You said the vet gave the little tortoise injections that you *assumed* were antibiotics/vitamins. If your vet is going to try to do something, you should know what it is for, what benefits it might have, what problems it might cause, and almost most importantly, the name of the treatment. Without knowing all this, you shouldn't let the vet do anything. Plenty of vets have shown their inexperience with reptiles by doing things such as treating parasite problems with ivermectin (a potentially lethal drug....almost always lethal to turtles and tortoises).

You are doing the right thing coming here and asking though. There are some people here that really know about these reptiles. I'm just giving some guidelines on how to deal with vets. Reptiles vets still aren't what they should be.

Also, try to stay away from substrates like woodchips. Have you considered that there might be wood particles stuck behind the poor tort's eyelids? That would certainly make him scratch at his eyes and start losing his appetite. It's not always the most complicated problem that causes illness in reptiles. Most vets immediately start to put reptiles on antibiotics or other drugs before really doing a thorough enough analysis. On that side of the line, most problems in reptiles are also caused by stress, which is something most vets don't take in to consideration.

Anyways, I personally use dirt for all my reptiles except my leopard gecko, who gets shelfliner only because he's a vorocious eater. The dirt allows the reptiles to dig and also find humid areas in which to hide in the enclosure, as they would do in the wild. My leopard gecko gets humid hiding spots to cover this necessity. Reptiles do need to stay hydrated, and most desert reptiles do this by finding humid areas to take shelter. Keep this in mind with your reptiles. They cannot thrive in completely dry conditions.

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