Box Turtle right eye swollen in the morning

[johnbell670]

Hey Forum - Deuce, my 7 month old gulf coast box turtle has for the last week had a swollen right eye in the morning which also appears to affect vision. It has gotten better each day after about an hour and giving him a bath, but is this something I should be concerned with or anything I can do?

For background I went to the vet a month ago who said he should be fed more vitamin A - since then we've been succesful in getting him more veggies, put cod liver oil a couple times a week on his crickets and switched cricket gut-loading to T-Rex, so he's definitely consuming more vitamin A. Habitat is a combination of coconut core and organic top soil, and temperature is an average of low 80s all day. Anything here I should be thinking about too?

 

[johnbell670]

WIth a picture.

 

[Golden Greek Tortoise 567]

How much do you soak him? I would soak him every day until that swelling goes down, but I don’t know a lot about box turtles.

 

[johnbell670]

I give him a bath 3 times a day right now. We put him in a water dish about waste level and then wash water over him. He had breathing trouble when we put him in over his head, but do you think we should try doing deeper again?

 

[KarenSoCal]

What kind of UVB bulb are you using?

If it screws into a regular socket, it might be causing the eye irritation

If that is the case, you will need to get a fluorescent tube type UVB.

I always fill the water to halfway up the carapace. It's just the way he likes it.

 

[ZenHerper]

An animal this young should not be maintained on crickets - they do not contain nearly enough protein or other nutrients (even "gut loaded" - crickets poop very fast and pass all gut load materials before being eaten).

Box turtles eat worms and slugs and small fishes. And lots of them. There are other meat items that can be offered, but there really are no better substitutes, especially at this age. Fruits and greens should be chopped very finely and mixed in with worms to encourage a balanced diet.

Turtles need high humidity to develop properly and maintain their immune health. Moisture must be available throughout the enclosure substrate...babies burrow in soft, wet earth. Animals that are respiration-challenged should be soaked in shallow water only and supervised (though turtles will dip their heads underwater and can swim a bit, critters with sinus infections can drown easily).

Please review this information carefully, make any needed adjustments as soon as possible, and let us know here if you have other questions:

Box Turtle Hatchling Care Sheet

BOX TURTLE HATCHLING CARE INTRODUCTION: Box turtles are native to North America. They are also known as box tortoises, although box turtles are terrestrial members of the American pond turtle family, and not members of the tortoise family. The species commonly kept as pets in the US are the...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[johnbell670]

Thanks everyone!

Regarding lights - I've been using a Repti Basking Spot lamp but also have a fluorescent Repti-Glow UVB fluorescent bulb. I previously was just using the Spot lamp, but based on this I'll switch to the UVB bulb. My concern is that it seems the UVB bulb doesn't give enough heat, so should I be using both?

Thanks for the hints on the worms vs crickets. I was using crickets based on advice of person I got him from and the fact that my turtle was refusing to eat worms. I'll give the worms a try again and see if he'll go for them. (In conjunction with continuing with more veggies and cod liver oil) Regarding moist environment we go for organic top soil mixed with coconut core, so I also spray it daily with water to keep it moist, I believe that's been good but let me know if you think I should be doing more.

 

[johnbell670]

Picture of the habitat with lights

 

[ZenHerper]

He needs a basking spot at about 90F degrees, so you probably need to keep the heat bulb. If you think the combined light is too bright, consider switching the heat bulb to a Ceramic Heat Emitter bulb (CHE)...it gives heat but not light. They come in a few strengths, but can always be routed through a thermostat if too harsh for your set up.

If the substrate is not soft and doesn't give way easily when you push a finger into it, it is too dry. You want it to feel as though you could grow plants in it. The consistency and dampness should be the same as ground that runs along a stream or river bed. When you swipe a finger across the surface, it should come away with a bit of mud, but not leave an impression or track.

The substrate also needs to be deep enough for him to burrow completely covered...so, like, four inches deep at this age. Yes, he will go "missing" - but then show up again. lol Keep a regular schedule of daily events so that he can learn when to appear. Burrowing is a natural behavior for youngsters that helps them with security, but also keeps the shell conditioned as it rapidly grows.

Box turtles live in forests and thick-grown fields. I'd love to see some more hideout furniture at various points! While the weather is ripe for it, start some plants from seed (to avoid any leached pesticides from cultivated store-bought plants) and plan some landscaping so that he has a walking track around the perimeter of the enclosure, and fun stuff to explore, eat, and hide in through the center.

 

[johnbell670]

ZenHerper - fantastic advice, thank you very much! I will give your suggestions a try and let you know how it goes. In particular the environment we'll make deeper and give some plants and additional hideouts a try. Any advice on which type of plants are safest / grow well in an indoor environment?

 

[ZenHerper]

If you use the search box at the top right hand corner, you will find a lot of discussions about "Safe Plants For Enclosures". (And a lot of threads have photos of people's landscaping -- some are really great turtle gardens!)

Pansies and violets are edible, pretty, and will do great in containers (so they don't get hulk smashed by a Tiny Tank). You can find baby spider plants pretty easily (friends, etsy, ebay)...they make great cover and come in lots of foliage colors. Both of these types of plants can manage with indoor lighting.

 

[johnbell670]

Thank you! We'll definitely get some of these nice plants in there for our little guy.