Eye problems

[wum]

Hi everyone,

About three weeks ago me and my family adopted 2 baby russian tortoises from a neglectful nursing home, which we named robin and franky. Most everything has been going great so far they have a much greater variety of food and environments here and get all the attention they need, but as this was kind of a quick decision we’re still learning as we go.

Since we took them home our smallest robin has had some issues with her eye it’s been white, sort of puffy and clearly hard for her to open even causing some clear depth perception issues. I feed them vitamins either from my fingers or from some tweezers every day and while franky gets them right away robin’s chomps clearly veers to the left. At first we thought these vitamins would help initially reading it was due to a vitamin A deficiency, but three weeks on and she seems no better and clearly hasn’t relaxed as much to her new environment than franky as she can be cranky and scared which we all think is due to pain she’s experiencing. We also bathe them a couple times a week and try to wash her eye when we can.

We can’t really afford to take them the vet’s atm so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum. Are they in the same enclosure? What is the temperature and lights you are using? Also what vitamins are you feeding them?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello!

First thing of note as touched on above, are they in the same set up? tortoise of any species should NEVER be housed in pairs under any circumstances, they’re incredibly territorial, especially Russians! behaviours that look cute to us really aren’t, following one another and sleeping huddled up is all bullying the the tortoise world, you’ll eventually see more extreme signs of aggression. Anyone who tells you pairs are fine, have no idea what they’re talking about.

Small groups are ok when there’s lots of land and the correct male to female ratio.

The babies appear to have some pretty intense pyramiding going on for their size/age, Russians are a lot harder to pyramid, so I’d say this is likely a combination of incorrect bulbs and humidity, both of which can contribute to the eye issue you’re seeing(not that I can say for certain)

It we could try and get a little more housing information from you that’d be great! It’ll be super helpful in giving you some care pointers!

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
What’s humidity reading?
What’s the substrate? Forest floor?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s diet like with you?

A photo of your full set up(s) would be great! Welcome to the forum! Bless you for taking these guys in! We’re all ready and willing to help in getting you on the best possible track

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Please don't be overwhelmed by all the many questions, it's all for the best for your little guys. While you try to follow the very important advice given already, please do this immediately to hydrate them and save their lives:
Warm up some water like if you were going to bathe a human baby. Add the warm water to a small but deep plastic container and put the tortoises into it, making sure the water level is not above where their top and bottom shells meet. Watch them in the water so they can't climb out or flip over. Warm up more water again and continue the warm soak for at least 40 minutes twice every day! They have been kept much much too dry and are probably seriously dehydrated, and close to death.
The other things are important too, so please try to do them to save your tortoises! Good luck!