i have a russian tortoise and it has puffy eyes that wont open all the time what do i do?

Question

he has puffy eyes on both sometimes he opens them why and what can i do

Answer 1

Puffy eyes can be dietary, environmental, or medical.

DIETARY would usually be a lack of vitamin A, but can be other things as well. A good article for Russian tortoise diets can be found at http://www.petdoc.ws/TortDiet.html

Correct any dietary problems there may be, and consider adding a drop of Vitamin A to the food daily for a while. (The eye drops can help a little, but do not address the core issues.)

ENVIRONMENTAL would usually be too dry of a habitat. Russians need humidity, especially in their hiding places. In the wild, a Russian burrow runs about 70% humidity. Dry tanks will cause swollen eyes.

Consider your substrate- some substrates create VERY dry conditions- sand, papers, wood shavings, dusty products, dry barks or wood chips, etc. Sometimes, a good dampening and daily misting is all you need. (Make sure the temps stay on target!)

Tank cleanliness is also an issue here- droppings, waste foods, smelly cages, 'sick air', etc. will affect the tortoise. Often, we seal these tanks up pretty good in order to better control the heat and humidity- which creates all kinds of air-borne problems. Tortoises NEED clean, fresh air.

MEDICAL would include injuries to the eyes, early signs of respiratory infections (RI), or some other infection.

RI is common in tortoises- a draft, cool temps, too much of a temp drop at night, poor humidity control, human colds, lack of good sunlight or UVB lighting, stress, and more can all cause a RI quickly

In general- review the basic cares to make sure you are rock solid on cage size, temps, hiding spots, humidity, diet, lighting, etc. and correct any glitches you find.

CARE- We will treat all of these things at once.
1. Clean the tank out and set it up right. Some good sites are listed below.
2. Get a good diet program going immediately. Use a little more vitamin powder than usual. (Vitamin powder should always be used very lightly- overdosing is way too easy. A light pinch normally, a slightly heavier pinch when the tortoise is ill.)
3. Install UVB lighting if not already available. If the UVB is over 6 months old, replace it. (Sadly, most UVB bulbs loose the UVB power over time.)
4. Provide a warm, humid hiding spot. One way to do this is to use a box or pot, line it with dampened long-fibered sphagnum moss (not peat or sphagnum peat), and gently heat the whole thing- either a heating pad under it, or a ceramic emitter on a thermostat over it, etc.) Mist the moss a couple times a day.
5. Boost temps a bit- about 5-10 degrees overall, while still keeping a cooler corner. A little extra heat helps reptiles fight off infections, like a fever does for mammals.
6. Keep the stress low- minimize noises, vibrations, handling, touching the tank, etc.

Check out the sites below for a ton of good info:

Answer 2

Vitamin A drops. They sell turtle eye drops at most petstores. Zoo Med makes one that is relativly inexpensive. Just look at the ingrediants, if it has Vitamin A, then go ahead and get it.

Drops are just topical, however, and will treat the symptom. You need to figure out why he has puffy eyes to begin with in order to "cure" him. Make certain that you are feeding him a diet rich in dark, leafy greens. Beats are a wonderful food source for tortises, along with zuccini, squash, yams, bananas, strawberries, dragon fruit, apples etc... a varied diet dusted with an all purpose multi-vitamin will help internally.

Second, soak your tortise for twenty minutes in warm water every three of four days. The warm water helps speed digestive processes and helps them have a BM.

Third, make sure the lighting is correct. Have a UVA/UVB strip light with at least a 5% output for tortises. An aquarium strip light with a zoo med 5.0 flourecent bulb will do the trick. Replace the bulb every six months or the lamp won't put out the proper rays after a while. Also, he needs a heat source from a basking lamp. The wattage wil depend on the enclosure. The taller the tank, the higher the watt. If he's in a small tank, a 50-100 watt bulb will work. Just make sure there is a hiding spot for him to get out of the heat if he needs to.

Fourth, watch the bedding. If it is getting in his eyes, you may want to switch.

Finally, this is the MOST important. Take him to the vet. You don't mess around with tortise problems. Many are wild caught and come in with an array of internal paracites and infections that will rapidly become a huge issue. Make sure you take your tortise to a reptile certified vet. Regular dog/cat vets are not trained to see reps. For example, a common med used for paracites is Ivomectrin. This drug is lethal to turtles and tortises. If your vet perscribes this, then go to a new vet. Just ask when you call if they are able/qualified and are certified to see a reptile. If they are not certified, ask in your are who is.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Russian Puffy

Answer 4

It could be alot of things if you can't find anything that helps I would suggest taking it to a vet for a check up and they will probably give you eye drops and ask you how you care for it to make sure you are caring for it properly.