Urgent Care :: open mouth breathing

[tropicalcwgrl]

my baby RES is open mouth breathing I think, but I think it's only wehen he is under water. I just noticed it today. he barely opens his mouth. and today when i had him out, i noticed a clear bubble come out of his nose, but it only happened once. i just got him and i really don't want him to die . what could be wrong?

[bradhart]

if it's just one small clear bubble on the end of his nose, thats normal. It's an 'oxygen reserve' for them under water. if there's foamy bubbles, and gasping breathing (lopsided sqimming, unballanced etc) it mak be an RI

[tropicalcwgrl]

well the bubble i saw was when he was out of the water and i was holding him...and i haven't noticed any other symptoms.

[marisa]

If you see frequent open-mouth breathing when he's out of the water/basking along with bubbles from the nose or mouth, be concerned. An occasional bubble under the water isn't a cause for concern.

[Marie]

I inherited a free slider from someone online yesterday. We're a bit of a reptile family here. Brought him home, built a habitat and went to the petstore and stocked up on supplies (so muvh for free! LOL!). Yeterday I did notice that he swam a bit tilted to the right, and breathes open mouthed. Seemed like gasping. From what I've just researched online, seems he might have an RI. Most everything says vet visit is in order for antibiotics. I'm really not in the position to handle a vet visit on the checkbook right now. Is there something I can do for him now, at home? Herbal remedy or something besides heat and plenty of area to bask?

[marisa]

The tilting to one side often means that an RI has progressed to pneumonia, in which case he needs a herp vet and antibiotics ASAP. This is more than the onset of an RI (which often means a vet visit as well). If you don't know of one, there's a sticky with links to locating one at the top of the forum.

In the meantime, keep him warm--water temp about 82F, basking area 90-92F--and out of any breezes/drafts. But get him to a vet; the sooner you do, the better chance he has for a recovery.