Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our male three-toed, Alexander, went to the vet monday for closed eyes. She said Vit. a deficiency and possible/probable infection. She gave him an injection of Vit A and gave us baytril to inject .2 mg every other day. He has gotten two baytril injections, its friday and his eyes are still shut, what do I do.

Make sure your turtle is kept in a warm environment (temp gradient 80-90 degrees),so that it can bask and fight infection, and that it is given regular soaks in room temperature water on a daily basis, and consult with your vet again.
If your turtle is not eating, consider soaking it in room temperature Pedialite daily, as well.
Stephanie

I agree with Stephanie about keeping sick turtles very warm. We keep ill and injured turtles 85-88 degrees 24 hours a day. We maintain at 85 degrees for several weeks after recovery to help prevent recurrences. Keep him warm while he gets his daily soak also. Try live earthworms to entice him to eat. Very sick turtles may not eat unless the food is wiggly or sometimes smelly canned catfood works (NOT dogfood, not as smelly). (Yes, I know catfood is not a recommended regular food but with sick turtles it sometimes works and isn't going to hurt anything short term.) Live worms probably work better.
Respiratory Disease webpage

I'd also try lightly spritzing the eyes, too. When he soaks, is he immersing his head? Probably not if he has an ear infection. But a healthy turtle will usually complete submere their heads and I think that helps keep their eyelids and so forth "lubricated". You might even spritz with the pedialyte solution. Is there any cheezy ooze? If so, and it doesn't clear up with just the injections, you'll probably need to use a very soft cloth and try to VERY gently press some of the gunk out and then use a light coating of an eye ointment. Besides fighting the infection, it seems to help the hydration as well.