Urgent Care :: eyes?!

[SpotsMama]

It's probably the light. It's too much coincidence that this happened exactly when you got the new bulb. Several people on here have gone through exactly what you're going through now.

But it's possible it's something else. That's a fact that can't be ignored. Give it a couple of days and see what develops. If they start showing other symptoms - particularly breathing with the mouth open, yawning, swimming lopsided - then we'll see. In the meantime, just keep them warm, feed them as usual, and keep using that heat light.

[DavidY]

It doesn't sound like RI. What kind of bulb are you using for the heat? Is it a regular household light bulb or a special "basking" light for reptiles? Some of the specialty reptile bulbs may also give off large amounts of UVA which might irritate their eyes given their condition. If it is, try swapping it out for a normal house bulb of the same wattage.

[rayzherup]

ok. thank you guys soooo much!

[adam85491]

Sorry to chime in late but reptisun's aren't spiral I thought. And for a 5.0, isnt 12 inches kind of far away? I tried skimming over the thread so sorry if I missed something that has been said.

[DavidY]

You're right, the Reptisuns are straight not spiral. 12 inches is fine for the compact flourescents. The problem here is that the turtles appear to have puffy swollen eyes and loss of appetite, so the suggestion was made to move the UV light a little further away after the turtles' eyes improve.

[SpotsMama]

12" would be pretty far away for a (regular) 5.0 tube fluorescent. But the CF's are quite a different story.

Depending on a lot of variables - including the bulb itself - the UV light from the CF's can be more or less intense. I remember the very first instance of eye burn from a CF that I saw was with a reptisun 5.0. If this particular bulb is so strong that it burned those turtles' eyes as fast as it did, then it will have to be moved back to at least 12". Maybe further, depending on how they react.

[adam85491]

Perhaps the time the bulb is on and the fixture (reflective or not) influences the problems. I haven't heard any problems from the repti glos yet or the ESU coil bulbs, however.

[SpotsMama]

The only bulb I've heard of associated with eye problems is the reptisun CF.

It does make a huge difference if the bulb is in a reflective fixture. I think the UK survey of UV bulbs reported something like a 6X increase in intensity from the reflective fixtures. In this particular case, though, the fixture wasn't reflective. In some of the other cases, too, where they have been eye problems reported the fixture wasn't reflective.

It also makes a difference if the bulb is mounted perpendicularly or horizontally. If it's horizontal, there's a much large area of high intensity UV on the basking area.

[adam85491]

I think putting the light directly above the basking area is the way to go but isn't always an option. I have my UVA light about a foot away at like a 75 degrees angle and plan to do the same when I get a working UVB bulb. I should think the UVB should only be on for eight hours per day, though.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

More like 10 to 12 hours a day. 8 isnt enough IMO.

[adam85491]

I think that compact bulbs directly expose the reptile to relatively high radiation which is healthy, but in nature it isn't like that. I could be wrong but I always had my lights on for about eight hours. I believe the tube fixtures, though, are another story.

[DavidY]

You could put the UVB bulb on a timer for 8 hrs/day and the heat light for 12hrs, but what if the turtles decided to only use the basking area during the 4hrs that the UVB bulb was off? I think keeping both lights on for the same amount of time would be better and the turtles will get on and off the basking platform as they feel like it. If you could set up the UVB lamp so that the turtles can't look into it while they are swimming around the tank, that might help some.

[rayzherup]

yea the box is a reptisun 5.0 tropical with 5% uvb output and 30% uva output. and its straight it's jist not like a regular bulb. It almostlooks like long straight loops. I had it 8 inches away before and thats what hurt his eyes. How far should i put it?

[rayzherup]

the box says "self ballasted compact fluorescent uvb lamp for all species of reptiles and amphibians."

[rayzherup]

I usually keep them both on from 6:45 am to 10:30 pm. Is that to much?