Elevated third eyelid?

[volatile]

So I noticed about a week or two ago that my Hermann's tortoise Squish had both of her third eyelids elevated.
She has been active, eating, drinking, and pooping normally so I'm not sure what is going on. Her breathing is fine, no wheezing or bubbles so I don't think it's a URI.
I read that sometimes a vitamin A deficiency can cause eye issues so I've been offering her more cactus lately (her normal diet is mixed baby greens, collard, turnip, and mustard greens).
I've also upped her soakings (I'll admit I had slacked a bit on them), but I have not seen any improvement.
Her enclosure has a substrate of cocoa coir mixed with top soil, and a mercury vapor bulb that keeps her hot spot around ~90, and the rest of the enclosure is in the mid-high 70's.

Any ideas as to what is going on here?

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, volatile!

Well, at least it's not inflamed, that's one consolation. My first thought was that maybe your substrate has gotten dusty and is irritating the eyes. Do you keep the substrate moistened a bit to keep down the dust?

You can buy the same solution that humans use for their contact lenses and flush the tortoise's eyes with that. I'd do it a couple times a day until you see an improvement, but in the meantime, take a good look at your habitat and see if you can find the reason this happened.

 

[volatile]

I spray down her enclosure every morning so everything is damp, and by the night it dries out a bit, but it isn't dusty that I've noticed.

 

[Pokeymeg]

You could try treating it with Terramycin (you can get it on Amazon). It's an antibiotic for eyes, and at the very least it's a good lubricant for irritated eyes. 2x daily for at 2-3 weeks. I doubt it's a vit A deficiency, your diet sounds OK.

Just as a note of caution - I had a baby Hermann who seemingly had no symptoms except the same eye problem. After Terramycin wouldn't clear it up permanently, I took him to the vet and it was a respiratory infection. I'm not trying to scare you, but I just want you to be aware that you may need to go to the vet if you can't clear his eyes up! I would hate for you to go through what I had to!

 

[volatile]

So your tort did end up having a URI and this was the only sign?

 

[Pokeymeg]

More or less...he also started eating less, which could have been due to the URI or due to the fact that he was having trouble seeing. I would follow Yvonne's advise, or try the Terramycin if you can. Also, I know you said you have a Mercury Vapor bulb, but I think those still have the potential to irritate tortoise eyes (though I'm sure some would disagree). If you have another heat source, you could try turning off the MVB for a few days and see if that helps too (it would just be a 'cloudy day' to him, no lasting affects).

 

[stinax182]

we are taking about the white eyelid, right? just checking, because i believe my leopard has this same problem. although i didn't know it was a problem until this thread. i can always see it in the corner of her eye since I've received her in August. i always thought her eyes were kinda puffy too...should i be worried?

 

[Pokeymeg]

It is definitely something that needs to be monitored. Puffy eyes and the third lid not opening are not how tortoise eyes should look. They should be bright and clear! There are many many posts about these very topics. If you run a search, you should find plenty of answers!