Dry Eye

[chipperchip]

Hello Tortoise Forum Experts,

Chip is my redfoot tortoise. Not sure of his age but he is about 7" and I've had him since March. We live in NE Ohio and our weather isn't always cooperative. Since it rained heavily this spring, Chip didn't get outside until mid-June, at which time I put him in an enclosed flower box area. He usually stays there all day and I bring him in at night because he could easily become food for one of the many species of wildlife we have around our home.

During the past week, our weather was cool and rainy, which was too cold to let him stay outside, so he stayed in his enclosure that is around 6' x 4'. He has been outside the past few days with warmer weather but when I went to take him out this afternoon, his eye was stuck closed. I got a little worried and put him in his tub to soak, at which time he dunked his head and used his foot to rub his eye. After a few times of doing that, his eye opened again.

I have tried to keep the humidity up in his enclosure. It has been lower than usual, but ranges between 50 and 70%. He is on cyprus mulch. I soak a section of it down every morning. I have a ceramic coil heater that is above his hide box (temp is about 80-84) , a florescent uvb bulb over his food, and a regular lightbulb over his basking rock. Can anyone please tell me what they think was wrong with his eye? Was it just too dry in his enclosure? Do you think I have the wrong lighting? I would like to correct this before he comes in for the fall/winter/spring. I have enclosed a photo of his enclosure. Do you think he needs a vet for his eye? It seems OK now, but was completely closed.

Thank you for any advice that you can give.

 

[chipperchip]

I probably should add that he has not been eating with his usual gusto the past few days either.

 

[Careym13]

Can you post a better picture of the eye in question? Can't really see anything from the above photos.

 

[pfara]

I'm assuming that the fluorescent light is a compact and not a tube? There are posts from people that have had tortoise eye issues from compact fluorescent bulbs.

That mulch could also use a thorough spray down. I try my hardest to always have my mulched areas be that darker, wet color. I haven't had shell rot/fungus issues doing so.

I'd suggest daily baby food soaks and double checking humidity and temp levels for the time being. Hopefully more experienced members chime in.

 

[wellington]

If you do have a coil bulb the. That's the probe and get rid of it. I think I seen a tube type fixture though, so I'm not sure you are using coil. Double check you temps and humidity. Be sure your using a good quality gauge, not those puck type ones, they are not reliable. I would not use baby food at this time, not really needed this early. I would soak him in warm water daily for a week or so and see if this helps. He may be going through what a lot of members torts seem to be doing at this time, that live where it has gotten a little cooler the last week or so. Like my Russian, slowed way down on his food. It is finely warmed up again and he's eating a little better but it has taken a couple days of warm up first. I would just keep an eye on it and see if it happens again, do the soaks, and check temps and humidity,

 

[Anyfoot]

Hello Tortoise Forum Experts,

Chip is my redfoot tortoise. Not sure of his age but he is about 7" and I've had him since March. We live in NE Ohio and our weather isn't always cooperative. Since it rained heavily this spring, Chip didn't get outside until mid-June, at which time I put him in an enclosed flower box area. He usually stays there all day and I bring him in at night because he could easily become food for one of the many species of wildlife we have around our home.

During the past week, our weather was cool and rainy, which was too cold to let him stay outside, so he stayed in his enclosure that is around 6' x 4'. He has been outside the past few days with warmer weather but when I went to take him out this afternoon, his eye was stuck closed. I got a little worried and put him in his tub to soak, at which time he dunked his head and used his foot to rub his eye. After a few times of doing that, his eye opened again.

I have tried to keep the humidity up in his enclosure. It has been lower than usual, but ranges between 50 and 70%. He is on cyprus mulch. I soak a section of it down every morning. I have a ceramic coil heater that is above his hide box (temp is about 80-84) , a florescent uvb bulb over his food, and a regular lightbulb over his basking rock. Can anyone please tell me what they think was wrong with his eye? Was it just too dry in his enclosure? Do you think I have the wrong lighting? I would like to correct this before he comes in for the fall/winter/spring. I have enclosed a photo of his enclosure. Do you think he needs a vet for his eye? It seems OK now, but was completely closed.

Thank you for any advice that you can give.


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Hi there. For the moment I have a room in my house just for torts, So I made a few hides/humid boxes within this room. Below is the first one I made.
You seem to have most things you need to improve it. I think you need to line you box again but come up the walls at least 6" with the lining, this will allow you to put about a 3" minimum layer of coco coir under your cyprus mulch, this in turn will hold humidity.
I'll tell you what I have then you can make your own mind up.
At my heated end I have 2 100watt CHE on thermostats, 1x 100 spot bulb and a UVB srtip bulb. I also have a cat litter tray for them to bathe or drink in. Actually there is 2 trays, 1 inside the other, so when I take the top tray out to clean, the coco coir doesn't collapse into the hole where the tray is. I also have a stone slab about 1x2ft, this helps the torts nails and provides a different terrain, in your case you could use as a feeding area, I don't feed mine in the enclosure. At the opposite end to the heat, I have screwed in vertically old logs together to create 2 separate hides , and not just in a square,curves and corners, more corners the better, they love to dig in at the corners, In this end I only have coco coir so they can dig in. Do not screw or nail anything into your liner. Your going to have to watch the weight in your enclosure if its on legs.

Your dry eye could be a mixture of low humidity,dehydration and coil bulbs if you are using them. As the day goes on are the eyes getting runny?
It looks like you have heat sources scattered around to try and keep the ambient heat stable, this is because you have no lid on to trap the heat and humidity in, If you can get some perspex and lay it on to cover your enclosure, this will keep heat and humidity in, it will raise all the ambient temp up and save you money if using stats with CHE. Your tort is having to go directly under a heat source to feel comfortable, soon as he comes away to where the heat as escaped he feels uncomfortable, so back to the heat he goes, maybe causing dry eye.

Not an expert, but hope you can get some good info out of this.

This photo was taken before I had cat litter tray and 3 perspex pieces for the lids. I simply lay the perspex on, and remove for cleaning etc.
Also forget that dial clock you can see, they are rubbish, use digital readers. Just found 2nd photo to show perspex sheets.
My UVB strip is on the right hand side of those three lamp shades.
I'm not suggesting you have a door to let your tort roam at will.

Bye

 

[Anyfoot]

2 other things too. Because I am creating that much humidity, its damaging this room. Also because the heat sources are laid on top of the enclosure, you lose heat through the top of shades, this works to my advantage in warming the entire room up to 24°. However if this was a permanent enclosure I think I would make it higher so lamps are inside the enclosure.