do turtles molt?

Question

my red eared slider turtle is almost 3 years old and it has something on its left eye, it looks like mucus covering the whole eye ball but they eye is not closed and out of the 3 years weve had the turtle we have never seen anything like this .. we called a pet store and different people gave us different opinions .. one said it could be molting? .. one said it could be the early stages of blindness? .. the the other said it may not have enough calcium in the water? .. does anyone know what im talking about from own experiences or whatever? if you do please help me

Answer 1

Your turtle could have an eye infection. I would start by buying a turtle eye rinse and cleansing his eyes twice daily. They sell turtle eye rinse at pet stores. I have also used Neosporin applied with a Q-Tip, this worked really well and is safe.

Also, tank cleanliness is vital, most eye infections are a result of dirty habitats. If this conservative approach does not work, I would recommend finding a herp vet in your area.

Answer 2

Your turtle should live in a large tank without gravel as that makes the tank harder to clean and may kill the turtle if he eats it. You should have a water heater (78 F), a great filter, a stationed dock, and a heat bulb and a uvb bulb positioned eight inches from the basking area in two clamp lamps.

That being said, turtles do shed their scutes (individual square-like shapes on their shells) and their skin but don't really molt.

You should be feeding cuttle/turtle bone and removing the backing for calcium but it won't synthesize without the UVB bulb. The mucus over his eye isn't good and can be part of an illness or from irritation due to a UVB bulb being to close to his basking area. You should see a vet, however.

Answer 3

Does it look swollen? Here is a good site on Aquatic turtles and Eye problems. http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/eyeprobs.htm
My turtles haven't had this problem so I don't have any personal experience with it. But I do know that its not a good thing. I hope you get it figured out and its nothing serious.

Answer 4

Thea gave you good advice, however,turtles are prone to infections in the eye as well. You should get your turtle to a vet. Your vet can prescribe an antibiotic ointment that will clear that up quickly. It is important to get him to a vet, reptiles have very little resistance to infection. Keep in mind that most vets have very little experience with reptiles, so look for one who advertises treatment of exotics. A vet who treats birds can be very effective as well as reptiles and birds are very close in the evolutionary scale.

Answer 5

Turtles have a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane, it sounds like that may be what you are seeing. It's often a sign of infection or debris in the eye when this membrane remains visible.