Posted by:
PHBoxTurtle
at Sat May 5 18:37:54 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHBoxTurtle ]
Lisa,
Keep this in mind when you take your turtle to the vet:
Most of the time eyes sealed shut are secondary symptoms and the root cause lies somewhere else. There are several reasons why a turtle may suddenly have eyes sealed shut and the most common is an eye infection. The causes of eye infections are numerous, from bacterial infection, to chronic eye irritation due to dirty or dusty bedding and cases of vit A deficiency.
Before a good herp vet does any prescribing of meds he will want a complete history of the diet as well as your present husbandry. That means what kind of bedding you use, how often is it changed? What lights do you use and the temps in the tank? What foods have you given over the course of several months? It is very common for some vets to think a turtle has Vitamin A deficiency when they see eyes sealed shut and no other symptoms, and if that is what your vet suspects after a thorough exam and history, ask that oral vit A be given before injections are used. He can get proper dosing from herp vets who help on VIN or from vets listed in ARAV's online directory.
It is best to be conservation at first when dealing with sealed eyes. I have found that increasing the temp and humidity and using an antibiotic eye ointment is all that is needed for mild cases of sealed eyes. However, if you turtle shows other signs of a problem, like open mouth breathing, runny nose, diarrhea, aural lumps, then follow the vet's instructions.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host
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RE: three-toed box with eyes shut - PHBoxTurtle, Sat May 5 18:37:54 2007