Just.Alexander

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My 1 year old Afghan tortoise eye isn’t opening and I don’t know what to do. His eye was watery yesterday but I though it wasn’t big of the deal. The other eye is fine but he is sleeping a lot at right now and that concerns me. This year he was bitten by a dog but it wasn’t serious he was fine ,but now I’m very concerned about his eye. There isn’t any clinics for exotic animals nearby so I cannot really take him to the vet to check him :(
 

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TammyJ

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Hi and welcome. If you cannot get eye drops then what I know may help is for him to be put in a tall sided bowl of warm water which has baby carrot food mixed into it. Keep the water just slightly warm and the water level just about halfway up his shell so he can easily lift his head out of the water while lying in it . Soak him for half an hour like this, morning and evening and see if any improvement.
 

Yvonne G

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The most common cause for a tortoise's eyes to be swollen shut is because he's stopped eating because he's not warm enough. Please tell us how this tortoise is set up - heat, lights, size of enclosure, substrate, what kind of food you offer and anything else you think would be helpful for us to know. Pictures would also be helpful.
 

Just.Alexander

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The most common cause for a tortoise's eyes to be swollen shut is because he's stopped eating because he's not warm enough. Please tell us how this tortoise is set up - heat, lights, size of enclosure, substrate, what kind of food you offer and anything else you think would be helpful for us to know. Pictures would also be helpful.
The length of his terrarium is 81 cm and 47 wide. There is a one light bulb which supposed to make vitamin D it also has a blue light. There is a (Big?) bowl of water and a plate where is food, also there is a house where he sometimes goes in and plants, we use coconut(?) bedding and some rocks on the other side. I feed him dandelions, clovers, plantains and mallows cuz he doesn’t eat vegetables, berries and (tortoise) pallets.
 

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Yvonne G

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We have seen many, many tortoises with sore and inflamed eyes and doing a little detective work, have found that most of them were being housed under the compact fluorescent lights, the curly shaped bulb. Yours IS mounted correctly, that is, horizontally, however, it still may be too close to the tortoise. Stop using that light and start applying a soothing ointment to the eyelids two or three times a day. This is the one I use:

1664036808584.png

You can buy it from Amazon, but if you don't have access to Amazon in Lithuania, do a Google search for it to see where you can buy it.
 

jeff kushner

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Hi and welcome. If you cannot get eye drops then what I know may help is for him to be put in a tall sided bowl of warm water which has baby carrot food mixed into it. Keep the water just slightly warm and the water level just about halfway up his shell so he can easily lift his head out of the water while lying in it . Soak him for half an hour like this, morning and evening and see if any improvement.
Before joining this forum a couple of years ago, I would have told you this was "voodoo bullsh**",

Today, I swear by it......I have no idea why, but I watched it work with my little girl....so I tried it on my turtle........LOL...sorry, couldn't help myself.


Some serious talent has already chimed in so I don't feel so guilty for joking....

good luck
 

Tom

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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.
Here is the correct care info:
 

Gijoux

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The length of his terrarium is 81 cm and 47 wide. There is a one light bulb which supposed to make vitamin D it also has a blue light. There is a (Big?) bowl of water and a plate where is food, also there is a house where he sometimes goes in and plants, we use coconut(?) bedding and some rocks on the other side. I feed him dandelions, clovers, plantains and mallows cuz he doesn’t eat vegetables, berries and (tortoise) pallets.
It looks like you are mixing two different types of species of tortoise in your tank and it looks like you have only two, which is another problem. Tortoises should not be kept in pairs nor should you mix species. Different species carry different organisms which for one species is no problem, but for the other species it could be deadly. I believe the smaller tortoise is the one you are having problems with and I suspect it is due to "Stress" being housed with the larger tortoise. Get them separated and turn up the heat a bit.
 

Gijoux

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It looks like you are mixing two different types of species of tortoise in your tank and it looks like you have only two, which is another problem. Tortoises should not be kept in pairs nor should you mix species. Different species carry different organisms which for one species is no problem, but for the other species it could be deadly. I believe the smaller tortoise is the one you are having problems with and I suspect it is due to "Stress" being housed with the larger tortoise. Get them separated and turn up the heat a bit.
I do see you have three tortoises, two of one species and another larger tortoise of another species. Separate the species but don't house them in pairs.
 

Yvonne G

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I do see you have three tortoises, two of one species and another larger tortoise of another species. Separate the species but don't house them in pairs.
The three small ones are figurines.
 

Gijoux

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The three small ones are figurines.
They fooled me! I didn't recognize the species either. Good to know. I hope your fellow starts feeling better soon. Usually increasing the heat and removing improper lighting is the answer.
 
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