Do turtles shed their skin around their eyes?

Question

I bought two new baby turtles for my son. All they do is lay around and sleep. The last turtles we had were far more active than these two. Is this normal?
Also, I noticed one turtle has formed a thick layer of skin over its eyes. His eyes appear permanently closed. However, if you look at him closely, you can see his pupils through the skin. Is his skin shedding?

Answer 1

It is an eye infection of some kind. Try this link: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medeyes.htm

Answer 2

What kind of turtles are they. They do shed around their eyes, but not on the eye itself. Snakes do that...turtles and lizards do not.

Turtels take a lot of stuff to keep them healthy. They need specific temperatures, a UVB source and a good diet. Depending on what kind of turtles you have...the care will be a little different as far as how your habitat is set up and what they eat. The temperatures needs will also vary slightly. One thing that doesn't change is the need for a UVB source. Not all UVB lights are created equal. Some decay very quickly. You need no less than two flourescent UVB tubes. Short version - UVB helps the turtle to process the calcium in their diet. Without the UVB...the calcium does not get absorbed and the result is Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) and renal failure. The brands to go with:
Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0
Iguana Light 5.0
Exoterra 8.0
Arcadia 5.0 (UK)
...or:
Mega Ray EB (external ballast)
http://www.reptileuv.com

Many of these can be purchased at http://www.reptiledirect.com for a more reasonable price than the pet stores.

Use a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer w/hygrometer for the best accuracy. You can get these for about $15 - $20 at Wal-Mart. Once you get the thermometer your goal is meeting the required temperature gradients in three different spots for that particular species of turtle.

The link is for one of the best information sites on the Internet. All the most common turtles/ tortoises can be found here...and some of the not so common ones.