Hi,
I recently paid top dollar for what was supposedly a captive bred "screamer" eastern box turtle. She seemed fine & active when I first received her, which was approximately 2 weeks ago.
Well, this week I noticed that she'd be on the land and close her eyes. I thought this was her own way of sunning herself, especially because when I picked her up she would open her eyes & all seemed well. I even witnessed her eating worms as well as corn, etc.
This past week I noticed her out of her shell with her eyes closed and her limbs sort of sprawled out, if you know what I mean. This seemed unusual box turtle behavior compared to my others. And now it seemed like she has a hell of a time to get her eyes open and she was sort of sluggish until she could get her eyes open.
Today, I found her in the enclosure sprawled out again & it really concerned me so it's time for me to play vet.
I brought her in and have her in the tub soaking in warm water. I noticed a bit of mucus come out of her eye lids. She is also sort of drinking which is good for hydration purposes.
She still hasn't been able to open her eyes properly as yet but I just put her in there a few minutes ago. She also has raised her head and neck out of the water which is a good sign to me as well...she still has muscle tone & will most likely snap out of this sluggishness, I hope!
What else can I do to closely care for her to make this go away. Must be an eye infection? Should I give her the prescribed eye drops I had for another turtle that had pink eye or rather the membrane growing over the eyeball? Maybe that will help to clear it up quickly? Again, this girl doesn't have a membrane problem...they just look slightly swollen.
I just paid for this one so she should be healthy & I really think after paying the price I did, I shouldn't have to dish out more for the vet as I hadn't had her long at all.
I'd like to be proactive & treat this myself. So from all of your experience & I realize how common this is...could you please advise me as to what other things I could do & what I should look for on the road to recovery?
(If it gets worse, I will contact the person who sold her to me & complain because perhaps he knew something that I didn't & that's why he perhaps was eager to sell?!).
Thanks for any help & advice...I'm going to read a few care sites now.
