Is my tortoises eye ok?

[TortCalledBoris]

My tortoise has had this swollen looking eye since I got him, it’s like the eyelid doesn’t fully retract, here are some photos. He is also starting to shed which is causing his skin pigment to darken, also wondering if this is a problem or if this is ok. I am aware that he is pyramiding and I am getting him a new Vivarium today for better humidity. He is a Russian tortoise. Help is always appreciated. Thanks

 

[wellington]

How old is he? He looks more like an adult than a baby. An adult needs a minimum of a 4x8 foot enclosure, not a too small vivarium.
What kind of uvb light are you using?

 

[Tom]

My tortoise has had this swollen looking eye since I got him, it’s like the eyelid doesn’t fully retract, here are some photos. He is also starting to shed which is causing his skin pigment to darken, also wondering if this is a problem or if this is ok. I am aware that he is pyramiding and I am getting him a new Vivarium today for better humidity. He is a Russian tortoise. Help is always appreciated. Thanks

On each eye picture, your camera focused on the tortoises leg in the back ground. I can't zoom in enough. From what I can see, the eye looks okay.

Here are the most common causes of eye issues:
1. Sandy substrate. Soil substrate.
2. Dehydration, or dry dusty conditions.
3. Wrong UV bulb, or wrong placement of the right UV bulb.

 

[TortCalledBoris]

On each eye picture, your camera focused on the tortoises leg in the back ground. I can't zoom in enough. From what I can see, the eye looks okay.

Here are the most common causes of eye issues:
1. Sandy substrate. Soil substrate.
2. Dehydration, or dry dusty conditions.
3. Wrong UV bulb, or wrong placement of the right UV bulb.

I have the UvB you recommended (T5 HO 12% bulb). His new Vivarium is being setup today.

 

[TortCalledBoris]

How old is he? He looks more like an adult than a baby. An adult needs a minimum of a 4x8 foot enclosure, not a too small vivarium.
What kind of uvb light are you using?

He is 110g at 6 months old. 4x6 foot enclosure. T5 HO 39 watt 12% UVB bulb

 

[Tom]

I have the UvB you recommended (T5 HO 12% bulb). His new Vivarium is being setup today.

How high above the tortoise is it mounted?

What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?

 

[wellington]

Be sure to get the humidity up. That's a lot of pyramiding for a 6 month old Russian. They don't pyramid as easily as most others. 80% humidity for a couple years.

 

[TortCalledBoris]

Be sure to get the humidity up. That's a lot of pyramiding for a 6 month old Russian. They don't pyramid as easily as most others. 80% humidity for a couple years.

Yes I am currently building my Vivarium like right now. He can move in there on tuesday due to the sealer. Cypres mulch and coco coir 5 inch deep substrate with 80percent humidity when he can move in. It is properly enclosed so no humidity loss (apart from cable area). He started out really bad. Here is a photo I have from when he was 4 months old. First day of having him. He was started out terribly by the breeder. I am going to work my very best to make him the smoothest shelled Russian, just going to take some work.

 

[TortCalledBoris]

How high above the tortoise is it mounted?

What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?

Once I have got it in upside downed, I will give you the distance of uv From tortoise. Just need to finish construction and add the substrate before I can give temperatures. I have a ceramic heat bulb for ambient humidity at night. I will give Vivarium information on Tuesday.

 

[Sarah2020]

Hi, A nice substrate to use is orchid bark. I lined my enclosure with sticky back plastic (fablon) buy in rolls from home base . This has made a great difference to cleaning and the wood getting wet .

 

[TortCalledBoris]

Hi, A nice substrate to use is orchid bark. I lined my enclosure with sticky back plastic (fablon) buy in rolls from home base . This has made a great difference to cleaning and the wood getting wet .

Ok thanks. I have ordered reptibark which is the closest thing I could find. Currently I am using cypress mulch with coco coir base (for digging) in the interim. I will have a look at home base maybe next friday for liner as that is a very good suggestion thanks. Do you think that this pyramiding will be able to be covered by new growth? He is only 6 months old and he has a ton more growing to do. I will also post some new pictures I have taken of him after his bath a few minutes ago, where you can see the new growth already covering a lot of his pyramiding. Thanks for the suggestions they are beneficial and fantastic!

 

[Sarah2020]

I use retiberk and find it very good. I also get supplies from swell reptile online and use their Orchid bark.

Pyramiding is perm however as your tort is tiny the focus is on slow smooth growth. Ensure regular soaks for hydration, varied diet, light, calcium, space and environment.
Add a cuttlefish into the enclosure this may not get touched for months, then suddenly it get nibbled. This helps strong bone and shell growth. I also add reptile calcium to fresh leaves.

 

[TortCalledBoris]

How high above the tortoise is it mounted?

What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?

Hi Tom,
The UV strip light is mounted 18 inches from him and is on 13 hours a day. I have not taken any readings or temperatures from the bulbs yet due to there being no substrate inside (this might hinder temperatures). Here are some photos of stages of keeping Boris. The past 2/3 weeks he has been kept in 60-70 percent humidity (this was in his old open-top tortoise table which was very hard to maintain) which has caused his new growth to be really nice and smooth, slowly but surely masking the pyramiding caused by the breeder and the wrong information that I received. I also wanted to say a big thank you, my tortoise Boris has improved massively over the course of the past 3 weeks and his pyramiding from the breeder and I has been masked by new smooth growth in his humid conditions. I can definitely see improvements taking place, I hope to make him the smoothest Horsfield tortoise alive (if he turns out to be a he that is) and it is only possible from the help of people on this forum that I will achieve that. Anyways here are the pictures (I have labelled then with times and dates to see the problem in the beginning, worsening and now beginning to improve).

 

[TortCalledBoris]

I use retiberk and find it very good. I also get supplies from swell reptile online and use their Orchid bark.

Pyramiding is perm however as your tort is tiny the focus is on slow smooth growth. Ensure regular soaks for hydration, varied diet, light, calcium, space and environment.
Add a cuttlefish into the enclosure this may not get touched for months, then suddenly it get nibbled. This helps strong bone and shell growth. I also add reptile calcium to fresh leaves.

Thanks for your response.
Boris has a massive new enclosure which is ready for him on Tuesday (waiting for sealer to dry). I soak him daily for 40 minutes in warm water beneath his basking lamp. He has a T5 HO uvb light in his new enclosure ready for when he can move in. I have nutrabol and calcium powder I sprinkle on his food 5 days a week. I grow a lot of my own plants but sometimes feed him raddicchio and lambs lettuce. And he has a cuttlefish bone!

 

[Tom]

The UV strip light is mounted 18 inches from him and is on 13 hours a day.

18 inches will be making very strong UV out of an Arcadia 12%HO tube. That is strong like mid day summer sun strong. Your UV only needs to be on for 2-3 hours mid day. 13 hours of strong UV is unnatural, unnecessary, and could be damaging at that distance.

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

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.