Box turtles eyes won't open

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I have a three toes box turtle that is around 9 months old and his eyes are always closed. I read about it in the box turtle manual and it says it is either bacterial conjunctivitis or a vitamin A deficiency. Soaks and triple antibiotic ointment always open them up but they never stay open for long. They have been like this for a few months. Besides that he is a good eater somehow he still manages to see and catch his food. If anybody has any advice let me know I'll attack some pictures. image.jpegimage.jpegimage.jpeg image.jpegimage.jpeg
 

wellington

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What is the humidity in his home? He looks a little dry and hiss cute look to be starting to pyramid, get bumpy. They need a fairly high humidity. Also, if you are using any type of coil bulbs or CFL bulbs, they cause eye damage and make tortoises and turtles close their eyes a lot and to keep,them closed.
 

wellington

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Also, if you are using one of the bad bulbs I mentioned, if you replace it, his eyes will get better without having to treat them. You may want to use some saline to help moisten them while they heal.
 
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Also, if you are using one of the bad bulbs I mentioned, if you replace it, his eyes will get better without having to treat them. You may want to use some saline to help moisten them while they heal.
I'm just using a regular lightbulb for basking and have a uvb 5.0 strip light. I'm working on getting a lid to keep in humidity.
 

Eric Phillips

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What substrate are you using? I hope you are using something like Terramycin Antibiotic Ophthalmic Ointment and not a regular antibiotic ointment. This could be causing the irritation if so. Are there any other abnormal signs.....bubbles from nose, runny nose, mouth staying open, noises, anything out of the ordinary? I use Artificial Tears to wash out the eyes if needed. Helps to lubricate the eyes too. Giving this little one a few warm baby food carrot soaks might help too if you already haven't done them.
 

dmmj

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what is It's diet like? a diet that doesn't have a lot of greens in it will result in a vitamin A deficiency.
 
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What substrate are you using? I hope you are using something like Terramycin Antibiotic Ophthalmic Ointment and not a regular antibiotic ointment. This could be causing the irritation if so. Are there any other abnormal signs.....bubbles from nose, runny nose, mouth staying open, noises, anything out of the ordinary? I use Artificial Tears to wash out the eyes if needed. Helps to lubricate the eyes too. Giving this little one a few warm baby food carrot soaks might help too if you already haven't done them.
I'm using just plain top soil. No other signs of sickness either. I think the main problem is probably what humidity like the first guy said. Also I have never heard of the baby food soak could you explain them to me? Thanks.
 
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what is It's diet like? a diet that doesn't have a lot of greens in it will result in a vitamin A deficiency.
I think your right about the diet he eats mostly insects but now I'm starting to dust them more with the vitamin. I usually just feed whatever fruits and vegetables I have around the house the other day he had some broccoli. I'll try to get him eating more greens and if you could answer this question for more it would help a lot. I heard not to feed box turtles grapes I used to feed him grapes a lot and he really liked them but I stopped after I heard that. Are they okay to feed just wondering because I almost always have grapes in the fridge.
 

dmmj

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I think your right about the diet he eats mostly insects but now I'm starting to dust them more with the vitamin. I usually just feed whatever fruits and vegetables I have around the house the other day he had some broccoli. I'll try to get him eating more greens and if you could answer this question for more it would help a lot. I heard not to feed box turtles grapes I used to feed him grapes a lot and he really liked them but I stopped after I heard that. Are they okay to feed just wondering because I almost always have grapes in the fridge.
grapes are fine no problems eating.
 

Yvonne G

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Using a tub or bowl with a small footprint, pour a half jar of Gerber strained carrots. Add a bit of warm water and mix it up. Soak the baby in this mixture for at least a half hour daily and longer is even better. You should see his eyes improve in 3 days. But in order to keep them open, he has to be eating properly.
 

JennK

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When I got my rescued pair of three toeds I found that there is all sorts of mix matched information when it comes to box turtle care- mainly because their are so many different types of box turtles found in many different regions and not all box turtle requirements are the same. Specifically so for the three toed box turtle. So, I researched all of the areas in which the three toed are found, the months in which they are most active, and the climatic references for those months. Then I hashed them all together to find the average. This took months! Of all the turtles and tortoises I have owned I must tell you that the three toed box turtle has been the most difficult! Definitely not for the beginner. The humidity level and the microclimates are truely important when it comes to box turtles. If you cannot set this up appropriately, your little guy will suffer. Especially young ones. And it is very difficult to maintain in a four foot by two foot enclosure. As such, I don't recommed anything smaller! Eye's being closed on box turtles can be a sign of so many things. The three main causes are; improper humidity/temps, Vitamin A defiiency, and Respiratory infection/ phnumonia. My course of action in either turtle when they are showing eye symptoms- treat all three! Why? Because a lack of vitamin A causes a weak immune system, improper enviornment causes a weak immune system. Both lead to bacterial/fungal infections. Bacterial/Fungal infections cause death. I've grown quite fond of my little guys. I don't like death. So I take my temp gun (because they're soo much more reliable and about the same price as temp gages) and my humidity gauge, and I double check my enclosures parameters. If anything is off- I fix it! Then, I go to my box turtle first aid kit. (I have them for all my animals! You never know when someones going to get sick and I can't always afford a vet) It contains API® E.M. Erythromycin Fish Bacterial Infection Treatment, Zoo Med™ Repti Turtle Eye Drops, Tetrafauna Turtle Vita Shell Turtle, Tortoise and Terrapin Shell and Skin Conditioner, Equate First Aid Antiseptic Topical Solution 10% Povidont-Iodine, and a toothbrush. This whole kit costs about $35 and is truely life saving! Now, as for treatment. Before I start treatment I like to look over the turtles to see if they have any shell rot. If they do- I treat this at the same time. Using luke warm water, I draw them up a bath. I put about half a packet of the erythromycin in the bath with them. This is the same type of antibiotic they use to treat respiratory infections and phneumonia in humans. I let them soak for about a half hour in this solution. Now, if they have shell rot. After they soak, I dry them off then scrub down their shell with the antispetic using the tooth brush. Let it sit for a few minutes to really allow them to soak it up. Then rinse and towel dry. If they do not have shell rot, I condition their shell. Either way, after their bath I put two drops of the eye drops in each eye rotating between each drop and allowing it to soak in. If its a particularly bad case and they have alot of junk in their eye, I'll do three drops in each. Once the eye drops are in and the bath is out of the way, I put them in their basking area to warm up and dry off. If they do have shell rot. I make sure they stay in their dry area for a good amount of time. The longer the better because air is really the enemy to dry rot. Now, turtles can be sick for a long time before showing any outward symptoms. What this translates to is even if your turtle is all better and is showing no signs of illnesses- continue treatment for a few days more to ensure the problem is totally cleared up and gone away. Your little guy is about to the age where introducing fruits and veggis comes into play. I would suggest going to petsmart and picking up a can of box turtle food. its about four dollars for the can but it last a LONG time for the little guys! Its very well balanced and my guys just cant resist it! I included a diagram of my enclosure so that you have the exact humidity and heat zones that I mentioned before. Just ensure that there are no cold and damp areas! Cold damp areas allow for all sorts of nasty things to fester!
 

JennK

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oops. forgot the diagram lol Hope I helped!
 

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