Mouth breathing concern- Update

[ssr]

Hi everyone. I have a question on my skinks breathing. Sometimes when she breaths it's almost like gasping. Her inhales are with her mouth open. It's seems to be worse right after she eats. The temp on the hot end is 96 and the humidity is at 40%. She breaths normally when she is completely at rest or sleeping. She rubs her nose on the side of the enclosure and in her subtrate alot like she is trying to clean out her nostrils. Her nostrils are not completely open like I would have thought they would be and I have looked at pictures of other posts and noticed that other skinks nostrils are also not clear open ports. Am I seeing that correctly or are her's plugged up with something? It doesn't look like phlegm. I have tried taking her into a humid room for about 20 min for a few nights and she just relaxes in my lap and falls asleep so it may help a little but not long term. What do you guys think? Is this breathing something to be concerned about or is it normal at all? Thanks for your feedback.

[Helikaon]

deffinately a possible worry, check the skinks mouth look for redness or mucous. does she salivate a tonne while eating and then sits with head lifted to breath letting the saliva run down her throat. next can you hear any crackling in the lungs? and just to cover most basis she wouldnt be heavily pregnant would she?

[ssr]

There is no redness or mucous around her mouth but she does tilt her head a little and gets bubbly saliva on the sides of her mouth. I don't hear any crackling but now I am really worried.
There's no chance of her being pregnant.
What do you think her problem is? Respiratory? My vet does not specialize in reptiles but has a ball python of his own and is willing to look at my skink. What should I suggest to him or tell him to look for to help get a correct diagnosis and proper treatment? There aren't any reptile vets even close to me or I would go to one. It's sounds like your thinking this is abnormal enough to warrant a vet check.

[Helikaon]

well i'd take him in and i would get him to have a look at a fresh feacal sample under the microscope. sounds like it could be microbial. if he finds an over population of protazoans or somethign similar a drug called flagyl (metronidazole) will treat them, you should see a result very quickly but continue with a 7 day dose. the dose rate is 20mg/kg and i crush the tablet and mix into a glucose syrup and then administer orally. because we cant get flagyl liquid here. just get the vet to have a look at him and yes i would recommend looking at the feacal sample and possibly a saliva smear. if he has no luck with that i would say to him to call a herp vet and see what they can offer him advice wise.

[ssr]

Thanks Helikaon. I'll do that.

[Richard.C]

yep sounds like respitory to me,i had some young westerns that recently got respitory infections from a sick centralian i stupidly put in with them,the centralian died of the respitory infection unfortunatly but the westerns and stumpys went to the vets, and with some meds in them were back to normal with in a week,and i learned a valuble lesson,your description says open mouth breathing,with respitory infections u should be able to see saliva oozing from the mouth if u gently run your finger around its throat,also its eyes will water as well,and there sneezing sounds more congested,a reptile vet is your best bet,its worth the effort to,as they will tell u exactly what the go is,and have your bluey back to good quick smart

[Leigh]

I'd be a little concerned that he ISN'T a herp vet, even if he is willing to have a look, have you seen/heard the bluey sneeze, you can put a droplet of water on or near the nostril to induce a sneeze, try this and see/hear if it sounds normal.

[SailleSkinklover]

www.herpvetconnection.com
www.arav.com
both good sites to find a specialized Herp vet in your area. . .
Good luck, I would bump up thye warm side to 100 if psooible, its best to keep them warm. Also, apparently the steam baths can help, I think it was MartinsPerson who recently had her Skinker need "steam baths"?
(Hopefully she'll speak up)
You can also do a thread search on sick skinks, or respiratory infections or URTI's, and maybe that'll help give you some idea of what symptoms might be going on with your skink.
If you can post pics of her nostrils, it might help as well.
But in my opinion, a vet visit is definitely needed, for peace of mind of health if nothing else.
Good luck, I hope she'll be OK!

[Tattoo]

Sounds like keeping the temps up a bit and going to the vet are the way to go. Good luck and keep us posted.

[MartinsPerson]

Hi there,

It is absolutely essential that you get your skink to a herp vet. Don't go to just anyone as an attempt to help without the proper training can make your skink much worse. Check out the links that Saille posted, they're great.

