Unhealthy eye

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

Hello everyone
I recently bought a redfoot tortoise (about 2 weeks ago) and he or she has been very happy until a few days ago when I noticed that his/her eye looked puffy and the area around it was and is swollen, it seems like there is some dirt or somthing on his bottom eyelid. He/she has also stopped eating as much in the last couple of days and is not as active as before. I am giving him/her daily soaks and using a cotton bud with saline solution on it to gently wipe over his eye. Not sure of what exactly is wrong so any pointers would be helpful and I hope that I have been doing the correct things to help the tortoise (I still haven't named the tortoise because I'm awful at deciding what to call anything )

 

[wellington]

Are you using coil type bulbs? What substrate are you using?
If using coil bulbs stop.

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

No, I am using a ceramic heat bulb and for substrate it is a mix of coconut coir and forest floor or cypress mulch as some people call it.

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

That is a picture of his/her eye, sorry it isn't great quality.

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

He/she just had diarrhoea not moving around much although when I gave some cucumber yesterday He/she ate it for ages

 

[ascott]

Hello everyone
I recently bought a redfoot tortoise (about 2 weeks ago) and he or she has been very happy until a few days ago when I noticed that his/her eye looked puffy and the area around it was and is swollen, it seems like there is some dirt or somthing on his bottom eyelid. He/she has also stopped eating as much in the last couple of days and is not as active as before. I am giving him/her daily soaks and using a cotton bud with saline solution on it to gently wipe over his eye. Not sure of what exactly is wrong so any pointers would be helpful and I hope that I have been doing the correct things to help the tortoise (I still haven't named the tortoise because I'm awful at deciding what to call anything )

I would avoid using an object (cotton swab) to slide across the eyeball surface---can cause small scratches....however, if you want to do a gentle water flush then you can achieve that by using a small squeeze bottle...and use tepid to cool plain water and gently flush the eyeball and surrounding area a few times a day for a few days....

Also, if you offer cucumber and the tort goes to town on it--the tortoise will likely end up with wet poo....

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

My dad just wanted to try cucumber to get Him to eat something but today the tortoise has been moving around more and has eaten some food (not wet foods)

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

The tortoise is looking a lot better and hopefully is making a recovery

 

[ascott]

My dad just wanted to try cucumber to get Him to eat something but today the tortoise has been moving around more and has eaten some food (not wet foods)

Cucumber is not a bad food for this species....I hope it did not sound like I was implying that this species can eats lots of variety....just was assuring that wet poo would make sense if cucumber was offered and devoured....

 

[thepalaeontologicaltort]

Oh ok I'm putting chlorophenicol (if I spelled it right) on his eye and giving daily soaks at the moment. He was also eating dandelion and walking around yesterday not so much today though