Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 1:48 am
Definitely your sweet turtle can use some help.
One possibility is vitamin a deficiency. It affects eyes and also skin. You have to be careful with vitamin a - too much is toxic. Try this. Go to your pet store tomorrow and get some Turtle Eye Drops by Zoo Med. Use them according to the directions. If you can't get the eye drops right away, get some cod liver oil and put some on a q tip and dab it on your turtle's eyes.
He may also have a skin infection. Skin problems usually means the turtle has had to live in dirty water. Skin problems also occur when a turtle doesn't bask enough and doesn't dry out completely when he basks - both top and bottom must dry off completely at frequent intervals.
I'd get him to a herp vet for treatment for the skin, which may also be related to the eye problem. There are some home remedies for skin infections - salt water soaks and Acryflavin treatment - but if he were mine I'd get advice from a herp vet.
CAUTION: If the vet wants to give your turtle a vitamin a shot, be sure he/she is sure that vitamin a deficiency is the problem and that a shot is the best treatment. Too often vets want to give vitamin a shots as a matter of routine and, as I said above, too much is toxic, and so if the dosage isn't just right, the shot can do more harm than good.
Over the long run the way to be sure a turtle has plenty of vitamin a is to be sure he has foods containing vitamin a - carrots, cantelope, steamed sweet potato for instance - as a regular (about a serving a week) part of his diet.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
SpotsMama
