Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a couple star tortoises, approximately 5 months old. It seems their eyes are always dry and they have trouble opening them unless I soak them in warm water. They are fed a good diet with all the appropriate supplements and have a shallow drinking dish which I have seen them use. They eat great after they have been soaked and eyes opened, but struggle to find the food with mostly closed eyes if I don't. The eyes are not swollen or infected, just dry. Any advice? Would creating a more humid hide spot help? Thanks alot.

Brian

Click on STARS link below!! Read it real close.. might help!!

Terry
STARS

Maybe this will help.. better!

Terry
Tortoise Articles

...about their habitat (substrates, temperatures and humidity)...little ones needs soaking daily...are their bathtubs easy to find? a WARM humid hide for these guys is a must. also, try to keep a misting bottle inside their enclosure at ALL time for that handy/instant warm "eye-opener" shower...

Thanks for the reply.
Their enclosure is a reptarium. I have covered all sides with softrays except the top to conserve heat. The substrate is currently paper towels with timothy hay scattered about. I realize the enclosure and substrate make for a real dry environment, but I thought that is what was required. Care sheets I have read mentioned to keep humidity under 40%, but don't say what is too low. Here in New England, fall and winter air is extremely dry. I didn't observe the problem in the summer when I got them, which coincidentally is much more humid. The reptarium with all sides uncovered was a way to reduce humidity in the summer.

I am able to maintain a good temp gradient in the enclosure from 75-85 degrees with a basking spot of 95 degrees. This is done with a combo of a spotlight and cobra heat mat. There is also a UVB flourescent light. The heat mat keeps the night temp in the mid 70's. The hide spot consists of a "half-log" and sits on top of a portion of the heat mat. No special arrangements have been made to increase the humidity in the hide. Bathtubs are shallow and easy to find, and used often.

I will continue to employ warm water soaks daily as you suggest. I was only doing so a couple times a week before. Do you have a good way to keep the humidity up in the hide spot? Is there another kind of hidespot I should try? I don't think there is much hope of increasing humidity of the entire enclosure in the winter. A different substrate might help, but I like the ease of monitoring feces on paper towels. What do you suggest?
Thanks again

Brian

Try providing them with a humid hide, I use a rubbermaid container with a hole cut out and I use the coconut husk or bed-a beast substrate (these 2 types of substrates hold moisture well) and mist it once a day. They might not use the hide but it's there if they choose to use it. My stars are 2 years old and I still soak them daily and haven't had any problems with dry eyes. I think especially in the winter time if you use the house heater it's a good idea to soak them daily or at least every other day. When I soak my torts I notice they would stick their heads under the water and wash their eyes out. HTH

sounds like you got an elaborate little heat ranch for them, however, try to offer them an area that has some kind of substrates where they can dig into and avoid that awful draft (paper towels tend to dry out rather quickly with all that heat and draft, and dry towels also BLOTCHED out moistures in your bambinos eyes)

or you can make a humid box like this (w/cowboys saloon barndoor to reduce that draft if that's your case) filled up an inch of either top soil or sand, sand/loam mix, cypress/eucalyptus/peatmoss should work, they need to be moistened (not soaking wet!)...and move it over/on top of your heat mat (idealy the heat should affect no more than 50% of that humidbox and try to keep the humidity in the mid 50's also). a word of caution about high output heatpads (or any heatsource, they could melt plastic so use your commonse and do da insulations beforehand (i.e: a piece of ceramic tile over that pad).

again, you can't beat that lil spray bottle so keep one in there handy...