Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found one of my 1 year olds with a serious eye injury today. The eye appears to have shut and is bulghing out. I isolated him from the other turtles and washed out the eye with some water. He's active still, but is there any thing else I can do other than clean out the injury and keep it isolated? It may be handicapped for life. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a picture of it, sorry its not the best but it wouldn't keep still long enough to get a good shot of the eye.

Forgive me if I ask stupid questions but I don't know you or how experienced you are at keeping turtles. First of all, are you sure it's an injury? When you say the eye is "bulging out" do you mean the eyeball itself as in it's exposed or including the eyelid (eyeball not exposed)? If there's no blood or scratch/contusion that you can see it may actually be due to slight dehydration (of the skin), although it would be more likely to affect both eyes simultaneously. Sometimes with babies it's easy to not notice if one is being denied access to the soak dish and if you're not using a mister, his skin/eyes may just be too dry. Individual turtles are different it seems as to the amount of humidity they need. Again, forgive if I'm stating the obvious but I hope you used bottled or distilled water to rinse the eye. Keep in mind that water itself will burn so if you're sure there's not any foreign matter in the eye, I don't think I'd rinse it too much unless it starts to look infected. I'd probably use a spritzer bottle instead of direct irrigation stream. This would help if it's an injury, foreign matter (sand, substrate, etc.) or dehyrated skin.

I've had turtles get into fist fights over food and scratch the other's eye but it usually clears up so I don't think I'd be buying the turtle a Pirate's Eye Patch and writing him off as "handicapped for life" just yet. Good luck. I'm sure you'll get advice from others here. Everyone was helpful to me with my problem.
Regards
Charles

Thanks for the reply. I have a lot of experience in raising turtles, but this is my first "injury" in over 5 years of having turtles. I keep all of them in an outdoor pen that is as close to a natural habitat as you can get. I happen to see this one out this evening so I picked him up to just look at it and thats when I saw the bulging eye. It doesnt look to be a cut or anything, unless it's a small cut that got infected. I rinsed it out with faucet water, but I have a well so its probably ok. I did however mix a little neosporin in some water and used a paper towel to drip a few drops on the eye. Keep in mind I used a very small amount of the neosporin and I don't think it will harm the turtle. I have him in a tupperware container with just a paper towel lining the bottom and of course some water and food. Hopefully it clears up but right now it just looks really bad, though a little while ago it actually looked a bit better from when I found it. Washing all the dirt out of it probably helped. It's just the eye lids are so swollen and sticking out that it seems hard to believe that the eye will return to normal.

Sounds like you've done about all you can and should do. I regularly use the neosporin as a first aid so I'd say continue that. I haven't seen any other posts and I'm sure if you were doing something someone else knew or thought to be drastically wrong they'd have said so by now. I understand your alarm at the appearance of his eye, though, believe me. Burnie the rescue I've been posting about had horrible looking eyes when I first got him and I found it hard to believe they could recover but so far he's doing well and his eyesight seems fine. Hopefully yours will open his eye soon. I think I'd keeping trying to irrigate it though if 'spritzing' it doesn't seem to help. Did you see any sand or whatever flush out before? Let us know how it turns out.
Regards
Charles

The eye did have lots of dirt in it, and the spraying is gradually washing it all out. There appears to be one big piece still there, but its breaking down. I'm afraid to pick it out with something because the turtle is so small that I may cause more harm. The pupil of the eye is now visible, though it's bulged out like a frog.

My guess to what caused it was it poked its eye on a stick, got dirt in it which resulted in a bad inflamation, or some sort of parasite but I tend to think its likely the first two possibilities. It ate a worm today, so at least the eye isn't keeping it from eating normally.

I've got a turtle nursery in my garage right now I've got a tank full of eggs incubating, a tank with 3 new hatchlings and a one year old runt, and an "ICU" container on top of the hatchling tank with the one year old with the injured eye.

I think the last of the eggs was laid last week, making this years total an even 50. I'm thinking about calling the local zoo to see if I could donate some.

I wouldn't use neosporin on any reptile eye. Get some terramycin (opthalmic ointment) from your vet and apply that to the eye. The best thing you could do is get the turtle to a vet for a proper exam.

I wouldn't use neosporin on any reptile eye. Get some terramycin (opthalmic ointment) from your vet and apply that to the eye. The best thing you could do is get the turtle to a vet for a proper exam.

Hello, try soaking it in luke warm water. The little guy may just have puss in the eye, which needs to be softened up - if it is puss, it should pop out after a little time in the water. I would keep an eye on him for a cold also.

There are eye medications for turtles, that you can buy over the counter - I don't have the names right now though.

