weather here. I moved him in to a new tub and in to my bedroom that is across the house from the other animals. He has a heat pad that is raising the temps to the mid 90's on one side of his tub and mid 80's on the other side (He's being housed in a 32 quart Sterilite tub as usual). His substrate is news paper and he has his usual hide and water dish that has been cleaned for his new home. I also raised the humidity a bit and will raise it more once I see that he's almost completely better (I heard that too much humidity at once can cause them to drown in their own mucus which is why I didn't raise it much yet).
I'm very cheerful that his feeding response is as good as always. I just offered him a live rat fuzzy and he tagged and ate it without hesitation and I was surprised to hear that his breathing wasn't very crackly while he ate. His last meal before this was last Wednesday so he got to eat a day early.
He also just shed about two weeks ago!If anyone has more advice for me, I would greatly appreciate it and so will Piper!