Pop Pop

[Faequine]

Gergs breathing has that very faint pop pop noise to it. Yesturday he had salt crust all over his nose, in a larger amount then usual. I had rinsed him off (i know its not a usual practice. the temp of the water matched his body so it would shock him ) a couple of days ago. he started sheding again and his vent looked a little crusted from the cray substrate he digs in,which was the reason for the rinse. I wonder if maybe he inhaled water and this will pass or if this could be more serious.

[Wolfus_305]

Hi Faequine,
The only thing I could find when I searched this was that it could be a RI (respiratory infection). I am not an expert, in fact I am far from it but on the other posts I looked at it was described as a popping sound when breathing.
Hope this helps a little
Kenny

[Faequine]

Isnt he suposed to blow bubbles or have foam around his mouth or is that only for serious infections? The vets round how dont know much about herps, cept in sherwood park i beleive but i dont have a car to get out there. Its hard to tell what goes on with him on a day to day basis. The substrate i use is the clay stuff, let him dig his own cave, that i cant get into! >.<

[Wolfus_305]

Is there anything unusual about Greg's appearance? Something that you could post a picture of? Oh, by the way...what exactly is Greg?
I'm not sure about the foam or bubbles sorry.
Kenny

[Chu'Wuti]

Popping/wheezing noises can be the early symptoms, the foam & mucous may develop later if this is a URI.

Post photos of the encrustation, too. Tell us about the temps & humidity in the enclosure, too. You might raise the temps a little right away to help him fight off the infection if that's what it is.

[Faequine]

Greg is a Uromastyx hardwickii.

I have pics of him on facebook, and as my old avatar with my old account. Sorry no pics of the crustation thought i can tell you it was going upto the ridges of his eyes.

Temp, when i checked on fri- hot +32c/ +90 F( hot enough the themometer doesnt read it) cool- 28-20C. 82-86 F. Humidity was 35%.

I semi freaked out on friday, cause there was more crustiness. Took him to the vet, which i found close to home that actualy deals with herps. The only thing that could have caused it, they think, is the 15% rise in humdi. Before we move in dec and i lived at my moms the humdi was at 20%. They checked out his heart and lungs on the doppler (which was awsome, and i so cant wait till i can start being a AHT in 3 years), they checked a stool sample and found no parasites ( hes never been tested for them), and sent me home with a test tube and slides. Im to bring back the test tube of crustys, which i collected yesterday, today. no luck on getting a slide of the wet stuff. Theyll be doing testing to comfrime an infection. Which i hope its not... ill have to go back home before i take the tube to the vets, cause i forgot it at home when i was leaving to take kids to daycare and go to school.

[Chu'Wuti]

OK, keep us posted.

[Faequine]

sent it in yesturday, i am now awaiting a call. which if i dont get by tomorrow ill be calling them. Greg is soo mad at me right now, he wont come out of his cave, just pokes his head out and glares at me with a look that says " I so dont trust you anymore"

[Faequine]

Got at call from the vet. No infection was found in the sample i sent. Theryre looking into other causes. He hasn't come outa his cave for days now>.>

[Chu'Wuti]

Hmmm . . . I'm not sure what the next step should be other than wait & watch & see.

I can't get to any of your photos either on Facebook or here in your old account.

hot enough the themometer doesnt read it???

What kind of thermometer are you using? A good digital thermometer should be able to read the temps. Increasing the temps toward the upper limits of his appropriate range might help him fight off whatever this is.

Sorry Greg is so mad at you. Hang in there!

[new_ICULIZARD]

Just noticed you said your hot side is only 90F. Thats not nearly hot enough for any type of Uromastyx. You need to raise his basking spot to at least 110F and that should clear up any type humidity in his environment which would help out with the lung/breathing problems. Like Chu'Wuti said, you should get yourself a good digital thermometer so you can accurately read temps.

