Eye won’t open.

[Kyle Gedrose]

Hello everyone I am still worried about my baby sulcata tortoises eye. It has been closed for about a month now and it looks like there is extra skin on it. I soak her every day and before I soak her it looks really dry and the the soak loosens up the dry skin but I still don’t see any progress. Here are some pictures. Has this every happened to anyone else?

 

[Tom]

What are you using for substrate?

 

[Bambam1989]

After this amount of time, I would be concerned that he may never recover the use of that eye. I'm afraid I dont have any advice that may help that you haven't already received.
I don't want to seem over paranoid but do his front feet look ok? I don't see any toenails but it may just be an illusion..

 

[Kyle Gedrose]

After this amount of time, I would be concerned that he may never recover the use of that eye. I'm afraid I dont have any advice that may help that you haven't already received.
I don't want to seem over paranoid but do his front feet look ok? I don't see any toenails but it may just be an illusion..

Ya her feet are just tucked in. U can see her claws in my profile pic

 

[Yvonne G]

What have you tried? Do you soak daily? Dip a Q-tip in some sort of lubricant - mineral oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, etc. Just a dab, and gently rub back and forth over that eyelid. Then get one of these products:


Wipe off the lubricant and make sure the eyelid is dry, then dab on a tiny bit of either one of those products and leave it on.

Do this daily, maybe even twice a day, until you see improvement.

 

[Markw84]

It looks to me like the right side of the face has been burned?? Is there any way the tortoise could have gotten near a hot surface?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Hi Kyle... I hope one of these remedies works for your little Sully. The entire righthand side really doesnt look good.

Not to disagree with MarkW, but when i zoom wayyyyyyy in, things look more like some kind of surface fungus/growth. All kinds of just fuzzy skin/scales on the surface, eye area, beak. No indication that there is a viable eye. And no smooth areas like a burn can cause.

I'm not an expert, just making an observation, but it just does not look good. I'm hoping it's a surface infection of some sort and will clear up for you with the meds Yvonne suggested. Good luck. Keep us posted. I think i would err on the side of washing up well after handling....especially we aren't sure yet what this is, or the cause.

Heres a zoom in....the crusty bits and eye socket and beak just don't look good.

 

[Markw84]

Hi Kyle... I hope one of these remedies works for your little Sully. The entire righthand side really doesnt look good.

Not to disagree with MarkW, but when i zoom wayyyyyyy in, things look more like some kind of surface fungus/growth. All kinds of just fuzzy skin/scales on the surface, eye area, beak. No indication that there is a viable eye. And no smooth areas like a burn can cause.

I'm not an expert, just making an observation, but it just does not look good. I'm hoping it's a surface infection of some sort and will clear up for you with the meds Yvonne suggested. Good luck. Keep us posted. I think i would err on the side of washing up well after handling....especially we aren't sure yet what this is, or the cause.

Heres a zoom in....the crusty bits and eye socket and beak just don't look good.

View attachment 225065

No problem it other opinions and disagreement! We are all trying to offer suggestions to see if something fits when we suggest it to @Kyle Gedrose

It does look to me like damaged tissue that is now shedding off. It's just that suclatas are pretty amazing in being quite resistant to most pathogens other tortoises can get more frequently. Especially fungal. Excessive rubbing against something, or a burn would be my first question to see if there is something in the way the enclosure is/was set up that could also be corrected for future.

 

[Tom]

That looks like layers of dried up eye ooze to me. The kind of thing that might happen with some sort of mechanical eye irritation that causes the eye to continually leak.

Anyone else notice what looks like sand on the tortoises legs and carapace, and also on the towel?

 

[Kyle Gedrose]

Hey u guys so it’s not a burn and it not dry puss. I got this tortoise about 4 months ago and when she first came she had this little bump in her head right above her eye you can see it a little bit in my profile pic. Since then, every day it got bigger and bigger until it was covering her eye preventing her from opening it. And here we are. I think she is just really bad at shedding because there I so much dry skin around her face all the time making her look all unhealthy. I also assure you guys I use the right substrate and heating/lighting/humidity requirements along with soaking her every night without ever skipping a soak in baby carrot food. She eats turtle pellets mixed with calcium for now cus it’s winter and there isn’t grass on the ground. Here are some pics of her eye before a soak. When I soak her the skin on the bump gets soggy and starts to fall off but never goes away.

