Repti-Cal Causes Eye Irritation?

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Pokeymeg

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Hi Everyone,

Last week I started giving my tort powdered calcium with his food. I just sprinkled some on lightly. On Wednesday, he ended up getting it all over his face, but I didn't have time to give him a bath (he goes to bed before I get home from work, and giving him a bath while sleeping doesn't work very well). By Thursday, most of the calcium had been rubbed off of his face by him.

Friday morning, my boyfriend called me at work to tell me our tortoise seemed somewhat lethargic, but he ate food. Again, he was asleep by the time I got home. Saturday morning, I finally got to check him over and noticed his eyes were not opening. I suspect this to be the reason for his lethargy Friday (if I were suddenly blind, I wouldn't run around either). I immediately tried to call the vet, but as it turned out, this past Saturday was the worst possible day to try and see the vet in MA. There was some exotic pet vet conference and the only exotic pet vet not attending from Eastern MA was closed!!! My boyfriend managed to talk me out of my panic and we gave the tort a good bath, which helped him open his eyes. After that, he was very energetic and eating and happy. But he was still having eye issues-not opening all the way or at all sometimes. Same thing today (Sunday).

He seems very content once his eyes are open and he can see. I plan on taking him to the vet this week if this does not clear up tomorrow. Does anyone know of any incidences with Repti-cal causing eye issues? Also, because our tort is under the legal 4", can we even take him to a vet?

In the meantime, he's getting two baths a day and I've been misting his enclosure to bump up the humidity. Is it possible to treat this at home, since he has no signs of respiratory infection and has no eye drainage or swelling?
 

HipsterTorts

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I don't use Repti-Cal but it makes sense that if your tort got it in his eyes that it would irritate them in some way.

The youngest of my baby greeks was having eye issues and couldn't open her right eye that much. I just bought Terramycin eye ointment. I applied it to her eye right before she went to bed for the night. The next morning I went to turn on her lights, she was already up and her eye was wide open. It was like it had completely healed over night.

To answer your vet question, yes you can take a tort that is under 4" to the vet. It's not illegal to own a tortoise under 4" it's illegal to sell a tortoise that is under 4".
 

Tom

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It seems pretty unlikely that the calcium was the cause of your problem. Its pretty inert stuff and would be no more irritating than dirt or dust. I've been using Rep-Cal and several other brands of powdered calcium since the 80's and they always get it all over their face and its never been a problem.

Are you using one of those compact florescent coil bulbs for UV?

How long have you had him? How old is he? How was he housed before you got him?
 

Pokeymeg

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HipsterTorts said:
I don't use Repti-Cal but it makes sense that if your tort got it in his eyes that it would irritate them in some way.

The youngest of my baby greeks was having eye issues and couldn't open her right eye that much. I just bought Terramycin eye ointment. I applied it to her eye right before she went to bed for the night. The next morning I went to turn on her lights, she was already up and her eye was wide open. It was like it had completely healed over night.

To answer your vet question, yes you can take a tort that is under 4" to the vet. It's not illegal to own a tortoise under 4" it's illegal to sell a tortoise that is under 4".

Oh great, thanks for your information! Is all Terramycin the same? I just looked it up online to find the nearest place that sells it, but it says it is for dogs.



Tom said:
It seems pretty unlikely that the calcium was the cause of your problem. Its pretty inert stuff and would be no more irritating than dirt or dust. I've been using Rep-Cal and several other brands of powdered calcium since the 80's and they always get it all over their face and its never been a problem.

Are you using one of those compact florescent coil bulbs for UV?

How long have you had him? How old is he? How was he housed before you got him?

Hi Tom,

We were using one of those all-in-one mercury vapor bulbs, but it came to my attention that the 160W was too strong, so I got a 100W. But after 3 hours that burnt out, so I just switched this past weekend (after the eye problem started) to a two bulb set-up, with the heat bulb and the 5.0 UVB bulb.

He is young, around 6 months old. I do not know how he was housed. We have had this little guy for exactly one month when the issues started. I'm beginning to think that perhaps humidity is the problem. The substrate in his home is dry, but the air is 30-50% depending on where in his pen I take the measurement. So I've begun misting to moisten the substrate a little, perhaps that will help.
 

Mao Senpai

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I've been using the repti cal stuff as well and never had an issue... and mine are pretty messy. Terramycin its usually for cats or dogs. The one I got was for cats and it worked great for my tort and my cat ! :)
 

Tom

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If the 5.0 bulb is the coil type, I'd bet money that it is the source of your problem. The MVB are a much better way to go. Simply raise or lower the fixture to get your temps right. Every once in a while someone gets a bad bulb, but they really are the best thing for your tortoise, if he is going to be indoors a lot.

If you do not have a coil bulb then we'll have to get deeper into his routine to figure out what's causing your problem. The eyes are usually a good indicator of a tortoises overall health. If they are having eye issues, it usually indicates that something somewhere is wrong.

Where in the country are you? Is an outside pen a possibility for some of the year?

On a lighter note, I saw the bees in your signature and thought you might like to see this one:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Bee-Job#axzz1V6jKHBIj
 

HipsterTorts

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Yeah it's all the same. I live near a town where pretty much everyone owns horses so I just found a feed store and bought it. They didn't really specify what animal it was for, it was more like it was for all animals.
 

Pokeymeg

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Tom said:
If the 5.0 bulb is the coil type, I'd bet money that it is the source of your problem. The MVB are a much better way to go. Simply raise or lower the fixture to get your temps right. Every once in a while someone gets a bad bulb, but they really are the best thing for your tortoise, if he is going to be indoors a lot.

If you do not have a coil bulb then we'll have to get deeper into his routine to figure out what's causing your problem. The eyes are usually a good indicator of a tortoises overall health. If they are having eye issues, it usually indicates that something somewhere is wrong.

Where in the country are you? Is an outside pen a possibility for some of the year?

On a lighter note, I saw the bees in your signature and thought you might like to see this one:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Bee-Job#axzz1V6jKHBIj

Hi Tom,

The coil bulb is not the problem, as I only installed it a couple days ago, after the eye problem manifested. I wonder if perhaps the too-high wattage of the MVB I had is the problem? I have read about issues with that, hence the change in bulbs. Also, I do not think I have been keeping it humid enough, which I am working to fix now. Other than that, I am unsure what is wrong my husbandry, but I am definitely open to suggestions. I want to keep my tort healthy!

I live in Massachusetts. We do have an outdoor pen for him, but we only put him out on weekends, as I do not want to leave him outside alone all day while I am at work.

Oh a lighter note, LOVE the bee beard! I would never do it myself though ;-)

He does seem to have an easier time opening his eyes today, but they are still not back to normal. So, we've ordered the Terramycin and we'll give that a try when we get it tomorrow. If that doesn't work, to the vet we go!
 

Pokeymeg

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So the vet could not be sure of anything because Pistachio is so small. She thinks that the eye problem could be either a Vit A deficiency or a respiratory infection. What kind of foods can I feed a Hermann that contain Vit A?
 
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