Shelly

[jharrris]

Hey guys, my tortoise Shelly is having recurring conjunctivitis. He scratches his eyes every once in a while but that's the only symptom. Otherwise acts normal. But after multiple vet visits and medicated eye drops until they run out, he continues to do it. I only see it very rarely. This has continued to happen on different types of substrate. He's on Eco earth that is sprayed daily, water is mixed in once a week, 4x8 plywood enclosure with pond liner and pond shield for humidity. Fed greens, usually spring mix, with soaked zoomed grassland tortoise pellets, dried weeds from kapiolo farms testudo mix, and calcium powder twice a week. 65W incandescent flood bulb for basking and a dome sort of fixture for ambient lighting with a regular light bulb, which is staying off for now to conserve power.

Vet said to use Reptivite once a week to rule out vitamin A deficiency and go from there, which I haven't been doing very long so I will continue to do so and monitor but I've noticed the eye scratching multiple times since then. Otherwise, it will cost over $1,500 for testing to figure out the cause. Could be a chronic genetic thing or due to an infection, according to the vet.

Sometimes his eye puffs out a little when he scratches then it goes back to normal. Only scratches for a second, nothing unusual or noteworthy about the way the eyes look. Otherwise acts normal and vet says he's in excellent health otherwise.

I'm also dealing with the hurricane. No power, we borrowed a small generator but today it was only able to give 3 hours of light before dying. He's getting lots of sunlight too, today my dad gave him 3 hours of basking light and 3 hours of outside time.

I love Shelly, but my dad adopted him on a whim when we had more money when I was a teen and then wasn't careful with said money and didn't properly research tortoise care, got wrong info from the breeder. Now we're worse off financially and I've been trying to better Shelly's conditions but I feel like I'm failing. And with this and everything else going on, if I can't figure it out then I will have to rehome Shelly to someone who is more prepared and financially better off.

Things are much worse for so many people and animals so I'm not just trying to make a sob story out of it. I'm saying this because if it comes to that, would anyone be interested in Shelly? Loves pets, sweet, docile, never tried to bite, only about 5 years old and generally in excellent health. He has this eye issue, he has small skin abrasions on the sides of his head (which I made another post about that I can link, I think it's from the eye scratching but not sure) and I had concerns about the scales around his feet but the vet just said to soak him frequently. Also mentioned in my post about the skin abrasions. Otherwise the vet was impressed by the health of this tortoise.

I live in Greenville, SC. If I do end up having to rehome him I'd really like for it to be someone close by that I can keep in contact with and still help take care of Shelly, I really love him. Sorry for the long messy post.

 

[Yvonne G]

It might be off gassing from the pond liner???

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Ugh, sorry about your little Shelly. If the vet suspected a possible eye infection why no antibiotic eye drops?
Do you have a UVB light? Can any of the lights be too close and possibly drying Shelly's eyes out making them itchy?

I bought turtle eye drops from Petco pretty inexpensive. They are Vit A drops and might be something to try. There is also Vetericyn eye drops that might help.

What types of substrate have you tried? You might need something that is bigger like orchid bark or cypress mulch. So it doesn't get in the eyes so easily.

 

[jharrris]

Ugh, sorry about your little Shelly. If the vet suspected a possible eye infection why no antibiotic eye drops?
Do you have a UVB light? Can any of the lights be too close and possibly drying Shelly's eyes out making them itchy?

I bought turtle eye drops from Petco pretty inexpensive. They are Vit A drops and might be something to try. There is also Vetericyn eye drops that might help.

What types of substrate have you tried? You might need something that is bigger like orchid bark or cypress mulch. So it doesn't get in the eyes so easily.

I give Shelly outside time for UVB. I'm thinking about changing the substrate. I've used reptibark but he doesn't seem to like it as much. I'll see if there's a petco even open right now, my city got hit fairly hard by the hurricane. I can try getting a new substrate and those eye drops. He has been prescribed eye drops in the past that I assume were antibiotics but after running out the problem would happen again. Maybe it is the substrate

 

[jharrris]

Ugh, sorry about your little Shelly. If the vet suspected a possible eye infection why no antibiotic eye drops?
Do you have a UVB light? Can any of the lights be too close and possibly drying Shelly's eyes out making them itchy?

I bought turtle eye drops from Petco pretty inexpensive. They are Vit A drops and might be something to try. There is also Vetericyn eye drops that might help.

What types of substrate have you tried? You might need something that is bigger like orchid bark or cypress mulch. So it doesn't get in the eyes so easily.

I will also try raising the basking light higher. Can you give me the name of the eye drops you're talking about?

 

[jharrris]

It might be off gassing from the pond liner???

