General Care Discussion :: Is my RES Hibernating?

[Dsimms]

Well Friday I went out and bought a Zoo Med Full spectrum 10% UVB 30%UVA. When I brought it home and put it over the tank for my RES they seemed to like it and was checking it out. Well sunday I noticed they where like asleep all day and today also there eyes are closed and they do very lil movement but they still will swim to the top for air and eat but not very fastly like allways before. I took them out of the water and put them on there platform and they did open thier eyes and jumped back in the water and closed thier eyes. I dont know what they are doing I didnt think indoor RES Hibernated. Are they? Thanks again every one!!!

[N4784N R4613]

Do you have a water heater?

[Kai.]

Same thing happens to my turtles. I have both a subermersable heater and a normal household light present in the setup, but my turtles don't seem to be very active.

[d0eb0y]

They shouldnt be hibernating. I doubt that is it. Most people wit captive RES dont have the setups to allow them to safely hibernate. If they were it could be very dangerous. I remember seeing a post somewhere about new uvb bulbs and turtles eyes being irritated ill try and dig it up. For now try creating more space in between the tank and the new light. Or just kill the new bulb for a day or so i dont think it will hurt them and see how they react. Or maybe someone more informed will step in wit better info. Either way goodluck and i hope they are ok.

[Dsimms]

Well here is my tank setup:
I have..
a 20gal glass tank
20gal external water filter
20gal internal filter
a air pump and air difguser for bubbles in the tank
a 20-30 gal water heater that keeps the water from 75-80 degrees
floating medium turtle dock
I use to only have a exo-tera heat bulb and a exo-terra night glo bulb at night but I just added the zoo-med 10% uvb 30% uva full spectrum self ballasted compact fluorescent lamp when this problem started to happen.

I did just start using zoo-med repti turtle sulfa dip in a seperate tank to soak the RES about 2 hours a day to take care of thier fungus. I also use zoo-med reptisafe water conditioner when I add or change the water. If the bulb is irritating thier eyes wouldnt they stay away from it? because they still get on the dock t bask by it. It is just the crazyest thing what they are doing and I just hope they are allright... Thanks for all the help once again! If any one has any clue please tell me..

[mini]

it's my RES that had eye problem after changing to a brighter UVB bulb. it's in the urgent care forum. http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
my RES still ate and swim but it hide under its bridge to avoid lights and his eyes kept closing or blinking. you can read the thread for more info.

[lisajonathan00]

Sorry to hear your having problems. I hope everything works out. I cant help ya out much.

Where at in Dundalk do you live? I grew up there and half of my family still lives there!

[Dsimms]

Thanks mini I turned off the new light and went back to the exo-terra heat bulb in the clamp light for now and I am gonna stop and get some eye drops tomorrow and try them out.. hopefully that is it

[Dsimms]

Well one more update: I take my RES out of the tank in the seperate tank to feed and I noticed that they do open thier eyes then but they are rubing thier eyes a good bit and they do seem to be swollen.

[mini]

you are welcome, Dsimms. but i didn't give any eye drop to Rockie coz i don't konw if that'll work and Rockie didn't seem to have an eye infection. i just turned off the lights for a few days so his eyes felt better.

[da sAUCE!]

may be vitamin A deficiency. try swabbing some of the goo from the inside of cod liver oil capsules on their eyes.

[SpotsMama]

More than one person has had a problem when using a UVB compact flourescent. Their turtles don't seem to like it and their eyes get irritated. It doesn't seem to happen with the tube flourescents. How close is your bulb to your turtle's basking spot?

Some zoo med Turtle Eye Drops will be good for your turtle. Just follow the directions on the package.

May I ask, did you get your UVB bulb from Big Al's?

[Dsimms]

Well the light was about 12 inches from the basking spot. And yea I do believe it was big als. It was right next to a taxadermist and a dinner on bel-air road..

[SpotsMama]

Like I said, there have been probably half a dozen reports on here recently of problems when there's UVB compact flourescent bulb. If it were me, I'd switch to a tube flourescent. Alternatively, you might move your compact flourescent a little further away from the turtle, or switch to a weaker, 5.0 compact flourescent.

Of course, the problem might be caused by something other than the bulb. Too much water conditioner (Reptisafe) can cause eye irritation. And about the sulfa baths - are you sure they have fungus?

It seemed that the bulbs that people thought were causing the eye problem were from Big Al's - but I think it was Big Al's on-line. Might or might not be the same Big Al's.

[industrial_girl_2000]

The bulb that some folks were complaining about recently was the Reptisun 10.0 compact, which on the box says it is for "desert species." RES's aren't desert critters, so based on the box label & some of the reports here regarding swollen eyes & UVB, I recently purchased the Reptisun 5.0 for the hatchling. I positioned it 12" away from the basking area, but so far, the basking area really isn't warm enough so I am going to get a 2nd lighting fixture for UVA only to warm things up.

For the adult RES, several weeks ago, I upgraded her lamp to a super powerful all-in-one "powersun UV" bulbs (mercury vapor style, 100W, positioned 12" away from her). So far she seems to be doing well with that & no swollen eyes. I'll let you guys know how that works out.