General Care Discussion :: DUMBORK has RI - vet visit story

[dumbork14]

another update:

DAy 3 of taking meds - saw bubbles coming out of nose. appetite - ravenous as ever. been feeding him just pellets and cuttlebone, will switch to veggies once he's strong.

observations: usually she poops twice a day every after feeding (am and pm), but now she poops only in the morning. could this be the side effect of the medicines?

[steve]

Bubbles out of the nose can be normal but mucus would be a bad sign.

It could be the meds but when they poop is not always predicable (I wish it were).

[dumbork14]

day 10 of meds - eating (and pooping) normally. fed her just pellets and cuttlebone.
doctor advised to hold off vegetables until she's strong enough.
haven't seen her bask yet, she just stays under the ramp.
she's also lethargic, not playing with her marbles or moving around the tank (tank has shallow water).
eyes seem normal, not swollen/big/irritated.
water temps at 82F, there's some skin shedding on her neck and front limbs.
basking temps at 90F.

it's disconcerting to witness your turt's different moods - active and playful one minute and then suddenly becoming lethargic and slow.
upcoming check up this friday. hope she's on her way to recovery!

wish us luck!

[darla1699]

good luck! seems he'll survive it.

[steve]

Good luck! How the treatment can end soon.

[dumbork14]

OH NO!

made a mistake.
i positioned the UVB and heat lamp closer to the raised basking area to entice her to bask more. i didn't count on the heat affecting the glass and the water!

when i got home, the water temp is 90F (32C)!! the temp on the basking area is a crisp 90F.

any suggestions on the set-up??

[steve]

Are you certain that the basking light was able to warm up the water that much?

[dumbork14]

yes. i positioned the heat lamp closer because it's only giving 88F with the distance of 14 inches. now, the heAt lamp (60 watts) was 12 inches above the area. i take temps in the morning and evening, before opening the two lamps and 15 minutes after opening the 2 lamps. here's the numbers:

basking area temp: am (before lamp) - 85
am (after lamp) - 90 (12 inches distance)

water temp: am (before lamp) - 80
am (after lamp) - 80

then i went to work. when i got home,

basking area temp: pm - 90

water temp: pm - 90.

i felt the water with my hand, and it's quite warm. i immediately transferred dumbork to her feeding container.

[penelope]

First, thank you for sharing your story.
Second, I can relate to how you felt when you thought Dumdork was dead. I can be very scary and heartbreaking, just remember they can go hours without breathing, so never give up.
When Penelope was on Baytril she also got a weird sore on her neck. The vet was not concerned and it went away. I wonder if it is a side effect (???)
Water temp...well...it was a 100 degrees last week for 3-4 days. The temperature in the house was 91 degrees (yuk). At one point the water temp was 83 and basking area was 90. There are some things we simply can not control.
Now the heat (weather) is back to normal and so are the basking / water temps. I don't don't know what the weather is like or the temp in your home, but I just learned that it can make a difference.
I wound up turning off the heater, while continuing to check the water temp and basking area.

I am sending my best wishes to you and Dumdork - especially you. It can be trying times.

[PridgNYC]

The problem is you only have a couple of inches of water in there. That little amount of water will heat up very quickly under almost any influence. You need to fill that tank up at least halfway. The water should be at least 1 1/2 times as deep as his shell length. If he falls upside down in that little amount of water, he may not able to turn himself back over.

Before I had finished reading this thread I noticed that your basking bulbs were kind of far from the platform and was going to ask what strength bulbs you are using. 60 watts for the UVA (incandescent) is probably not strong enough at that distance. At 12-15inches you should be using at least a Repti-glo 10.0. What kind of UVB are you using. You will need to get the lights much closer to the platform, but the solution is to raise the water level. It takes a lot more energy to heat a large volume of water than it does to heat the couple inches you have in there.

So, more water, some good filtration, and bulbs closer to the basking area will keep your turtle much healthier.

[dumbork14]

okay thanks. the shallow water is only temporary, she's on the last day of meds and our check up is on monday. if the RI is gone i will fill the tank (15 gals) and put back his ATBA. the distance of the lamps are: 10 inches (uvb), 11 inches (basking lamp). the temp of water plays aroubd 80-82F, basking temp is 92-94.

[penelope]

I agree, the water depth does need to be deep enough to allow her to flip over; I am surprised the vet did not dry-dock her.
Right now the gradient temp between water and basking area is good.
I hope the RI is gone. However, if she had a really bad RI, the vet may ask you to continue meds a bit longer (I just don't want you to be surprised, though I am hoping that is not the case). If it happens that Dumbork needs more meds, ask the vet if he/she wants Dumbork dry-docked or not.
Crossing my fingers for you!

[dumbork14]

he actually extended the meds already. it was supposed to be administered for 14 days (from july 14 to july 28). when we came back on the 28th the vet extended it to another week.

nope, the vet didn't say to dry dock her.

on the depth of the water, if you can see the previous pictures, the tank is slightly tilted(i put a piece of wood under one side of the tank). according to the vet, this allows Dumbork to completely submerge herself if she needs cooling without aggravating the RI. the vet mentioned that deep water can aggravate the RI because the lungs will need to keep working in order to stay afloat or sink to the bottom.


since july 14 i haven't seen her use the basking area. the weather was cold all week because of a tropical storm here and i became worried for a while. yesterday, she came up the ramp and got dry. she's basking also today, maybe this is a sign that she's getting better?
thank you for all the comments. we appreciate this.

let me know your thoughts.

[dumbork14]

quick question, how to recognize the "normal" eyelids? dumbork blinked slowly several times today, and i managed to get a quick picture. this is her right eye (closed,open and another closed eye picture). all is normal, right? my concern is that she is blinking slowly. i'm searching for pictures in the forum to see whether her eyes are bulging or not (normal eye size). thanks!

[steve]

It looks normal. Was this taken right after a water change?