General Care Discussion :: eyelids

[Ferd]

I was watching my turts, one was in the water and the other basking. i was watching the one on the basking area when suddenly, a translucent eyelid came over his eyeball. Is this somthing to worry about? the one in the water never has one of those on his eyes. is it to keep the light from drying out his eye? Thanks for the help!

[DavidY]

Lizards have two sets of eyelids, I think that turtles possess the same. Usually the inner lid closes from back to front while the outer lid closes from top to bottom, but they usually close in unison. If the inner lid stays closed without the outer lid soon covering it, it could indicate an eye infection. Does his inner lid stay closed or was it just kind of wiping his eye with it?

[Ferd]

it was just wiping his eye. he did it like twice. but my real question is why do they have tham, but they dont use them underwater?

[Hoooneylynn]

sounds totally normal... when they bask their eyes can get dry, so they wipe them... now if they get swollen and puffy... thats a concern. Just watch to make sure your basking heat lamp isnt too hot... or the uvb lamp isnt too strong. karlyn sometimes closes one eye at a time and winks at me

sound fine to me! as long as they arent swollen, and as long as they dont keep them closed for LONG periods of time.

oh yeah.. and I have never noticed two lids? So I have no idea about that.. Ive only seen one eyelid on my turt before. So if they are supposed to close in unison, if they do have two eyelids, that sounds like a problem...

[DavidY]

Does the turtle's eyes look irritated at all? The only time I ever saw my chameleon's inner eyelid was when she got an eye infection.

[industrial_girl_2000]

it was just wiping his eye. he did it like twice. but my real question is why do they have tham, but they dont use them underwater?

Actually, turts DO use the clear eyelids underwater. You just don't see them close it over their eye as they go into the water. But if you look at your turtle closely underwater, you will notice that his eye looks different than when they are above water (above water, the eyes are sparkly & clear.....below water, the eyes look a bit "dull" due to the clear eyelid being over the eyeball).

[Ferd]

Ok thankyou. i did wanna know about that. also things are good! i havent seen iricoshet do it in forever now. when he did it, the lid was see-throughish but thick. for a second, i thought it was his outer lid, but i saw his pupil through it so...But now things are A OK!