Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone can offer me some advice on my hatchlings. I have 10 that were found back in October they are eating fine and all seem to be doing well the thing I notice though is that many of them have their eyes closed in the morning when I turn on the lights above the tank. Once I place them in some water for a few minutes they are fine but I am concerned about this. I put them in water with some vitamin A drops but any other suggestions would be appreciated. I have a repti sun 10.0 UVB light and a baskinfg light above the tank they are in and I mist them every day.

Make certain that they have a very deep and moist substrate in which to burrow and access to warmth both day and night.

Some have posted recently about a correlation between high UVB exposure and eye problems. You may want to purchase a bulb with a lower UVB output...like the 2.0 version. I use a 10.0 bulb on some of my hatchlings, but they have a very deep substrate in which to burrow and terra cotta shelters under which they can escape virtually all light. Others prefer to offer exposure to UV light by other means or on a reduced schedule, such as placing the UV light on a timer for an hour or two per day but allowing the basking bulb to remain on for the full day cycle.

Did you say what type of substrate you are using?

Hope this helps. Good luck.

ditto, also heat bulbs are a very drying heat especially if the air is already dry, you might consider providing under the tank or tub heat pad or tape and the primary heat source and then you can back off the bulb to lower wattage and less UV while still allowing for a good substate warmth for optimal metabolism.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

This will sound obvious, but I would expect their eyes to be closed in the morning before you turn the lights on, especially this time of year. I have seven '07 hatchlings that have been dug in, sleeping soundly in a cool room in the house (45-55F) since the end of October. I don't expect to see their eyes open until March, when I warm them up.

yes perhaps they are "sleepy" and wanting to hibernate and are confused with all the heat and light, which could be a valid point and if they want to stay burried I would let them and cool them, rather than dig them up everyday and bake them, but I think that what the original poster was trying to convey was that the eyes of some of the hatchlings are swollen and not opening properly without first soaking, this is not normal and would be cause for concern. I have personally seen this as a result of Mercury Vapor lamps, but I'm not going to argue if thats because of too much dry heat or too much UV, I wouldn't waste the money on a MV lamp unless I had a desert lizard species like a bearded dragon, that's just my oppinion, I know a lot of people disagree especially the ones selling the bulbs. I can go right now and pull out one of my brumating box turtles and it's eyes will pop open, it may not move much or at all, it would just look at me like "man what the hell are you doing", but I wouldn't need to soak it for its eyes to open. Reptiles brumate, which is very slowed metabolism, not a deep sleep like a hibernating mammal. I have a garter snake that has been brumating for 3 months in the garage which is 35-40 degrees and has been for 2 months yet every once in a while when I walk by and look at her tub she pokes her head out of her hide in super slow motion to say hi.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

"...the thing I notice though is that many of them have their eyes closed in the morning when I turn on the lights above the tank."

It doesn't say anything about the eyes being swollen, so I was just applying Occam's Razor-the principle that says the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. The simplest explanation would be that the eyes hadn't popped open because the lights weren't on yet. But you're right, if the eyes are swollen, there's probably something else going on.

At the risk of being obnoxious, there is no literal difference between brumation and hibernation. Somewhere along the line people have attached slightly different connotations to them, but they both come from Latin roots relating to winter. "Bruma" is a noun meaning "winter" in Latin. "Hibernare" is a verb meaning "to winter" in Latin. Hibernate and brumate both describe a dormant/torpid state during cold weather. The two words really have nothing to do with mammals vs. reptiles. Aestivate is from the Latin "aestiva" meaning "summer". Aestivate....you get the idea.