Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my baby map turtle for a month now and the other day I noticed he was rubbing his eye w/the inside of his leg. He has been doing it a lot more often now and was wondering if something is wrong w/it. His setup is a 20L, water temp is 75, basking is 86 (I'm getting a stronger bulb today), a flourescent (sp?) UVB bulb and a Whisper Internal MicroFilter for filtration.

Is this the beginning of an infection. Is there anything I can do to prevent it...besides, clean water and proper basking temps? If I have to I'll take him to the vet, but if there is something I can do I would like to try that first.

Thanks for any and all help. I appreciate it.
Carrie

Also, those conditioner blocks...do you guys recommend using them? Should I replace it when it disappears? What exactly do they do??

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks again.

Have you dechlorinized the water? It sounds like the chlorine in the water is irritating thier eyes. You can buy the stuff at the pet store, and it's not very expensive at all.

Is his eye swollen and is he keeping it shut? Also is the light above his tank a red bulb? I ask because his skin has a pinkish tint to it.

I forgot to dechlorinate when I added water lost from condensation. If that's the problem do I need to do anything other than dechlor the tank? I did a partial water change and dechlorinated it this afternoon, and also put a clean filter in the Whisper.

No I don't use red heat bulbs, don't like them. He has a 65 watt basking bulb (got his b/s 90 in one place, 87 in another), and then the UVB bulb. His next door neighbors are two tiger salamanders and that's the light reflecting from their cage making him look pink. I recently put a piece of cardboard between the tanks. It's hard to tell if they are swollen. Do they look swollen in the pic? I noticed he is having trouble opening them and rubs them to get them open. I'm going to get turtle eye drops tonight. Do you think this will help.

Thanks again.

His neighbors...Betty, Barney is hiding

If he is having trouble opening them than there could be a more serious problem than chlorinated water. It could be a respiratory problem or even a vitamin A deficiency problem. OR just irritated eyes. Thing is no one can really give you a concrete answer here just by a picture and a description of symptoms. Best to have a vet look at him if you are concerned that he is not doing well.

could be an eye infection maybe.
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Thank You. I realize that it's difficult to give advice on something that you haven't seen first hand. Thanks for letting me know what it could be. I will be taking him to the vet.

Thanks again.

Hi -

Just wondering how your vet visit went and how the turtle is doing?

Steve