Cherry Head Eyes

[KTyne]

This might be a strange request but can I see photos of your guy's Red Foot's eyes?

I feel like my girl's eyes are always partly closed compared to when I got her. Do tortoises have a clear eyelid like cats that can swell? I feel like the corner of her eye (tear duct?) is always swollen. :\

Here is a photo of her lovely face when I first got her...


And now.


Thoughts?

Her temps are perfect and I mist her enclosure like crazy every morning to keep humidity up, and she gets her soaks regularly. So I'm not sure if there is an issue or not?

 

[crimson_lotus]

Do you have anything to measure the humidity in the enclosure? It could be nothing, but from past posts I think that stuff in the corner of her eye could be from lack of humidity. What do you have for substrate, and is your enclosure a closed chamber?

 

[KTyne]

I don't have a hygrometer, no, I haven't been able to find a good one around here :\
But I have a ton of sphagnum moss that I soak each morning in her enclosure and at the end of the day if I lift up the cover to her enclosure I can feel the wet, warm air come out. (yes it's a closed chamber)
Substrate is peat moss that I re-wet every couple weeks.
I've had her for 5 months and she has grown about an inch in that time, all smooth growth, so I don't think it's a humidity issue?
Also, her UV light is a tube bulb (not one of those compact fluorescents) so that wouldn't be the issue either.
I have seen pictures of other Red Foots with eyes that look like hers? So I'm wondering if it's just normal (per individual animal) or if it could be a virus (like Feline Herpesvirus-1 in cats).

 

[KTyne]

Here is a top view of her whole self as of about a week ago

 

[crimson_lotus]

I use this for a hygrometer:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013BKDO8/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

It's $10 at any hardware store and I place it at substrate level.

The humidity is my guess, hopefully someone else will come along with their opinions. You have a beautiful tortoise, by the way.

It's hard to tell if that's some reflection in her eye, could be the angle too.

 

[KTyne]

Thank you! I will head to my local hardware store to look for one first and not then I'll order online!

 

[Yvonne G]

The RF tortoises benefit from items in the habitat that make lots of shade. The bright lights are something they usually shy away from, so lots of plants are helpful. Are you using a coil-shaped bulb?

 

[KTyne]

The RF tortoises benefit from items in the habitat that make lots of shade. The bright lights are something they usually shy away from, so lots of plants are helpful. Are you using a coil-shaped bulb?

She has lots of hides and her UV light is only on one end of her enclosure so it's not super bright everywhere. Also as I said in my previous post I use tube bulbs, not the compact fluorescent ones.