Box turtle with one cloudy eye

[xyhapu]

Saw a rare sight the other day, a juvenile/~10 year old(?) box turtle crossing my driveway. On closer inspection, he looked healthy and normal except for one clouded over eye (see image).

Vaguely remembering that eye problems could be due to vitamin A deficiency, I temporarily moved him to the (vacant) outdoor pen for my own box turtles a convenient 5 feet away, and scrounged up some vitamin A heavy foods like a boiled egg and peaches for him.

He attacked the food almost immediately, did a lap around the enclosure, doing some long soaks in each of the water dishes on the way, and then hid himself in the same corner hide that is the favorite of my own turtles. (No idea why that one is so popular, there is an identical one at the other corner that is rarely used.)

Since he didn't seem stressed - nearly as tame as mine, who were captive bred and human raised from the start - I figured I would hold him for a day to observe, load him up with more food in the morning, and send him back on his way.

However, this morning I noticed that he had that one eye closed, and while it wasn't swollen, it seemed to be irritating him, as he would sort of spasm his eyelid every few seconds. Once he noticed me he opened it to stare back (I think he can more or less see out of it, though not well) and it looked no worse than last night.

This got me wondering if there is anything more I should do for him before letting him go about his business. I also read that cloudy eyes could be a result of frost damage, so not much I can do about that if that is the case. Any thoughts?

Aside from the cloudy eyes, he seems normal. No discharge, no swelling, no wheezing, no lethargy, no other physical weirdness. Only odd behavior is the tameness, he didn't even try to go inside his shell when I first picked him up, just chilled there with feet dangling. Ate a slug I offered him with tongs with almost no hesitation. I would almost suspect that he is so sick that he's just out of it, but the rest of his behavior doesn't indicate any issues. I don't see any signs he might have been captive raised at any point, neither overgrowth nor deformities and with good color. He's been chilling stretched out in front of the hide (after eating another slice of egg) for most of the day.

If anyone also has any advice on quarantining the enclosure (in case this is something contagious) that would be appreciated. I expose my own turtles to the outdoors quite a bit but I'm still wary in case they catch anything from a wild turtle. I figured I'd disinfect the water dishes and hides, and otherwise just let the enclosure sit for a week before putting mine back in.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

I'm not 100% sure, but it could be cataracts. You coukd try taking some fish oil tablets (100%kind with no additives), breaking them open and putting a drop in the eye.

 

[mark1]

could very well be a cataract, although it does appear to cover the whole eye, which makes it look more like an injury to the cornea.... if it's the cornea and not deep it will probably heal itself if the injury is not to severe... sometimes they don't..... you can put OPTHAMOLIC antibiotic ointment in the eye , don't use one with a steroid in it, steroid could make it worse.... terramycin ointment is available otc..... that is not what a vitamin A deficiency looks like.....

 

[Yvonne G]

It's probably freeze damage. He might not have been buried deep enough. It will heal over time, but it takes a very long time.

 

[xyhapu]

Thank you all for your inputs! I will try the fish oil and antibiotic eye ointment. Here is a video of the little guy eating a worm and a slice of egg. It shows a bit of the limited sight in his left eye - he seems to get much more scared if I approach from that side, and seems to have a hard time tracking the worm from that side as well. As well as blinking that eye more. I suspect he can only see vague shapes and shadows from it currently. It's also hard to see on the video, but in person, looking straight down at him, it is apparent there is a very small amount of swelling in that eye, protruding out maybe an extra 1mm compared to the other side.

My game plan currently is to apply those treatments and let him go once he shows signs of wanting to leave/stress from captivity. He seems happy and relaxed for now, I assume because the enclosure is already in his home range, but I'm sure he'll get antsy soon, especially with the next rains.

I plan to release him a hundred feet or so down the treeline from where he emerged, so he's away from traffic and my driveway but should still be in a familiar area. I think I will replicate the hide setup he likes over there, along with a water dish, and if he choses to use it and doesn't just disappear, I might dig out the area and fill it with looser dirt than the clay that we have, so that next winter he has the opportunity to burrow himself more thoroughly and hopefully avoid frost damage. I have no idea how the native population of box turtles in my area dig deep enough to keep from freezing, the ground is mostly hard clay with a relatively thin layer of looser substrate. I've made it a habit of throwing mounds of grass clippings in that wooded area, hopefully that helps some.