General Care Discussion :: When sleeping

[sallyleex3]

This is a question I've been wondering for weeks now.

When we as human beings over sleep or sleep our usual amount, we often find ourselves waking up with swollen eyes.

Do red eared sliders get swollen eyes while sleeping also? I haven't seen it being swollen after waking up so I'm wondering if the turtle eyes swell while they sleep? and just dissipate once they wake up. I feel like sometimes, my turtle's eyes do look swollen when theyre sleeping and basking, and I'm assuming that is normal?

[steve]

Usually there is something lacking or irritating the eyelids to cause swelling. I do get what you're saying though, it might appear slightly swollen if they've been in the water for a long period.

[sallyleex3]

So this is what my turtle looks like when he sleeps while basking.
His eyes become normal after though once he gets in the water.
What can I do to fix this problem? Is it the lighting? Or is it a deficiency?
Or is this just normal?

[steve]

Most likely, it's a bit dry. Can you give more info about the setup? You have uva/uvb lamps? What's the temperature?

[sallyleex3]

I have a heating lamp and a uvb light set up on top of my tank. The water temperature is always between 78 to 80 degrees F. The measurement from the light to the basking area is 8-9 inches.

Hm. what can I do to make this better? Should I raise the heating lamp up more? (i have it hanging against the wall on a hook we mounted)

[steve]

How strong is the UVB? Is it a new bulb? Has it always been "swollen"? I don't think it's anything urgent, most likely just some minor tweaking to the setup.

[sallyleex3]

The UVB is 15 watts. As to it always being swollen, I think i noticed a few weeks ago that when Snappy sleeps while basking, his closed eyes are pretty puffy (but it's only when he's basking and sleeping).

I did just raise the basking light a few more inches up so the heat won't be as strong, so hopefully that will help.
what do you think?

[steve]

Whats the distance of the UVB? Do you think this started after you started to use it?

[sallyleex3]

The distance of the UVB is the same as the heating lamp (i raised it up a bit)

but the past few days, she hasn't been basking and I'm wondering if its because the temperature changed a bit after raising the lights. I cannot tell if raising the lights worked or not because she won't bask hahaha

As for when it started, I actually got the UVB bulb a week ago, but I noticed the puffiness weeks ago so I don't think it's primarily the UVB... unless its the distance of the UVB.

[steve]

Can you leave the UVB off for a few days? And maybe try some cod liver oil?