Urgent Care :: Eyes closed most of the time?

[lawsofpower48]

How big is your turtle? hatchling less then 2 inches
How long have you had it? 3 weeks

What is the water temperature? 78 F
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? no
How much water is in there? half tank
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? yes, reptofilter

What is the basking temperature? 85 F
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? zoo med turtle dock
Is there a UVB light? yes, tube.

What have you been trying to feed it? it only eats live bloodworms
When was the last time your turtle ate? yesterday evening

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 10 gallons
Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? no

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? no

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My albino res sometimes has its eyes closed, or most of the time until i take it out of the tank. sometimes it even does that in water where it closes the eyes and sits there for a while...but he manages to eat and swim normally still.... so i cleaned out the tank and changed all the water, cleaned out the reptofilter etc.... i was reading on the forums that his eyes may be irratated? will the zoo med reptile drops work? thanks in advanced

[SpotsMama]

Lots of things can cause turtle eye problems: irritation due to poor water quality, chemicals in the water, too much chlorine in the water; injury; illness (in particular respiratory infection); too much UVB light; vitamin a deficiency (or excess vitamin a); infection.

Try the zoo med drops (called Turtle Eye Drops). They are good and will help if the problem is mild irritation or mild vitamin a deficiency. follow directions on the box. If you're not usiing a water conditioner (to neutralize chlorine), use some. Be sure not to use too much water conditioner as that will also irritate a turtle's eyes. Your Albino's eyes will be especially sensitive, so small amounts of chlorine or chemicals that might not bother another turtle may bother him.

If his eyes don't improve or start to get worse in a couple of days, best make an appointment with a herp vet to see if he's coming down with an illness or has an infection that requires antibiotics. If the vet offers to give a vitamin a shot, talk to him about vitamin supplements instead. The vitamin a shots are tricky, especially for a little turtle. It's hard to get the dosage right and too much is poisonous.

Also, your guy's diet needs improving. The high protein diet of blood worms will cause problems. Most of his diet should consist of high quality pellets (to give him balance) and over time needs to include substantial amounts of fresh veggies. He'll also need a lot of calcium. Diet is very important for turtle's long term health. check out this link if you haven't seen it already:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

[lawsofpower48]

thank you spotsmama... i have just purchased the zoomed turtle eye drops. hopefully when i get back from work and try it out it will be fine for my turt....

as for the diet...he doesnt eat anything else except for the worms...... ive put in reptosticks and dried shrimp....no luck..i left it in there and he just leaves it floating for days until the filter sucks it in..... i have live ghost shrimp as well as feeder fish, no luck maybe becuase they get away too fast...but it seems that they dont eat anything that isnt moving? how can i make him eat? thanks again

[Daniel3507]

you might try soaking the pellets in some tuna water before feeding them

[AllisonChains]

I'm not sure if it is relevant here or not, but what brand of bulb do you have? I had the same problem with Izzy when I first got her and come to find out the bulb had been recalled yet it was still for sale on the shelves and was one that I had. It was the R-Zilla 20/25 tropical watt coil lamp, but there is a whole list of recalled bulbs.

We even went to the vet and he said it was lack of vitamin A and gave her a shot. Do you notice his eyes open if the light is off for a bit?

Izzy was already 4" when I got her so I don't know about yours being a baby.

You might look here just in case, you never know.

http://www.zilla-rules.com/assets/006/13278.pdf

[chrisinva]

thank you spotsmama... i have just purchased the zoomed turtle eye drops. hopefully when i get back from work and try it out it will be fine for my turt....

as for the diet...he doesnt eat anything else except for the worms...... ive put in reptosticks and dried shrimp....no luck..i left it in there and he just leaves it floating for days until the filter sucks it in..... i have live ghost shrimp as well as feeder fish, no luck maybe becuase they get away too fast...but it seems that they dont eat anything that isnt moving? how can i make him eat? thanks again

try Repto-Min Baby pellets

My 2 hatchlings have a hard time with the full sized pellets and the Baby type are softer as well

[SpotsMama]

On the light, it is true that UVB light bulbs have sometimes caused severe eye irritation. However, the bulbs causing the problems have always been compact fluorescents. Laws mentioned the UVB bulb is a tube, which type hasn't been known to cause problems.

On eating, here are some tips to entice a reluctant turtle to eat healthier food: http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

Soaking pellets in tuna water to make them smell better has worked for a lot of turtles. Reptomin baby pellets are good too. If you can't find them, you can break up the big pellets into little pieces.

[Turtlebiz]

the turtle eye drops should work great. i used them on my bobbers when he had swollen eyes from a bad uvb light, and in a week he was back to normal. i hope it works just as well for u!

[Arisu]

My turtle kept his eyes closed after a water-change one time. It was because of the chemicals that were left untreated in my tap water.

Did you just change it's water? Do you have a treatment that removes chlorine from the water?

[TurtleLover_S&B]

Well,with the food try soaking the pellets in tuna juice.That might get them attracted to it more from the smell.

[SpotsMama]

This is a pretty old topic - I think the question was answered so I'm going to lock it now. If anyone has a similar question, best post it in a new thread.