Please help- eye issue and not eating

[mrsaroarka]

Hi there, thanks for reading. I have a 1 year old red foot tortoise who recently developed the eye issue pictured. I’ve also noticed a lack of appetite. The tortoise is housed indoors in a large greenhouse type structure. Substrate is soil and cypress bark. The temperature is kept at roughly 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is 70%. Every day fresh food is given: is mixed greens, 2 Mazuri pellets, a small bit of fruit (like a bite or two worth) and occasionally a small piece of protein. Also 1x a week I sprinkle calcium powder on the food. Tortoise is soaked in a warm water bath once a day for at least 10 minutes. Recently I noticed that the temperature in the enclosure was not as warm as it should be (maybe fluctuated up to 10 degrees lower for a day or two) and realized that the ceramic heat emitter had stopped working. I’ve since replaced that and the temperature has leveled out. I am not sure if this is related to the eye issue or not. I will be taking the tortoise to the vet next week but I am looking for any input or suggestions in the meantime.

 

[Ink]

Hopefully @ZEROPILOT can help you.

 

[Yvonne G]

In my experience, the issue is NOT with the eyes, but with the environment the tortoise lives in. If they're not warm enough, ot humid enough, have dusty or incorrect bedding, are being fed the wrong foods, etc. problems first show up in the eyes.

Of course, there are other things that may cause eye issues, like being poked in the eye, or having scratched the eye while rubbing it, etc.

YOU have to be the detective. Re-read the redfoot care sheet and double check your husbandry. In the meantime you can dab a bit of soothing eye ointment on the lid, something like Vetericyn Eye Ointment.

 

[Maggie3fan]

RF's love fruit, all the berries, hard boiled egg plus shell...mushrooms, wet cat food the list goes on and on. I also think 80 degrees is too cold...so you are keeping the temp too cool you are keeping 70% humidity. So maybe he's got a cold. Warm him up ambient temp 85-90. Incandescent bulb, but remember they come from the forest, so whatever light should not be a glaring one, and che 100 degrees
@ZEROPILOT is one of our RF experts...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

RF's love fruit, all the berries, hard boiled egg plus shell...mushrooms, wet cat food the list goes on and on. I also think 80 degrees is too cold...so you are keeping the temp too cool you are keeping 70% humidity. So maybe he's got a cold. Warm him up ambient temp 85-90. Incandescent bulb, but remember they come from the forest, so whatever light should not be a glaring one, and che 100 degrees
@ZEROPILOT is one of our RF experts...

Redfoot can live in temperatures under 80 just fine. But they can't digest food well at that temperature.
Your target temperature is 84.
Since he's not eating AND has eye issues I'm theorizing that this has little or nothing to do with the temperature. Not with that tiny variation.
Is there any harsh lighting in that enclosure? Something super bright? Or a coiled type UVB? Can a heat source be too close to the greenhouse plastic. Causing out gassing?
I'm just guessing.
Something is making him stressed out and it may cause illness if not corrected. I'm also theorizing that he's going to quickly recover once the source of that problem is found