BIG RED SWOLLEN EYES

Gijoux

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my tortoise woke up with this eyes. IDK WHAT to do. Please help me
It is possible that the sand you are using has gotten between the eyelids and is scratching them. I would start soaking this tortoise and drizzle some warm water over its head in an attempt to wash out the substrate.
 

Jsanford

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my tortoise woke up with this eyes. IDK WHAT to do. Please help me
I am not an expert, I’m just giving my opinion/advice (so please don’t come after me lol) My tortoises eyes have done that before when he is constipated, warm soaks and walking around helps them poop. The red bulging eyes is from them trying to push.
 

Tom

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Many helpful replies here. Just offering my first thought on seeing your picture. You are right. I looks like a type of conjunctivitis, a swelling of the inner membrane of the eye. Given that tortoise are pretty tough given their vast geography. I would think that the diet is too low in Vitamin A - the eye vitamin (Daily requirements of the vitamin A are approximately 400 IU/kg body weight (Jean-Michel et al., 2005).. Opportunistic infections can then bother them. Also not uncommon that a trip to the vets for this eye presentation usually involves a Vit A jab. I have 30+ years with birds & torts - vets who specialized in these were few and far between back then, we had to learn from hands on with our stock. Hope this helps.
This is exactly the type of old wrong myth that needs to be dispelled here. Everything tortoises eat is packed with vitamin A. It would be very difficult for a tortoise to be vitamin A deficient unless it just wasn't eating. Turtles will sometimes present a vitamin A deficiency and can sometimes benefit from additional vitamin A, but vets who inject tortoises with "vitamin shots" don't know tortoises.

There are many of these types of things...
 

TammyJ

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I don't want to just be another opinion here. Especially a wrong one.
Listen to Tom. You cannot go wrong by doing that. And where is Yvonne?
NO to sand, mixed or not.
 
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