Travis

[Faequine]

the themometers in gregs cage are those strips.... when i was testing the themometers for the snakes cage i put them in gregs basking spot and they where reading 110-120f. i use a 100w bulb, 150w was too high, it melted the top plastic on the cage-.- New themometers for greg and a humidiy reader for the snake are on my need to get list.

[Chu'Wuti]

Yeah, the strip thermometers are pretty worthless. They only measure the temp of the glass at the spot they're stuck on it, so you don't know what the temp is where Greg is living/basking/sleeping/hanging out.

Do you have a screen top? Is there a place you could set a heat lamp on the metal of the screen top, or is it plastic, too? You may need to get a metal screen if so, so that you can get Greg's temps up to get him back to good health.

Hang in there!

[Faequine]

yes it has a metal screen top, the 150 w was melting plastic around its sides >.> will check out backing temps with moniter from snakes cage. will try to get most of the to dos don to night>.>

[Chu'Wuti]

Good for you. Hope Greg is doing OK and that things improve when you get the temps improved.

[Faequine]

bought a new heat bulb for Greg. 100w Halogen Neodymium lamp>.> suposed to put out more heat then the other kind i had. We'll see.

[Faequine]

the new bulb really ups the temp in one spot, im guessing it ws about 130-140 f before i placed it on the glass on the hot side which is about 90-100. Not sure if this is better or not. Im really not sure if i should use it i think it get too hot. Help >.<

[new_ICULIZARD]

You really should get yourself a digital thermometer, preferably one with a probe, and check the basking spot. They are usually pretty cheap at Canadian Tire or Walmart and work much better than guessing.

If you think the bulb is way too hot, the last thing you want to do is put it on a glass top. You will end up with shattered glass all over your tank and possibly burn marks on your uromastyx. My suggestion is to raise the fixture until the temp is roughly 110-120 degrees F on the basking spot.

Travis

[Chu'Wuti]

Faequine, if you get a thermostat, you can regulate the amount of heat the bulb emits so that you won't burn Greg. Still, don't put it directly on glass--as ICULIZARD says, the glass will shatter from the heat.

There are thermostats and regulation systems for day-night regulation of herps' environments--you tell the system what temps to maintain and it does all the work. I myself am using a Zilla Power Center, digital, with two Reptitemp 500R thermostats to regulate the heat and light on my BP's enclosure. However, Mykee has recommended another brand as being better:

Herpstats by Spyder Robotics: Spyder Robotics Herpstat (http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html)

[Faequine]

i just got exraterra themometers. Had one under the halos spot before i put it on the wall. i was guessing from the distance it went off the scale.

http://www.exo-terra.com/download/high_res/products/images/PT-2465_Analog_Thermometer.jpg

so under the spot it was reading were the seconds r in terra is. On the glass its reading 2 or 3 above what the pic shows.


that regulator is $109>.> itll have to wait a bit. I'll get it eventually, but right now i need to sort out the mess of rent, daycare, bills, food, and not enough money -.- We'll see what visa says haha.

theres no worries about shattering glass, the top is a metal mess screen.

[Faequine]

Got Greg a new 150 w tight beam. Puts his tems above 110F, finally. lol. Ill just have to watch out for metaling plastic... As a result humd's down 15% so hopefully its the end of them noises!

[new_ICULIZARD]

Just wondering if you are still using the ExoTerra thermometer. If so, those are really not the best at measuring temps and don't work at all for humidity. I'd suggest again to get a digital thermometer, they are usually around $15 at Canadian Tire but work 100 times better.

I'm still not sure why you are worried about melting plastic. I thought you said it was a metal top after you said you had the heat lamp on glass...confused???

Travis

[Faequine]

The top slides forward. And when you do the light will melt the plastic thats usually under the front part of the lid. The ones i got for now are freebees, so ill have to wait till i can get to a walmart or canandian tire to get digital ones. Way better then shelling out 25+ at Pj's. What sections would they be in?