Tortoise struggles to open eyes

[TheLastGreen]

It sounds bad, but Sunny is doing great! A few times I have seen him not immediately opening his eyes up when I pick him up to soak, sometimes both eyes take long to open, or just one. Any advice? (Also I use an incandecent bulb

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That incandescent bulb shouldn't be an issue. It looks like a pretty low wattage.
Is that the only light?

 

[TheLastGreen]

Yup, I dont even use the CHE, because temps stay between 27-32C.
So the other culprit could either be too dry substrate or lack in vitamin A

 

[TheLastGreen]

@ZEROPILOT I think it was too dry of a substrate, the orchid bark was too dry, I spray the enclosure as much as possible now, and his eyes opened almost immediately
(I'm also adding butternut squash and green lettuce to his diet to ensure he has enough vitiman A)

 

[Maggie3fan]

Yup, I dont even use the CHE, because temps stay between 27-32C.
So the other culprit could either be too dry substrate or lack in vitamin A

That's about 80 degrees...Tortoises need to have their insides at about 85 degrees or they can't digest their food. It might have been the lack of humidity, I think temps and quality of light are wrong.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Just measured now beneath basking is
Basking: 32C/89F
Humid hide: 28C/82.4F
Cool end: 29C/84.2F
Lighting: Incandecent
Night temps: Lowest 24C/77F
Diet: Mushroom (staple)
Butternut squash
Green lettuce
Earthworms
Humidity: 80%

This is the rundown of my setup. I thought this was correct for a (zombensis) hingeback?
What light would you recommend?

 

[TheLastGreen]

@TeamZissou if I remeber correctly you are quite knowledgeable on kinixys, do you think my setup is correct?

 

[TeamZissou]

Just measured now beneath basking is
Basking: 32C/89F
Humid hide: 28C/82.4F
Cool end: 29C/84.2F
Lighting: Incandecent
Night temps: Lowest 24C/77F
Diet: Mushroom (staple)
Butternut squash
Green lettuce
Earthworms
Humidity: 80%

This is the rundown of my setup. I thought this was correct for a (zombensis) hingeback?
What light would you recommend?

I wouldn't say that I'm knowledgeable on kinixys; it's probably the genus that I know the least about.

It would be nice if we had a few more detailed care sheets for different hingebacks, but it seems the main one is for K. b. nogueyi. This recommends more greens than you are currently feeding, granted that they are from different regions. I would be surprised if they need less than 50:50 of greens to something else (mushrooms or fruit, or protein). The main genus that you read about eating a lot of mushrooms are pyxis from Madagascar. This may also be the recommendation for SA hingebacks but I am not sure.

Kinixys Belliana Nogueyi care sheet.

Western Hingeback Tortoise. (Kiniyxs Belliana Nogueyi). This species of tortoise make for a brilliant and facinating pet. The advice here is based on my own experience of keeping a group of 5 females and 1 male for over ten years and we have recently hatched 5 hatchlings from 6 eggs...

tortoiseforum.org

Your tortoise's eyes don't look super swollen or anything, so there may not be much cause for concern. Low vitamin A is mainly a problem in aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles, and is rarely seen in tortoises. That said, you could run into problems if you don't feed greens. Two options to avoid vitamin A problems are 1) feeding more greens so that your tortoise can synthesize its own vitamin A, and 2) give Rep Cal Herptivite supplement a couple times a week. I would avoid all other supplements because they often contain way too much preformed vitamin A (retinyl acetate) which can cause vitamin A overdose rather than low vitamin A, especially for small tortoises. Herptivite is the best because it does not contain preformed vitamin A instead favoring beta carotene, which doesn't cause an overdose.

What are you using for UV exposure? You should probably get a T5 10.0 UVB bulb and run it for 1-2 hours midday or get your tortoise outside a few times per week for some sun exposure.

 

[TheLastGreen]

I use this from the kinixys blueprint ( https://www.thekinixyscooperative.com/post/kinixys-conservation-blueprint-mifsud ) for diet

 

[Toddrickfl1]

@2turtletom can probably give you some advice for this species.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Also this in the blueprint so it can't be temps. I think it was substrate that was too dry, could lighting be wrong?

 

[ZenHerper]

If their natural habitat in the wild has thick cover, there might be a problem with light glare and over-exposure to uvb radiation in a captive set up.

I have recommended a more heavily landscaped enclosure on a few occasions, now.

This will also help improve and stabilize humidity at the surface of the substrate.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Ok thanks @ZenHerper , these buggers live beneath dense shrubbery, so I'll try to get more plants. As for Uvb, I don't use a bulb, I take him outside, but I don't think enough, so I'll try increasing that too

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Just measured now beneath basking is
Basking: 32C/89F
Humid hide: 28C/82.4F
Cool end: 29C/84.2F
Lighting: Incandecent
Night temps: Lowest 24C/77F
Diet: Mushroom (staple)
Butternut squash
Green lettuce
Earthworms
Humidity: 80%

This is the rundown of my setup. I thought this was correct for a (zombensis) hingeback?
What light would you recommend?

That's a very restricted diet.
Redfoot can eats hundreds of things. Things that would kill some other species, like up to 60% fruit.
You should get more variety in there. Take advantage of that great part of keeping a RF.
As for the humidity, pouring a little water into the corners of the enclosure and letting it evaporate from the Orchid bark will provide the high humidity.
Misting isn't going to provide a constant humidity. And it's a pain in the rear also.

 

[2turtletom]

Frans, when tortoises don't open their eyes right away, that's a good sign they are being kept too dry and are likely dehydrated.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Thanks guys! I have added a terracota saucer with water, I'll make his diet more diverse, and give him more sunlight

 

[Maggie3fan]

Thanks guys! I have added a terracota saucer with water, I'll make his diet more diverse, and give him more sunlight View attachment 337045

Oh he's cute as hell!!!