Also, if I remember correctly, you keep your babies in with the adults, which could lead to a bite, a scratch, or just plain getting eaten by an adult. My suggestion would be to set up a pen in a pen. If I am incorrect, please disregard this last paragraph.

Good luck, and let us know what happens after a good warm soaking. Also, keep an eye open for any mucus coming out of its nose and/or mouth.

Bill G.

Haven't heard from you in a few days. How's the turtle's eye coming along? It should be reducing in size if it is not infected. If it is infected you probably need more then Neosporin for the eye. It is not an optical antibiotic. Do you have a vet> Try getting an optical eye medication. SInce only one eye is affected it makes me think an injury occured, of course injuries can become infected and that may be what the eye problem is. If the eye doesn't get markely better in a few more days, please take it to a vet. Till then keep the turtle warm and moist. Well hydrated and well fed. Good luck!
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Take this turtle to a reptile experienced veternarian. The injury could be due to infection from a number of reasons (trauma being a likely candidate). If it is an abscess, a vet could lance the lesion, clean it, and put the animal on antibiotics (which might be necessary for this animal's survival). I would get someone experienced to look at the lesion (local vet, museum curator, etc). It is nearly impossible (and not ethical according to most) for anyone to diagnose or give advice about an animal they have not seen in person. You might meet some great people in the field when you call around for experienced reptile vets and herpetologists.
Good luck with the little guy. I hope the lesion resolves.

The turtle's injury is clearing up, though it appears he apparently poked its right eye out some how. The swelling and infection has gone down and his eye socket is starting to scar up. It's eating well, moving around and acting normal. I'm keeping him separated from the other turtles and in a dirt/substrate free container for a little while longer before I release it back into the pen.

I thought about taking it to the vet, but none of the vets here really specialize in "exotic" pets. There's one who will see reptiles, but he'd charge an arm and a leg to look at it. He charged me $80 to remove a fishing hook from my dog's lip

Glad to hear the little guy is improving. It may be a blessing in disguise that this happened when it was so young: it will probably adapt just fine and never miss the eye. It can be harder for the older ones. I have two amputees: the little one gets around well, the old guy, who lost a foot last fall, still thinks he has the foot, and isn't as mobile.
I know about the cost of herp vets... I'm fortunate that my vet is a herp vet and also where I take my other pets (cats & dogs), and he gives me a "bulk discount".

This is a terrible way to find out that box turtles should generally be kept apart from each other in captivity; especially youngsters.

In the wild box turtles almost never interact with each other; rather, males wander through their territory looking for food and mates while most females remain static within a 300 meter polygonal shaped territory. When males interact with other males, they fight. When they encounter females, they reproduce. It is HIGHLY unusual for multiple box turtles to be found in the same territory unless forced together by habitat destruction/fragmentation and causes undue stress due to increased competition for limited resources (cover, concealment, food, water).

This is exactly opposite the condition you find with spotted, wood and pond sliders.

It is best to raise young boxies separate in order to control food intake and monitor their health; not to mention the potential for injuries resulting from bites. The type of injury you described could very well have been caused by another boxie.

Ensure also that you keep boxies from different species and geographic areas separate from each other; the potential for spreading zoonoses and various bacteria and parasites between turtles is too great a risk.

I hope your turtle heals quickly; we have dealt with several one-eyed and blind boxies and they learn to do quite well with limited or non-existant eye sight. Ensure you are also providing the turtle with a good oral antibiotic such as Baytril as well as a veterinary-certified ophthalmic ointment (such as (Ciprofloxacin)

Dennis Desmond
Director of Operations
Northern Virginia Reptile Rescue

Northern Virginia Reptile Rescue

In the many years I've had box turtles, this is the first time any of them has been injured. Actually, I have another update on the baby's condition. I've come to the conclusion that the eye was simply infected from having a piece of bark or dirt lodged in the eye. I was afraid to pick it out, because I figured I may do more damage. About 4 days ago, the piece of dirt that was there came out, and the turtle's eye is beginning to show again. The dirt must have called a severe inflammation and tissue buildup around the eye.

Believe me, the injury was not caused by a bite. The theory that babies need to be separated seems questionable, because I had 25 hatchlings in one aquarium together and not a single one died, was injured, became malnourished, etc. They all are very healthy and not once did I ever see them fight, even during feedings.

I have not done any kind of scientific research, but I question the idea that box turtles are loners. From observing mine, they seem to be very social animals and like the company of one another.

Great to hear the little guy is doing better. Hopefully it will make a full recovery. Best of luck to the little one!
Stephanie