Tips for Respiratory Infection care?

[ibeebonesy]

Beardie Info:
Luna - 4ish yo female normal type rescue
40G breeder with reptile carpet
Reptisun 10 tube UVB across the top, basking rock on one side, hammock on the other for her to get as close to UVB as she wants (6" or so at the high point, 12"ish when she's laying on the bottom).
Hot side temps - ambient 95F, basking ~106-110F
Middle temps - ambient 85F
Cool temps - ambient 75-80F (tends to stay closer to 75F)
Night temps - ambient 71-77F, never lower than 70F.
All temps measured with a Vernier digital stainless probe thermometer, a couple of cheapy thermometers stay in the tank for quick glances.
Humidity - ~35%

Little bit of history: Luna has not had a fun life. I'm a former zookeeper turned science teacher that occasionally takes in rescue herps, and she got dumped on us by some really crappy people who were keeping her on aquarium sand and feeding her yard crickets with no UVB. She was severely underweight, has some kind of neuro/MBD related issues with walking and running that the vet can't really pinpoint but she's not the most graceful little thing. She can get up and move now, but at first she was falling over and dragging one of her back legs. She's put on about 80G in four months and still has a bit more to go. I am ridiculously fortunate to have worked for and live next to veterinary teaching hospital that produces some damn good ZEW vets, so I've got an awesome herp specialist on hand.

The question: So, what can I do on top of our antibiotic injections that will help speed up recovery for an upper respiratory infection and stimulate her appetite for greens so she gets her hydration levels up again? She's getting daily warm soaks and she'll pounce on any insect that wiggles in her general vicinity, but she's been avoiding her greens like the plague. We've tried collard, dandelion, and mustard greens...but she's just bleh towards them. She did eat some squash Saturday and a little banana for a treat today, but other then a couple of supers with her calcium and phoenix worms and waxworms we haven't had much luck. We were holding back on the wigglies because she was asymptomatic for a respiratory specific issue until Sunday, so we were chalking the little bit of lethargy and lack of appetite up to her starting to brumate or maybe a mild impaction (we started seeing tiny poops and longer than normal in between poops, we couldn't get a vet appointment until Monday anyways, or she would've gone last week). Is it safe to feed her a little more of the higher moisture content worms to help? I've got a pod of hornworms and waxworms, but I wasn't sure about all that extra fat at once. Should I try with some baby food and mix in some reptiboost? Her injections are one every three days for a month, and each contains a little fluids along with the antibiotics so that should help, but we'd like to do whatever we can to make sure it doesn't get worse.

I'm new to beardies, have worked with them but never owned one before, and I'm more familiar with veterinary care for aquatic, semi-aquatic and tropical species and venomous snakes. I've found a lot of info on diagnosing the infection and symptoms, but I'm not having much luck finding after-we-saw-the-vet support tips. I have a really great reptile specialist we see, but she was booked solid yesterday and I didn't have a lot of time to pick her brain about anything I can do to help on top of the medicine.

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor girl. It sounds like she's responding well to your care if she's gained that much weight. That's a good sign. Hornworms are a good source of hydration but the waxworms are pretty fatty so I'd avoid them. First thing is to keep her well hydrated and get her weight up a bit but you don't want to offer too much fat and protein, especially at first. It may take quite a while to get her interested in veges if she isn't used to a good diet but it's important to keep trying. Once she's at a healthy weight it's easier to start withholding bugs to get her over to veges. You can offer extra hydration by dripping water on her nose via dropper or plastic syringe. If she's thirsty she should lick at the water drops the way they'd lick rain in the wild. Your setup sounds good so that should help her as well.

For the RI, are you sure it's an infection? If so, you could discuss nebulizer treatment with your vet and see if that would be a good option. Antibiotics can be hard on their systems so it's important to keep her well hydrated during treatment. They may also affect her energy level and appetite so it's good to limit the meds as much as is reasonable.

 

[ibeebonesy]

Poor girl. It sounds like she's responding well to your care if she's gained that much weight. That's a good sign. Hornworms are a good source of hydration but the waxworms are pretty fatty so I'd avoid them. First thing is to keep her well hydrated and get her weight up a bit but you don't want to offer too much fat and protein, especially at first. It may take quite a while to get her interested in veges if she isn't used to a good diet but it's important to keep trying. Once she's at a healthy weight it's easier to start withholding bugs to get her over to veges. You can offer extra hydration by dripping water on her nose via dropper or plastic syringe. If she's thirsty she should lick at the water drops the way they'd lick rain in the wild. Your setup sounds good so that should help her as well.

For the RI, are you sure it's an infection? If so, you could discuss nebulizer treatment with your vet and see if that would be a good option. Antibiotics can be hard on their systems so it's important to keep her well hydrated during treatment. They may also affect her energy level and appetite so it's good to limit the meds as much as is reasonable.

Thank you for the advice on the hornworms!! I'll order an extra pod so we have some more on hand. We're really not too sure if she'd ever seen veggies, she came with pellets and the nasty crickets and that was it. :/ Fortunately she's bulking up pretty fast despite her pickiness. She does drink out of a water bowl, and in the bath and from a dropper, so we've bumped up how often we try to get her to drink.

She's got some faint lung crackling going on and started with the occasional wheeze on Sunday, so vet was pretty sure it's an infection. I'll ask her about a nebulizer treatment tomorrow and see what she thinks. From what I gathered they staggered her antibiotic doses so it's enough to be effective but not going to totally tank her system. I really appreciate the suggestions! Thank you!

 

[CooperDragon]

That sounds good. If you're ordering worms I suggest picking up some silk worms too. They're quite good as a feeder option as well.

 

[kingofnobbys]

see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=231427&start=15 , see links re F10 nebulization for reptiles with RIs .

 

[ibeebonesy]

see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=231427&start=15 , see links re F10 nebulization for reptiles with RIs .

Awesome! I pretty much have everything except the F10 for that, so I'll ask my vet about it. I was thinking about switching over to F10 instead of chlorhexadine for disinfecting stuff anyways since it doesn't break down as fast. Thanks!!