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Turtle Eyes

Posted:
Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:02 pm
by queenjane
Tank is pretending to be a pirate.
His left eye is closed and the eyelid seems to be puffy and swollen. I've had this issue before with both eyes and I treated them with that special brand of turtle eyedrops.
I've gone ahead and moved his UVA/UVB lamps back further a few inches, but I'mwondering, what's the deal with his constantly puffy eyes?
The water quality is fine, and he gets those eyedrops once a week.
Is there anything else that could be causing puffy eyes other than the lamps?

Posted:
Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:28 pm
by TheComputerGremlin
Do you treat your water for chlorine/chloramines? A simple tank conditioner like ReptiSafe is useful. How far is the lamp now? If you have a 5.0% UVB bulb, I believe it should be 12 inches away. Also, I wouldn't administer eye drops (as they are medicine) each week, but only when needed. Otherwise, the body will become accustomed to them and they won't work as well when actually needed.

Posted:
Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:33 pm
by steve
Did the swollen eyes return when you moved the UVB closer?

Posted:
Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:51 pm
by SpotsMama
Many things cause swollen eyes. Too strong UVB, chemicals in the water, water that isn't clean, infection, injury, illness (respiratory infection). Also vitamin deficiency - expecially vitamin a deficiency.
If only one of your turtle's eyes is swollen, I'd be suspicious of injury or an infection in that eye. If it doesn't clear up pretty fast, you may need a prescription from a vet to treat it.
If the drops you mentioned are Zoo Med Turtle Eye Drops, then it's unlikely the eye problem is a vitamin a deficiency since the drops contain some vitamin a. If you go to a vet, be sure he/she knows your turtle has been getting vitamin a in the drops because some vets tend to give vitamin a shots at the drop of a hat, and it's hard to judge the correction amount of vitamin a - too much is toxic. We've seen some instances of turtles having really bad reactions to vitamin a injections so recommend vitamin a (if it's needed) be administered another way - in food or the Zoo Med drops.