The eye scratching was happening in the Zoomed tortoise house he lived in (not ideal I know, that was the old enclosure). Could you explain what that means a little bit more? I have a black fabric pond liner and the wood is treated with pond shield, a non toxic epoxy liner that seemed to be recommended here.

 

[jharrris]

I will also try raising the basking light higher. Can you give me the name of the eye drops you're talking about?

Ugh, sorry about your little Shelly. If the vet suspected a possible eye infection why no antibiotic eye drops?
Do you have a UVB light? Can any of the lights be too close and possibly drying Shelly's eyes out making them itchy?

I bought turtle eye drops from Petco pretty inexpensive. They are Vit A drops and might be something to try. There is also Vetericyn eye drops that might help.

What types of substrate have you tried? You might need something that is bigger like orchid bark or cypress mulch. So it doesn't get in the eyes so easily.

This? https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zoo-med-repti-turtle-eye-drops-225-fl-oz-934801

Also buying reptibark again

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I will also try raising the basking light higher. Can you give me the name of the eye drops you're talking about?

Only do this if the basking temperature underneath is still ok.

I’ll admit things sound pretty good set up wise so it’s definitely confusing as to what could be the cause, don’t suppose you have a photo of the set up? Long shot but maybe we’ll spot something.

I think trying the reptibark might be a good shout because it could potentially be the coir getting in his eyes, most tortoises have zero issues with it but I have heard of rare instances of tortoises that just don’t seem to agree with it per say and it’s caused eye/armpit irritation. Not entirely sure why it only happens to some but might be worth seeing how he fairs on the bark because it’s genuinely all that springs to mind based on your post

 

[Megatron's Mom]

This? https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zoo-med-repti-turtle-eye-drops-225-fl-oz-934801

Also buying reptibark again

Yes those are what I bought.

Only do this if the basking temperature underneath is still ok.

I’ll admit things sound pretty good set up wise so it’s definitely confusing as to what could be the cause, don’t suppose you have a photo of the set up? Long shot but maybe we’ll spot something.

I think trying the reptibark might be a good shout because it could potentially be the coir getting in his eyes, most tortoises have zero issues with it but I have heard of rare instances of tortoises that just don’t seem to agree with it per say and it’s caused eye/armpit irritation. Not entirely sure why it only happens to some but might be worth seeing how he fairs on the bark because it’s genuinely all that springs to mind based on your post

Exactly, my daughter has for ball pythons. One day she picked up the baby male and his scales were all raised. She asked a guy in a snake group who breeds them. He told her is sounded like the snake was allergic to the bedding. She switched him to the coco coir like the guy recommended and soon he was back to normal. All smooth and pretty again. So really anything is possible so why not try something that is easy to switch up without breaking the bank.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

I will also try raising the basking light higher. Can you give me the name of the eye drops you're talking about?

Check the temps, but also check the angle of the light. I was told they don't tend to look up to the light but if it's on an angle it may be hitting her eyes.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yes those are what I bought.

Exactly, my daughter has for ball pythons. One day she picked up the baby male and his scales were all raised. She asked a guy in a snake group who breeds them. He told her is sounded like the snake was allergic to the bedding. She switched him to the coco coir like the guy recommended and soon he was back to normal. All smooth and pretty again. So really anything is possible so why not try something that is easy to switch up without breaking the bank.

Yeah I do wonder if it’s allergy related, or some just happen to be more sensitive than others, I suppose like us, different things work for different people, perhaps the bark is less irritating than coir to some.
Really hope the bark works out for op!

 

[jharrris]

Thank you all so much for the advice!! I will try it all out. It's hard to take good pictures of the enclosure but if I need to I can. I really appreciate you guys!! Going to take this and see what I can do. Do y'all know anything about potential genetic causes for this? Because honestly in hindsight the breeder seemed very sketchy

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you all so much for the advice!! I will try it all out. It's hard to take good pictures of the enclosure but if I need to I can. I really appreciate you guys!! Going to take this and see what I can do. Do y'all know anything about potential genetic causes for this? Because honestly in hindsight the breeder seemed very sketchy

Keep us in the loop with how you get on

Honestly the best person to try answer that would probably be @Tom, I don't personally think it could be anything linked to genetics, but I guess nothings impossible. I’m wondering more if it could be the brand of coir? Have you tried different ones?

 

[jharrris]

Keep us in the loop with how you get on

Honestly the best person to try answer that would probably be @Tom, I don't personally think it could be anything linked to genetics, but I guess nothings impossible. I’m wondering more if it could be the brand of coir? Have you tried different ones?

Could be? I think that's the Zoomed Eco earth

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Could be? I think that's the Zoomed Eco earth

Mmm zoo med is quite a reputable brand so perhaps it isn’t.. very tricky to saymaybe if you get chance for a photo of the enclosure we can see if we spot anything, other than that, I really hope the bark will help!