Gray Eyes?

[CarterEvan]

Hello,

I recently increased the humidity in my enclosure to 85% in hopes this would help my tortoise grow. He seems to be a little more active but doesn't seem to be eating much. I also noticed he blinks very slowly and has grayish eye lids.

Am I overreacting or is he possibly sick?

 

[wellington]

Some better pics of his eyes would help. You aren't using any coil type bulbs, right? If so, they could be causing the eye problems.

 

[CarterEvan]

Some better pics of his eyes would help. You aren't using any coil type bulbs, right? If so, they could be causing the eye problems.

Nope i ditched that bulb after it almost burned his eyes. Also he has a basking of 105 and ambient of 90. Also a night time temp of 85.

When I picked him up to take this he didn't even open his eyes to see me so I'm guessing they are a little swollen.

 

[wellington]

He does look skinny to me and not well. Maybe @Yvonne G can help here.
Do you give daily soaks? I would give daily warm soaks with some baby food carrots and even some pedialyte in the soaking water

 

[CarterEvan]

yes I do give him daily soaks. what will the pedialyte do and where can I get that?

 

[Bducks16]

yes I do give him daily soaks. what will the pedialyte do and where can I get that?

Pedialyte is high in electrolytes and minerals. It promotes quick fluid and electrolyte absorption in a sick child. It is usually found in the baby food section at the grocery store. I think you might be to young to drink alcohol but it also works well for curing a hangover haha

 

[CarterEvan]

Pedialyte is high in electrolytes and minerals. It promotes quick fluid and electrolyte absorption in a sick child. It is usually found in the baby food section at the grocery store. I think you might be to young to drink alcohol but it also works well for curing a hangover haha

thanks! I'll have to find that. is there anything else I can do to help him grow?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Are you located in the U.S.?
Some things like Pedialite could very well have a European counterpart called something else.
Could the eyes still be delicate from the coiled bulb incident?
Some times the damage is severe and would take a while to recover from.

 

[CarterEvan]

nah I'm in the US so I should be able to find that stuff. Also it's been a few months since I switched to a MVB so I'm not sure if he could still be hurt from the cool bulb.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Could the MVB be too close? Too hot?

 

[CarterEvan]

yeah it could be. I lowered the bulb because I added a cool most humidifier. it's around 9 inches from the substrate. is that too low?

 

[Markw84]

yeah it could be. I lowered the bulb because I added a cool most humidifier. it's around 9 inches from the substrate. is that too low?

I would definitely raise that MVB immediately! What type? What wattage? That could definitely be your problem.
Here's a graph of the UVB output of a PowerSun 160 watt bulb. the distances are in cm and the chart shows the UV index produced at those distances. I personally believe and Ideal gradient for a Leopard tortoise is from 3-4 MAX! to 0 in their enclosure with some "under bush" type shade available. Never should UVB reading for any reptile exceed 6 or 7 and that's the high end. As you can see, at 9" the 160 watt is producing a UVI of 16!!!!!

I think we should pay more attention to how we are providing UV light in an enclosure. And I'm personally finding Leopard seem to be the most effected by this by an almost 9 to 1 margin with problem reported here on the forum. But there's just no info available for you, So it's not your fault, just trying to add a little insight for you...

 

[CarterEvan]

YIKES! I had no idea! I'll raise that immediately. I believe it's a 100watt but I'm not sure right now.

 

[Markw84]

Great! 9" from substrate can be 7" to eye level in a young tortoise. Even a 100 watt would probably be at least UVI 12 at 7"

Thanks for caring so much for your little guy. Hope he recovers quickly. Keep us posted. Really like to know the outcome.

 

[CarterEvan]

alright thanks. I'm thinking maybe 12-13"? also I ordered some Mazuri for him to hopefully put some weight on him.

 

[Markw84]

What wattage? I personally like a gradient of 2.5 - 0 for my leopards With a 160 watt that would be more like 18". Maybe go 15" with a 100 watt. But, don't your middle basking zone temps go way too high? Usually if you adjust for basking spot highest heat of 105 the UVI at that level is fine with MVB's Especially if you've covered your enclosure for humidity recently. That's good - want that humidity, but you'll find your temperature zones are way different now with it more enclosed.

 

[CarterEvan]

alright thanks. I believe it's a 100 watt so I'll adjust the height and then monitor the temperatures before I put him back in there. I'll aim for basking of 105 and ambient of 85

 

[CarterEvan]

also my middle basking temps weren't getting too high because I had a cool must humidifier going and that seemed to drop the temperature a lot

 

[Markw84]

Also, just a thought... When I see swollen eyes, or irritated nicitating membrane, eye probs, etc, by first check list is:
Vitamin A?
Irritation/ injury?
UVB?
That's probably because of so much work with Aquatic Turtle rescues who are much more commonly Vitamin A deficient. Tortoises easily get enough A from their diet if even somewhat close to what is recommended.
So, at the risk of assuming and not asking, is he getting a varied diet of greens that include stuff like dandelions, Kale, Collard greens, etc. to ensure enough Vit A?

 

[CarterEvan]

for some reason he won't eat anything but romaine. I have bought herbal tortoise hay and dried dandelion from tortoise supply.com to try and mix in with his food. He just tries to pick around it though. i will try those other foods mixed in also, maybe he will actually like something lol