 

[Bambam1989]

Hey u guys so it’s not a burn and it not dry puss. I got this tortoise about 4 months ago and when she first came she had this little bump in her head right above her eye you can see it a little bit in my profile pic. Since then, every day it got bigger and bigger until it was covering her eye preventing her from opening it. And here we are. I think she is just really bad at shedding because there I so much dry skin around her face all the time making her look all unhealthy. I also assure you guys I use the right substrate and heating/lighting/humidity requirements along with soaking her every night without ever skipping a soak in baby carrot food. She eats turtle pellets mixed with calcium for now cus it’s winter and there isn’t grass on the ground. Here are some pics of her eye before a soak. When I soak her the skin on the bump gets soggy and starts to fall off but never goes away. View attachment 225084

May we know what kind of turtle pellets? I believe calcium supplement every day may be harmful.
Expanding the variety of foods would be beneficial to your tort also. If there is nothing growing outside perhaps offer some grocery greens?

 

[Markw84]

@Kyle Gedrose Thanks for the follow-up response. We are only trying to help. With limited information we have to offer guesses based upon what we do see and are told. If you look at your initial post, you really offered little information other its been closed a month, you do soak, and a picture. I will tell you what I see is not at all normal and looks quite serious.

Do you mind sharing what you are using for substrate? What are the temperatures and humidity? What type of lights are you using and how are they mounted? A picture of the enclosure will also help. We really would like to help figure this out for you and your tortoise.

@zovick Have you ever seen anything like this?? Any ideas? Looks like necrotic tissue all over this side of the face now.

 

[Bambam1989]

This is the same tort that lost his beak right?

 

[Kyle Gedrose]

Here is her enclosure it’s got a long uvb light and a heat lamp as well. The temp looks low but that is because the thermometer is in the area furthest away from the heat lamp. Right under the lamp it’s around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The substrate is the soil block stuff that u get at the store that expands when you put water on it and it is great for holding moisture.

 

[zovick]

@Kyle Gedrose Thanks for the follow-up response. We are only trying to help. With limited information we have to offer guesses based upon what we do see and are told. If you look at your initial post, you really offered little information other its been closed a month, you do soak, and a picture. I will tell you what I see is not at all normal and looks quite serious.

Do you mind sharing what you are using for substrate? What are the temperatures and humidity? What type of lights are you using and how are they mounted? A picture of the enclosure will also help. We really would like to help figure this out for you and your tortoise.

@zovick Have you ever seen anything like this?? Any ideas? Looks like necrotic tissue all over this side of the face now.

No, I haven't seen anything like this in my 60 years of keeping tortoises. It could be skin cancer or another type of cancer or possibly a flesh eating bacterial infection. It appears to have gotten larger over time from what I can tell.

Is the eyeball still there and functional? I can't tell from the photo.

 

[Yvonne G]

It looks to me like the right side of the face has been burned?? Is there any way the tortoise could have gotten near a hot surface?

oh wow. the picture didn't show up for me the first time. I agree there is def. something wrong with the whole side of the face, not just the eye.

 

[Bee62]

@Kyle Gedrose
Has the VET suspected that your tortoise has a herpes infection ? Such an infection can affect eyes too. I would do what Yvonne G has said. After a long soak rub that eye gently with a q-tip and oil. Remove slowly as much old skin as possible. Maybe you see the eylid. Try to rub gently over it and look if the tort can open the eye. Maybe the eye is already blind, caused by the herpes virus. It is possible, but as longer the eye is close the bigger is the danger that it is blind or damaged. I would not wait any longer.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Also, I noticed that your enclosure has no cover, and you have a red light. Although advertised as invisible, tortoises can still see it and need total darkness at night. I would replace it with a ceramic heat emitter. You need to have a cover on your enclosure, because without one, there is no way to keep humidity up for long periods of time. If you have a screen top for it, the CHE will not melt it, and you can cover it in tin foil to keep humidity in, and I think the extra humidity might even benefit your tortoise’s eye.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Also, be sure that your humidity gauge is sitting at the tortoise’s level

 

[TechnoCheese]

Temperature*