Walking Around With Eyes Shut - Should I be concerned? (Pics)

jnits

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Hi,

New tortoise owner here. Found the guy in my yard and nobody claimed him in the lost and found - so I became a tortoise owner.

He seemed to be doing alright, but today I noticed he was walking around with his eyes closed, and he seemed to be trying to "blink", even though his eyes were already closed? I was a bit worried, started wondering if they were swollen shut. I gave him some dandelion for some extra Vitamin A and he briefly opened his eye and it looks nice and black? Am I overreacting and being too worried, or should we take him to the vet stat?

Video of walking with eyes shut: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RpwyfUUYZ2Upc1V69

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Pic about an hour after the above:
1597024430709.png

He only had them open for about 20 seconds and they are shut again now.

Diet
  • Timothy Hay
  • Purple Cabbage
  • Mixed Greens kit (romaine, collared greens, radicchio)
  • Hibiscus flowers
  • Rose flowers
  • Dandelion
  • Aloe Vera (self service)
  • Prickly Pear is present but he isn't interested
  • Trying to grow the 20 species weeds kit in the enclosure but they are having trouble getting established due to his destructive tendencies. They are growing well in the enclosure but not in the pots we planted for a better food source...)

Baths:
  • I give him a warm bath every day, I let him stay in the terra cotta dish as long as he feels like it. Some days he'll hang for 30 mins, sometimes he's over it in 5 mins.
I have the Repitsun T5 on the warm end (13" above the ground / 10" above shell), with a 75 w Reptisun basking lamp. Hottest spot under the lamp is about 100 degrees, he seems to prefer it around that temp instead of the lower 96 I have seen recommended. I wonder if I should get another linear lamp or two to get the rest of the enclosure a bit brighter, he spends most of the time under the spot lamp. He will stomp around though and eat the weeds I have planted in the enclosure. Cool end is about 80 degrees during the day, 50% humidity. At night it is getting down to about 76 degrees.

1597024056495.png

Substrate is the Biodude bioactive kit. We mist the enclosure about every other day (it gets a bit smelly if we do it every day).

1597023621636.png

Enclosure
 

Tom

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Most of that sounds great. Try Turing off the UV tube for a few days and see what happens. It might be mounted too close. Adding an LED bulb during this time to brighten things up a bit might help. Continue the daily soaks.

Russians aren't grass eaters, so you can skip the hay.

Does he have an outdoor enclosure too? Your climate is so perfect for it.
 

jnits

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Thanks for the response. The light has been mounted this way for about 4 weeks. Maybe I should just raise it instead of turning it off? The board isn't screwed down, so that's simple. Do you think his eyes are getting "sun burned?"

No outdoor enclosure yet. We want to build one, but my yard orientation and a big hill behind my house causes my back yard to only have direct sun in the afternoon for about 4 hours. I think that's a problem? He also doesn't like being moved in and out all the time, he seems to get agitated.

Also there are tons of coyotes, racoons, ravens and hawks, etc as we live with our backs to a hill. Just yesterday my camera caught a coyote with a rabbit in his mouth. So I'm concerned for his safety so we have to make sure that it's well secured and I don't really feel comfortable leaving him out at night, I've heard stories of racoons getting into locked enclosures.
 

jnits

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I broke down and bought the solarmeter 6.5 R to help see what is going on. The meter is reading way higher than the chart indicates.

I can't believe i was worried it wasn't enough. It's at least UVI 4.2 (high end of ferguson zone 4) where he liked to hang out under the heat lamp, though I saw it go into UVI 5 (danger zone!) as I ran the meter around under the bulb simulating his head height when he lifts his head up all the way. According to the chart that is supposed to still be ferguson zone 3! This is about 6 inches from the lamp and it is reading 6.4 which is firmly in DANGER and, if he were on the rock with his head up, he'd be at this height. The chart is not accurate at all, the chart is claiming around UVI 2.5 for this distance. BUY THE METER!

1597192626114.png

So I guess he has photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. :(

I took him outside at the recommendation of the vet, I am currently leaving the reptisun UV 5.0 T5HO off. He's walking around and opens usually just one eye at a time, sometimes both. His third eyelid is a bit too visible. I've been giving him saline drops.
 

Blackdog1714

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Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial Ophthalmic Gel. It around $20 and I use for all my animals and works real good for the eyes
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thanks for sharing this. This is why I'm a firm believer that it's much better if possible to give your tort a few hours outside each week and not bother with artificial UVB.
 

jaizei

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I broke down and bought the solarmeter 6.5 R to help see what is going on. The meter is reading way higher than the chart indicates.

I can't believe i was worried it wasn't enough. It's at least UVI 4.2 (high end of ferguson zone 4) where he liked to hang out under the heat lamp, though I saw it go into UVI 5 (danger zone!) as I ran the meter around under the bulb simulating his head height when he lifts his head up all the way. According to the chart that is supposed to still be ferguson zone 3! This is about 6 inches from the lamp and it is reading 6.4 which is firmly in DANGER and, if he were on the rock with his head up, he'd be at this height. The chart is not accurate at all, the chart is claiming around UVI 2.5 for this distance. BUY THE METER!

View attachment 303131

So I guess he has photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. :(

I took him outside at the recommendation of the vet, I am currently leaving the reptisun UV 5.0 T5HO off. He's walking around and opens usually just one eye at a time, sometimes both. His third eyelid is a bit too visible. I've been giving him saline drops.


Which fixture do you have the bulb in?, what kind of reflector does it have?
 

jnits

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Which fixture do you have the bulb in?, what kind of reflector does it have?

It's the stock terrarium hood that zoomed makes for it. They warned a screen would diminish the output, so I wasn't worried.
 

jnits

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Thanks for sharing this. This is why I'm a firm believer that it's much better if possible to give your tort a few hours outside each week and not bother with artificial UVB.

Don't they need the UVB to see properly in their enclosure though?
 

Zoeclare

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Don't they need the UVB to see properly in their enclosure though?
You can use led lights in conjunction with UV so you dont have to run the uvb tube constantly
 

Toddrickfl1

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Don't they need the UVB to see properly in their enclosure though?
No you can use full spectrum LEDs and an incandescent bulb for basking.
 

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