Urgent Care :: swollen/puffy eye (pic included)

[Hoooneylynn]

Hes very small for being 10 years old. Have you read the nutrition information yet?

[grey goose]

I don't see how it could be possible that a compact bulb could damage a turts eyes. I've been using them since they came out and have not had any problems......yes, my three guys had swollen eyes awhile back, but I was using a 10.0 compact since I got them as babies. I don't know who started this, but suffice it to say that semi-aquatic turts in the wild bask in direct sunlight where the UVB rays are enormous compared to a compact bulb, even with a heavy reflector......

[narcolepticbeesh]

ive always thought he was a bit small, but yes i have read the nutrition info. ive been feeding him some carrots from time to time. more like whenever i have it around.

i used to make him my own food. i would mix some carrots, and some assorted lettuce (the ones from the site) and some calcium powder. i mixed them all together in the blender, and added some gelaton (sp?) so it would be solid. and i think i put in some ground beef? it was awhile ago, maybe it wasnt beef, but it was some sort of meet. cooked of course

he loved it, but i havent had much time since started college, but now i have more time.

[Pizza]

If your turtle's eye stays the same, or gets puffier or darker pink for any longer than a few days after changing your lighting settings, you really should check it out with a vet, my first turtle that I had six years ago died from an eye infection in 2 weeks (maybe a little under).

[SpotsMama]

I agree, it couldn't be the UVB - unless the bulbs were practically touching the turtles. But it seemed such a coincidence that several people in a row reported having turtles with eye problems when using one of these bulbs. Probably just that....a coincidence.

[grey goose]

Here's a site on all things UVB. It's a bit of a read, but it's all you will ever need to know....
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm

[marisa]

If one eye is always open, I would suspect a bacterial infection or some sort of injury, not the UVB light.

Without any filtration, cleaning and water changes have to be done more frequently, or your turtle could wind up living in sewer-like conditions...

Try to put the drops into the eye, if at all possible. Whatever is in there needs to be flushed out, and it can't be done efficiently by putting the drops on a closed eyelid.

[narcolepticbeesh]

thanks much for all the help guys. ill update on the happenings of the turtle.

[narcolepticbeesh]

day 3 of medication. i have upped the medication from one drop to two drops per eye. the first 2 days i gave him one drop per eye. his eyes seem to be getting better. he is opening his right eye with little effort. and his eyes when shut is less swollen. YEAH!!! great news for christmas.


yesterday i offered him some floating sticks, and a chunk of carrot. he still has his appetite so thats always good.

thank you to everyone who helped, and a merry christmas to everyone.
ill keep everyone updated.

[steve]

Thats great news! I've done a quick search and have gotten a couple of other recent incidents:

http://www.turtletimes.com/forums/index ... opic=44699

http://www.reptilerooms.com/index.php?n ... ic&t=40751

I really wonder what is going on.

[narcolepticbeesh]

day 4 - good news for christmas. woke up to the turtle basking, and both eyes open. even when he's in the water his eyes are open. but i continued to drop the medicine into his eyes.

steve-man this is crazy. we should keep an eye on this, or get in contact with the people and see if we can find out if it really is the light.

[SpotsMama]

Grey Goose uses this bulb and says his turtles are ok. But maybe there's a bad batch of bulbs out there. Must be a pretty big bad batch for so many problems to show up on forums. Maybe we should let the reptisun people know we're worried.

[marisa]

The Reptisun 10.0 compact flourescent gives off a pinkish hue, and I'm wondering if it could be hard on/irritating to the eyes. If you use one, I've seen it suggested that the heat source be a full spectrum light to balance out the light of the Reptisun. I've used several of the bulbs with different turtles, and they've never had eye problems with them.

[steve]

I remember mine gave of a distinct purplish/blueish color. This bulb replaced a bulb of the same kind and I don't recall it producing a similar color. Marisa, I haven't heard of using a full spectrum bulb in conjunction with a Reptisun before. As some know, I use a ceramic heat emitter so this is also worth looking into further.

It seems like this type of situation might happen more frequently with the compact version that is sold at Big Al's.

[grey goose]

There may be something to all this concerning compacts. After reading this stuff I'm going to at least drop down to a 5.0 compact.....

"Photokeratoconjunctivitis"
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/uvinviv.htm
Scroll down to The Dangers of Overexposure to Ultraviolet Light.
It's mostly about lizards, but I can see how RES could fit in too.

http://www.reptileuvinfo.com/docs/eye-s ... ptiles.pdf
http://www.reptileuvinfo.com/docs/uvb-a ... urtles.pdf