In the mean time, bump your hot spot to around 105-110. Make sure that the humidity is where you think it is by using a hydrometer. You should also pull everything out of the tank, all decorations, just in case they're harbouring any infectious agents. Replace the substrate with paper towels that you should change daily. Replace the hide with a shoe box that has a hole cut in it. Change all of the water every day scrubbing the dish each time.

The closed off nostrils are definitely cause for concern. It is likely that its inflamed nasal tissues and will require anti-inflammatories. If there is a bacterial infection, it will require antibiotics. In either case, steaming helped my guy quite a bit. I put him in a pillow case and suspended him above my sink with a towel covering the sink and weighed down on both sides. I then turned the hot water on full blast for 15 minutes every day. Make sure that your skink is not in the direct path of the steam as this could cause a burn. Instead place the skink off to the side so that the steam builds up around it. Also make sure that the skink is high enough that its not getting wet.

Again, get your skink to a vet. If this is a URI you will greatly benefit from early treatment, and if its something else you'll be able to identify it sooner and your chances of recovery will improve. Good luck!

[ssr]

Thanks everyone for your input. I DID find a herp vet this morning that's only 35 miles away. The vet comes in part time to see the exotics and I lucked out and caught her when she was in. She gave us an appointment at noon. Lizzie (sorry about the name, didn't realize there were so many Lizzie's til too late-now it seems weird to change it) has a slight Respiratory infection. She got one shot of Vitamin A,D&E and one shot of Baytril today. I have to give her another shot of each tomorrow and then just a shot of Baytril everyday for the next 5 days. Her little legs are going to be so sore! The vet said to call her at any time if Lizzie got worse or stopped eating.
When we got back home I figured she would be so thrilled to be back in her enclosure that she would dash off my hand but she just sat there and looked at me as if to say "I can't believe you put me through that"!
I feel much better now and hopefully the medicine will kick in and all will be good again soon.
serena

[MartinsPerson]

If you're injecting in the muscle you don't have to use the legs. You can inject in the apaxial muscles to either side of the spine. If you know where the loin muscles are on a pig or other livestock animal, the are in the same spot on a bluey and they run the length of the animal's back. You'll want to inject in the upper 1/3 of the animal's body (I usually go in the apaxial about 1 inch behind the front legs). I also switch sides each day, and work my way down the apaxials so that I'm not injecting the same spot over and over. This causes too much trauma and can actually increase the chances of infection.

Did your vet give you any saline to mix with the baytril? Recent studies have shown that diluting the baytril with saline will reduce the chances of a hematoma at the site of injection. You mix one part saline to one part baytril when you're injecting (Draw up the baytril, then draw the same amount saline so that it only mixes in the syringe).

[SailleSkinklover]

I have a question regarding Baytril: How effective is it given orally? I have never given any of my herps injections, and I seriously hope to never have to! (especially the smaller species!)
I have only ever given Chuffers Panacure orally ( he had pinworms) and Benebac and Metronidazole, but all of this was for digestive issues.
I have given Baytril to my female Fat Tail, but only orally as well.
I guess this is a question for either my vet or anyone with Vet background to answer?

[Helikaon]

you should never give baytril as an injection as it is highly likely to cause a sterile abscess, oral is the only method for baytril in reptiles.

[MartinsPerson]

you should never give baytril as an injection as it is highly likely to cause a sterile abscess, oral is the only method for baytril in reptiles.

I disagree. I used baytril as an injection but it was diluted with saline. I meant sterile abcess above, not hematoma.

[Helikaon]

still not worth it, it is extremely irritant if you want to give an injectable you should go fortum or something similar. this also then gets rid of the risk that you have an ignorant person who starts injecting into the tail and has a skink drop its tail on them. all texts say never to use baytril as an injection which is funny because they are american and uk texts. the increased bioavailability of the drug used intramusclar over oral is simply not worth the risk to your pet.

[ssr]

The vet prefilled the syringes so I don't know if it is diluted with saline. Could you explain sterile abscess and it's consequences more?

[SailleSkinklover]

I guess if its as effective given orally, wouldn't that actually be easier? My Herp vet just flavors the meds and I have no problem giving them orally at all.
ssr, did your vet go over how/where to inject your skink at all?

[Richard.C]

my westerns had a diluted baytril given orally,cleared them up in a week

[ssr]

ssr, did your vet go over how/where to inject your skink at all?

Yes, she had me give one of the shots there in the office.