Hermanns tortoise eye problem

[Michal]

Hello everyone,

I have 2 year old Hermanns tortoise, I've noticed that her eye turned sort of milky and small, she eats well and is still active, however I'm concerned, I haven't hibernated her since she's still small so I was worried, she gets 12 hours a day of the lights on, I bathe her weekly, here are pictures of her enclosure and the pictures of the eyes (they both look the same which I guess isn't a good sign), any advice would be highly appreciated!

Thanks a lot for all your help in advance!

 

[Baldy Aeschylus]

Not sure about the milky eyes, perhaps a respiratory infection.
I wouldn't worry about hibernating her for a couple of years, she should recover a little bit and gain some weight.
She looks awfully tiny, you could improve her condition by always keeping her warm and moist.
When the tortoises are babies in the wild, they will burrow down in the moist soil next to the roots of plants so they stay in a very humid microclimate.
Your tortoise's shell looks pretty dry and the conditions in your cage also look dry. In an open topped cage you'll have to stay on top of the humidity, and keep the humidity up around 70%. People here recommend a closed top cage in order to keep the humidity level high and also to keep the heat from escaping.
Make sure that the cage has temperatures that don't dip below 75, and people here recommend 4 different temperature "micro climates" within your enclosure.
Warm side, cool side, basking and night time are all temperatures that you should keep an eye on.
You should also bathe her every day as a baby instead of weekly, keeping them adequately hydrated as babies is very important.
Hopefully some minor adjustments to the enclosure can get the little one to look a little healthier.

 

[Michal]

Hello! thanks a lot for all your advice, I have in fact just few weeks ago taken out the front glass of the enclosure, which is for sure a reason of dropping the humidity, I have now put them back on and partially covered the top of the enclosure as well + put another container of water inside to increase the humidity.

She is indeed tiny, however she eats well every day, I try to give her nice variety as well so I just assumed that not all tortoises grow in the same pace, since she is active and eats well and never had any issues I thought it was fine.

 

[Ben02]

Absolutely, slow and steady wins the race.

Some tortoise grow fast, some grow slow and the fact that yours is eating and is active doesn’t set of any alarms for me. The only thing that does concern me is the milky eye. Could you take some really close pics of the eye?

 

[Michal]

Hello Ben, this is the best I could do, I also put into comparison a picture from few months ago with regular shiny eye

 

[TammyJ]

The comparison is quite striking. There does seem to be a problem with the eyes. What kind of lights are they?

 

[Michal]

Hello Tammy, there is one exo terra reptile UVB200 that I change every few months and exo terra intense basking spot for basking, I've been using this set up for about year and half now

 

[Ben02]

Can you take a pic of the box and the bulb itself

 

[Michal]

sure, here it is:

 

[Ben02]

There’s your problem. Coil bulbs cause issues in torts eyes.

 

[Ben02]

I would take that one out and do a little research into a non coil bulb.

 

[Michal]

thanks Ben! I found few alternatives, do you maybe have a recommendation please?

https://www.amazon.de/Terra-Exotica...80+watt&qid=1553286782&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr0

https://www.amazon.de/Lucky-Reptile...6A1HESAMJ8F5&refRID=VQ6P8JE06A1HESAMJ8F5&th=1

https://www.amazon.de/Exo-Terra-PT2...A1HESAMJ8F5&psc=1&refRID=VQ6P8JE06A1HESAMJ8F5

https://www.amazon.de/Trixie-76025-...D3&qid=1553286901&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell&th=1

 

[Ben02]

I use the solar glow one. I’ve used them for 2 years and I’ve had no problem.

 

[Michal]

thanks for the advice! I ordered the solar glo as well, hopefully once it's combined with higher humidity things will go better