Help! Coil UV Bulb injury recover time?

[Jess748]

I bought my first baby Russian tortoise hatchling a week ago, after having wanted one since I was a little girl. Needless to say I was super excited when he came and I fell in love instantly! But, to my dismay, I listened to a petco employee while buying supplies and bought what I now see is the dreaded coil UV bulb. Within two days of using it on my baby I noticed a little swelling... Woke up the third day and they were both completely swollen shut! So I panicked and did lot of research, found this forum and sadly saw what these bulbs have done to many torts' eyes.
So, my questions is- is this something that a two month old hatchling can recover from? And if so, what's the average recovery time?
I had him in a tortoise table, but I could only keep the humidity around 50% and so for now moved him into a 30gal tub for recovery. I bought a black night light so he still has heat but no light at the moment, so nothing it shining on his eyes. Temps stay around 80 degrees, 70 in his hide, and humidity is at 70%. He's still eating, having bowel movements, and seeming like he wants to be active, but I can tell he's in so much pain
most of the time he just limply burrows in a corner I think trying to soothe his eyes.
I've been giving him 20-40 minute carrot juice bathes, a warm water soak in the middle of the day, flushing his eyes with turtle/tort saline drops, and smearing a light layer of Neosporin on his eyes whenever I get the chance.
Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm willing to change anything up to help him recover if it's still possible! I am going to go out and buy the right UV TUBE bulb this weekend, any suggestions on the best one?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Yvonne G]

It's like a mild sunburn. It might take a couple weeks to get back to normal.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Glad you found us. Soak your baby every day in warm water. This will help him in a lot of ways. It will also help to soothe his eyes some. As Yvonne said, luckily it will heal in time. Read the caresheets under the Russian section. There is probably more bad info the store would have told you.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Jess

 

[Paul M Jones]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome Jess !

 

[popeye tortoise]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to here about your little guy. We all have been there making mistakes because of bad information. You are in the right place to take care of your tortoise.

 

[Kasia]

I bought my first baby Russian tortoise hatchling a week ago, after having wanted one since I was a little girl. Needless to say I was super excited when he came and I fell in love instantly! But, to my dismay, I listened to a petco employee while buying supplies and bought what I now see is the dreaded coil UV bulb. Within two days of using it on my baby I noticed a little swelling... Woke up the third day and they were both completely swollen shut! So I panicked and did lot of research, found this forum and sadly saw what these bulbs have done to many torts' eyes.
So, my questions is- is this something that a two month old hatchling can recover from? And if so, what's the average recovery time?
I had him in a tortoise table, but I could only keep the humidity around 50% and so for now moved him into a 30gal tub for recovery. I bought a black night light so he still has heat but no light at the moment, so nothing it shining on his eyes. Temps stay around 80 degrees, 70 in his hide, and humidity is at 70%. He's still eating, having bowel movements, and seeming like he wants to be active, but I can tell he's in so much pain
most of the time he just limply burrows in a corner I think trying to soothe his eyes.
I've been giving him 20-40 minute carrot juice bathes, a warm water soak in the middle of the day, flushing his eyes with turtle/tort saline drops, and smearing a light layer of Neosporin on his eyes whenever I get the chance.
Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm willing to change anything up to help him recover if it's still possible! I am going to go out and buy the right UV TUBE bulb this weekend, any suggestions on the best one?
Thanks in advance!

Hi
You can put on his eyes herbal tea like melissa or camile, they both have soothing and antibacterial effect. Neosporin in some formulations can cause eye irritation. Brew a glass of a strong tea and when it will be lurk warm put some drops directly on Your torts eyes. Try to put some moist substrate into his enclosure, Russians like to dig and You can boost his temps a bit - overall 80 minimum.70 is in my opinion too low. With high humidity its easy to get it too cold and his not at his best.

All the best for You and Your Tort

 

[Jess748]

Thanks everyone for the advice and greetings! This morning the swelling on my little guy finally came down after almost a week, so he's doing better! I also upped his temps and humidity. Glad I found the forum!

 

[Cali tortoise]

Welcome!

 

[chondroaddict]

Hi Jess. Welcome to the forum! I'm glad to hear your tort is recovering.