Red eared turtle - red and swolen eyes

Stefan Dragostinov

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
5
Hello All,

I have a Red Eared male Turtle which is about 17 years old. I have never had some issues with this turtle. I kett it in a big aquarium (250l), half filled. I have an island and a lamp as well. The water temperature is keeped about 28 Deg using a heater. For feeding i use primary prawn from the local fishmarket which i boil. The problem startet a month ago. The eyes get closed and i moved it in a separate compartment withou water and place it on a sunny place. I got better but it turn to these symptoms again. I also changed the diet to some fish fillet. I try to keep the temperature high enough and bring the turtle to direct sunlight as much as possible. At the moment it can open one eye but after an 2 hour sunbath the eyes got closed and red again. They also get swollen and tears starts. i still feet the turtle with the fish fillet applying Tutle Vit on it. I'm also trying to put some vitamin A over the fillets in case of vit A deficency. I tried some eyedrops but without some effect. I can't understand why the sunbath doesn't help an make the situation worse.

Please let me know for you oppinion and adviced in order to improve the condtion of my little friend.
 

Stefan Dragostinov

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
5
I put the turtle under direct sunlight on the balcony foe a couple of hours every day since it has the sythoms. Usualy i keep the turtle in the aquarium but now i keep it on a dry place with some water, just enough to drink.
 

SarahChelonoidis

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Messages
1,895
Location (City and/or State)
Toronto, Canada
He needs to be able to submerge in water to eat. They also need more variety in their diet - just feeding shrimp or fish is not good for them. RES are omnivores - you need to provide edible vegetation too. Adding in commercial turtle pellets can help provide a little more variety.

When on the balcony, is there any glass between the turtle and the sun? If the tank or a window is blocking the sunlight, your turtle will not receive any uvb.
 

Pearly

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
5,287
Location (City and/or State)
Central Texas, Austin area
I am a fairly new reptile keeper but mine are tortoises, so what I have to throw in maybe garbage, but you seem to know what you are doing so you decide. With tortoises when they don't eat and vit A deficiency is being suspected we soak them in Gerber baby carrot and water mix. I think @Yvonne G has some turtles and she knows a lot about treating sick animals. I hope she gets my alert and chimes in soon. I definitely agree with some major dietary updates, more variety! Much more in fresh foods plus a bit of commercial turtle diet (pelleted or whatever you have available) to fill in the gaps. Like I said I keep land tortoises but have come through a major feeding problem with one of them when he was a little baby and done so much work and so much research I made a thread on this forum to refer back to when trying to help new member. Here is a link, pls take a look and adjust to your species needs. The thread was started when my baby was very very little, but I think feeding adult sick animal is no different than feeding a fussy eating baby:) http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Pearly's-tips-to-feed-picky-eater.139381/
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
A diet of all shrimp or all fish isn't a well-rounded diet. The type of things you should feed your turtle includes crickets, mealworms, waxworms and other small grubs and insects. You can also buy pellets like this to feed him:

934836-center-1


204459.jpg


Have you changed the type of light you use? Some of the newer style lights can be harmful to turtle's eyes.
 

Markw84

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
5,042
Location (City and/or State)
Sacramento, CA (Central Valley)
Trachemys turtles, which include red ears, turn more vegetarian as they age. Without greens or a good pellet food it will go vitamin A deficient I am pretty sure this is what's wrong here. Fish fillets and shrimp is not a good diet. Good for treats but has many vitamin and minerals lacking. Throw in some dark green leafy vegetables. Might not see it as good at first since apparently you have not offered this before but by 3-5 yrs old a red ear should be almost 50% vegetarian. Get a good aquatic turtle pellet. Those have the vitamin and minerals in them and make a much better staple diet.

Your turtle MUST be kept in water it can completely submerge in aquatic turtles do not have a moveable tongue and cannot swallow without water they suck in to force the food down.

UVB is not your problem with a turtle this age and what you describe.
 

Stefan Dragostinov

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
5
I haven't changed the light. I put some vitamin A and Turtle Vit on the food which i give him. My todays observations shows that under direct sunlight something wrong happend and the eyes are getting swallen and red, which is odd for me. I put the turtle on a different plase and after a couple of hours the situation is better. The turtle can open one of the eyes and the other one is less swallen. I will keep the current conditions for tommorow in order to see if there is improvement. I will deffinetelly change the diet with the above mentioned turtle food. Please let me know in case you have some ideas.
 

Stefan Dragostinov

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
5
Just as an update, i found my turtle this morning with both eyes opened but whey i leave it for some time exposed on direct sunlight the eyes gets closed and slightly swollen. It seems that the situation get better but i can't understand why is this reaction to sunlight.
 

New Posts

Top