White rings around eyes?

[Chase Crandall]

I have recently purchased two baby sulcata tortoises and they have both been doing great other than the fact that one has crusty white circles beginning to form around his eyes and has been acting kind of lazy.By that i mean he sleeps a lot, much more so than the other other than this he has been eating and moving around fine and he can still easily open his eyes and blink.

 

[Lexiii]

What kind of light are you using?

 

[Yvonne G]

It might be the light, as Lexiii has suggested, or it might be he's being kept too dry. Please read the sulcata care sheet and learn the new and improved methods for keeping baby sulcatas. It's quite different from what you've known in the past. Moisture, moisture, moisture!! Dry is not a baby tortoise's friend.

 

[Jodie]

Are you keeping them as a pair together in 1 enclosure? It could also be vitamin deficiency caused by bullying.

 

[Chase Crandall]

yes but they get along just fine and the larger tortoise is the one with the problem I am housing them in a 50 gallon enclosure with a cool side with abuilt in carden and a warm side with a basking rock heat lamp and UVB should i begin misting the cage?

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome Chase.

What type of UV lamp are you using? The coil type cfl ones sometimes burn their eyes.

Whether you realize it or not, keeping them as a pair is not good for either of them. Anytime two animals are kept together one will establish dominance and one will be submissive. Even if you don't see obvious overt attacks, there is still a lot of intimidation going one and its chronically stressful for both of them.

They usually do fine in groups as babies and juveniles, but pairs are usually a problem.

Please read these for current care info:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/