Hi guys I would just like some advice on my horse field tortoise she’s a year old and she is not opening her eyes and when she does it’s only slightly I took her to the vets and they suspected an infection gave her antibiotics and an anti inflammatory but that hasn’t worked, I have a UV strip light that’s on for 12 hours a day and a heat bulb that’s temperature controlled we tried changing the heat bulb because i had one that glows red and now has no glow that’s been in for a month again no change and I even looked at changing substrate and that doesn’t seem to make much a difference either I even tried to soak her eyes and wipe them again no change do I need to take her back to the vets? Please any suggestions?
Tortoise not opening her eyes
- Thread starter Shelby_01
- Start date
Hello! If you could try answering these questions that would be great! It’ll give a little further insight into her overall care, hopefully making it easier to pinpoint a potential issue
What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any. Don’t use red heat bulbs, they can make the substrate look like food
What kind of uv strip light is it? T8, t5? Strength? Brand?
How’s humidity? Is she in a closed chamber set up?
What’s the substrates you’ve used?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s her diet been like with you?
A photo of the full set up would be wonderful! Welcome to the forum
What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any. Don’t use red heat bulbs, they can make the substrate look like food
What kind of uv strip light is it? T8, t5? Strength? Brand?
How’s humidity? Is she in a closed chamber set up?
What’s the substrates you’ve used?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s her diet been like with you?
A photo of the full set up would be wonderful! Welcome to the forum
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I will say for some off the bat advice, a basking bulb works best off a thermostat, it’s acting as your ‘sun’ so ideally you don’t want it dimming on/off all day, you want to find the right watt and height to create the desired basking temperature directly underneath.
If the basking bulb isn’t enough in keeping overall ambient temperature where needed, especially if from a colder climate, this is where a CHE(ceramic heat emitter) comes in! It’s a none light emitting heat bulb that makes up ambient heat and offers night heat, this one does need running on a thermostat 24/7. Avoid those red bulbs.
Make sure basking bulb is an incandescent floodlight, not a spot bulb or anything like that(pics would be good)
With the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics will run 24/7 on a thermostat.
Because I don’t know exactly what uvb you have, I’m reluctant in suggesting timing adjustments just yet.
If the basking bulb isn’t enough in keeping overall ambient temperature where needed, especially if from a colder climate, this is where a CHE(ceramic heat emitter) comes in! It’s a none light emitting heat bulb that makes up ambient heat and offers night heat, this one does need running on a thermostat 24/7. Avoid those red bulbs.
Make sure basking bulb is an incandescent floodlight, not a spot bulb or anything like that(pics would be good)
With the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics will run 24/7 on a thermostat.
Because I don’t know exactly what uvb you have, I’m reluctant in suggesting timing adjustments just yet.
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
You could try carrot soaks in case there is a vitamin A deficiency. If that is the case the carrot soaks help in a few days, if not they do no harm.
Here are the instructions:
tortoiseforum.org
Here are the instructions:
Gerber Carrot Baby Food Soaks
This "trick" is only for turtles and tortoises that aren't eating and have swollen shut eyes. It's not a cure-all, and unless you fix the reason why the eyes swelled shut in the first place, they're just going to swell shut again after the soaks. Using a bowl with tall sides (so the animal...
tortoiseforum.org
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Please post good photos of the tortoise from several angles
