Russian excessive eye blinking

[Blastoise]

Hi, I have a new russian female who I'm worried about. The problem is her left eye. She blinks it twice as much as her right one, and sometimes holds it closed for a second after blinking. There is no discharge or noticeable problem in the eye. I've had her two weeks and noticed it the third day I had her but she probably came with this problem. I bought her at petco. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it except for the excessive blinking. She eats a lot and is active. I have her in a 8x3 indoor enclosure with a zoo med powersun 100W bulb twlve inches above her basking area. The substrate is half coconut coir and play sand.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Hmm. Could be a number of things:

- Debris in the eye
- Viral or bacterial infection
- Dryness due to low humidity
- Dryness due to vitamin A deficiency

If it's debris in the eye, give your tortoise a warm bath and gently dribble some water over her head to flush the eyes.

If it's an infection, then a trip to the vet might be necessary, depending on how serious it is.

If it's dryness due to low humidity, a bath will help, but ultimately the enclosure might need to have higher humidity, either by changing the substrate to something that holds moisture better, or by boosting air humidity with a cover or a humidifier.

It could also be vitamin A deficiency (hypovitaminosis A), which is quite common in turtles. Sometimes a newly acquired turtle has been stressed out, or has not eaten well, and may develop this problem. When an animal doesn't get enough vitamin A, the tear gland does not produce enough moisture, and the eye gets dry and irritated (xerophthalmia, lit. "dry eye"). It is easily reversible, but if it goes on too long it can lead to blindness.

I once had a box turtle with this condition, and only a couple weeks ago, one of my Russian tortoises had xerophthalmia when he came out of hibernation. Please see the thread, "Swollen eyes after hibernation" for more information.

If it is hypovitaminosis A and xerophthalmia, the condition can be reversed with warmth and moisture, as well as foods and supplements rich in vitamin A and beta-carotene (which naturally breaks down to vitamin A in the body). Vitamin A can be overdosed, but beta-carotene cannot, because whatever the body doesn't convert to vitamin A is excreted in the urine.

If you post a picture, we might be able to get a better idea of what it is.

 

[Blastoise]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up taking Katja to the vet today. They said there was no abrasion on the eye, but it was very irritated from something, I forget the scientific term for this. I was given some eye ointment to apply for ten days. They also tested for parasites and I'm awaiting results on that test. So it seems like just a minor irritation of the eye and she should be fine. It cost about 110 bux though! I guess you can't put a price on the health of a pet if you really care about it.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Sounds good. Let us know how she does, and how the stool test turns out.