Eyes shut again!

[Ardelle]

 

[zolasmum]

He does look a sweetie ! I would't worry about letting him have a small amount of grated carrot if it gets him eating
and feeling better
Best wishes and good luck from Angie

 

[Ardelle]

He does look a sweetie ! I would't worry about letting him have a small amount of grated carrot if it gets him eating
and feeling better
Best wishes and good luck from Angie

Thank you!
He has been munching away again today! Am really hopeful he is going to be ok now!
Thanks to everyone on here @Tom @Sarah2020 all of your help is much appreciated

 

[Ardelle]

Twiglet even discovered the plants I added today!

 

[Sarah2020]

Thank you!
He has been munching away again today! Am really hopeful he is going to be ok now!
Thanks to everyone on here @Tom @Sarah2020 all of your help is much appreciated

Your very welcome, delighted your through this! Now you just a routine and repeat.

 

[Ardelle]

Your very welcome, delighted your through this! Now you just a routine and repeat.

I am so happy, I honestly thought I was loosing him x

 

[Sarah2020]

I am so happy, I honestly thought I was loosing him x

They are tough but do need our support. I really recommend you looking at switching to a closed enclosure benefits are humidity is trapped and creates a nice zone for them to grow a smooth shell. With price of electric your trapping the heat or it will just heat your room, particularly in winter. I have enclosed and have it insulated on the top and sides to maintain a good temperature. I appreciate it has been manic but I sent you a link and worth investigating.

 

[Ardelle]

I have looked into it thank you, I will have to wait until I get paid though.
However I am off work till September as ai work at a school so am home to increase misting and keep a eye on him.

Hes been enjoying the garden today too, I sat and read a book outside with him!! X

 

[zolasmum]

I am so glad twigs is feeling better - and that you are feeling better too, I'm sure. Tortoises are such lovely and endearing creatures - you will enjoy having him so much more now you don't have to worry about him all the time. And if you do have a problem, you know that the people here will help you
Angie

 

[Ardelle]

Do you keep adults in a closed varium? I was told for russians they needed a open top table.

 

[Ardelle]

I am so glad twigs is feeling better - and that you are feeling better too, I'm sure. Tortoises are such lovely and endearing creatures - you will enjoy having him so much more now you don't have to worry about him all the time. And if you do have a problem, you know that the people here will help you
Angie

Thank you for your kind words, everyone on here has been amazing!
I am going to concentrate on getting his weight up now as hes tiny

 

[Tom]

Do you keep adults in a closed varium? I was told for russians they needed a open top table.

Closed chambers works well for any species at any age, as long as they are large enough. Open tables can work too, but a closed chamber makes it MUCH easier to heat and light well.

 

[zolasmum]

Thank you for your kind words, everyone on here has been amazing!
I am going to concentrate on getting his weight up now as hes tiny

Just one little thing I should mention, in case you don't know it - Russian tortoises are notorious for being talented escapologists, and if Twiglet is starting to feel better, you need to check his enclosure for possible escape routes. They are very good climbers, and very determined. If he did get out, it wouldn't be that he was unhappy or anything - just that it is their nature ! You may know all this already, but ,in case you don't - be warned !
Angie

 

[Mike K]

This is a husbandry issue and there is nothing a vet will do but make it worse.

You've got your heating and lighting info all mixed up. Strip lights are fine, but what kind are you using? Is it an Arcadia 12% HO in a reflector hood, or a T8 10.0? Do you have a Solarmeter 6.5 to check UV levels? The strip light doesn't provide any basking heat, and that is likely why your tortoises eyes are closed up.

MVBs will cause pyramiding, and their UV output runs the spectrum from way too much to none at all. They shouldn't be used. They do give off heat, but you can't use your heat lamp with a thermostat and have the "sun" turning on and off all day. Thermostats are for ambient heating devices, not your basking lamp. The basking lamp needs to be set on a timer, and the temperature controlled by adjusting the height, or the bulb wattage, or by using a rheostat to dial it in. You need a flood type bulb for this. Arcadia makes them.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

Get the heating and lighting correct, and this problem should solve itself.

Most of the care info you find on the internet is going to be wrong. 40-50% humidity is fine for a grown adult, but too low for a growing baby. And higher humidity does NOT cause skin or breathing problems, or all of the 1000s of babies I've produced over the years would all be dead. That is typical wrong info and from a vet site no less.

If you want this baby to survive, read the care sheet that Lyn posted in post number 31 and follow it. A trip to the vet is likely to make things worse because vets don't know tortoise care. They will likely misdiagnose the problem, make a futile attempt to treat the symptoms, and never address or correct the CAUSE of the problem.

Hello. How are you today? Quick question are there any over the counter eye ointments you would recommend

 

[Tom]

Hello. How are you today? Quick question are there any over the counter eye ointments you would recommend

All have to be prescribed by a vet. I'm always saying that vets don't know tortoise care. This is because they don't learn that in vet school and learn from the same wrong info sources as everyone else. What vets DO learn and know is what meds to prescribe and why. I always consult my vet friends for meds and dosages, especially with eyes. That is one of their many areas of expertise.