communicabl disease??

[matmq]

Are respitory infections communicable i recently brought a water monitor and found out some of it's cagemates had respitory infections i didn't really notice anything to indicate one but my interaction with him has been strictly limited over the past four weeks to limit stress to an absolute minimum but now one of my savs has come down with a resp infection but i couldn't understand wher he got it from as i am obsessive about my temps e.t.c but very stupidly when i first aquired my water monitor i broke one of my golden rules and didn't wash my hands between dealing with my different species of monitor and after picking up a regurgitated cricket in the water monitor tank and disposing of it i left his room and noticed that the savs chicks and rat had defrosted so fed this straight to him before washing my hands he has been to the vets and is undergoing treatment with baytril but i am still concerned as the vet i normally use has disappeared and the one he is seeing isn't experienced in dealing with reptiles at all, does a monitors immune system weaken with age as he is currently 8 years old and this is the first time any of my own have had to undergo treatment it is normally the rescues, I am keeping a close eye on the res of my animals but so far so good sorry it's such a long post cheers mat

[K1LOS]

Hey,
i don't think that the disease is transferable directly. I believe it would often give the appearance that it is, because cage mates will likely catch the same disease. The reason these other specimens would catch it are the same as the original infected specimen, husbandry. Poor temps and/or humidity are likely culprits. So i don't think it can be caught from a cagemate, but i do think that the other cagemates are likely to catch the same thing on their own if the habitat isn't changed.

Geoff

[matmq]

my temps and everything are all fine i check 2x daily and have never had this problem with any of my other monitors before until i got the water monitor, which is why i think theat it must be communicable but need this confirming
mat

[kap10cavy]

When in doubt go to the vet, better to be safe than sorry.

Scott

[matmq]

The sav has been to the vets and is undergoing treatment for it and i have examined the water monior and he is showing no sins of anything except not liking being touched which the end of my finger will vouch for lol, I am also trying to exercise as much caution as possible whilst deciding on vetinary treatment as the one i am currently having to use has no experience with reptiles at all and even asked me to bring a book along the first time i took him
cheers mat

[kap10cavy]

Melissa Kaplan's site has some good reading on why to see a herp vet, has a link on the bottom of the page to help you find one in your area. Here is the link for finding a vet.

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/index.html#vetlist

[matmq]

I appreciate your input but have already checked everywhere for a herp vet in my area, I am in the U.K and I have been keeping reptiles for around 14 years I used o have a good reptile vet which i used to use but like i said i think his practice must have closed down and now the closest one is around a 4-6 hour round trip, I am well aware i need to find another reptile vet closer as i rehome reptiles aswell and some of these require vetinary treatment and all are taken for a check-up
cheers mat

[V.hb]

Under proper care an R.I. will cure itself, depending on how bad it is.. you may want to get some baytril, but for now id just watch the animal.