[forlogos]

I came home after being gone over 14 hours. I couldn't find my male RES anywhere and after really searching the tank found him stuck, high up. I took a photo cuz I thought it was amazing that he climbed. I don't know how long he was up there. When I got him his eyes were big swollen red and looked mucus-y. He was also very dry and felt cool, I was worried that he might've been dead - thank God he wasn't. below are some pix that I took :

This is where I found him, wedged between the styro background and filter intake tube. It doesnt look like the plastic plants were poking him in the eyes


That's almost 2 feet above the bottom of the tank - I'm so surprised he was able to climb that high - water is about 10" high


This is the top of the tank - he was wedged just above the heat lamp and about 8"-10" away from the UVB lamp


The rest are all pix of his eyes:







This is a pic of the better looking eye




His eyes became like this all of a sudden , so I'm sure it's not a Vitamin A deficiency. His eyes look like those of other turtles suffering from photo-kerato-conjunctivitis, which you can see the article here: www.UVGuide.Co.UK
His eyes look like that, except his is red, but that might be cuz it's fresh.

M fiancee is ready to take him to a vet tomorrow, but not until late in the day. I'm immediately removing the styro background so that neither of my turtles can climb all the way up again and I'm turning the UVB lamp off too. There's about 50 gallons of water in the tank, with a roughly 90% water change a few days ago.

I'm worried. Is there anything I should do?

[Turtle_Gal_Tami]

I am sorry I don't know how to help. Hope your little guy is ok.

How is his behaviour now? Is he eating, basking and such still?

[forlogos]

right now he's asleep, but he was walking/ swimming around with his eyes closed and was bumping into stuff earlier. I just hope he doesn't hurt his eyes further moving around like that

[LisaD]

Have you checked your water chlorine level? You said you just did a water change short time ago...right but sometimes a cause of inflammation, swelling and reddness unrelated to them scratching, poking or hurting their eyes in or about their set up can be related to water quality including excesive levels of chlorine.. He could be having a reaction to the water if that is so you should remove turtle, completely dechlor the tank before adding him back. Also have you checked your filter too see how it is performing? As you see they can definitely climb I hope you can get your appointment time moved up tomorrow if it is not the tank/filter reaction so even if he looks better tomorrow just to be safe you'd want to get in there and be sure it is not an infection. In the meantime keep the eye area as clean as possible. You're right it also could be severe irritation from the filter rubbing against that to get up there to begin with or the contact to the eye from the plastic plants-or a combination of factors. Have you moved everything he can come into contact with in there until his appointment from the tank and outer areas? If you've got other shell in there separate them to err on side of caution from bothering him. I am also wondering did he try to stick his head through the white plastic side piece first and injure his eyes trying to free himself that way? There seems to be some pieces missing from that and what if one piece was a bit sharp and knicked him when he put his head through and retracted it? I'm unsure about the possible photo-kerato-conjunctivitis, although he was close to that area there seems so much else that it could be.

[forlogos]

I'm positive it's not chlorine related as I use a drinking water filter for water changes and I'm sure it removes chlorine too. Filters are running great, output is normal (one filter has a flow meter) and the tank cycled long ago.

The white plastic side piece is actually light diffuser/egg crate that I use as a tank divider to separate my male (rex) from my other possibly female turtle. The missing pieces were filed smooth as the bigger holes are meant for some bigger fish to swim thru. I've seen both my turtles poke their heads thru with no bad effects, but if he was panicking, there's definitely a chance he hurt himself there.

I really hope there isn't any damaged tissue or infection or risk of infection...

And thank you, I'm immediately removing his driftwood and larger rocks!!

[forlogos]

Ugh, I don't believe it.....

my computer is near the turtle tank so I must've woken him (Rex) up - - his eyes are still really bad looking, but he just tried to climb again!!

Good thing I removed most of the background, the top half, so he didn't get far - I'm going to remove the remaining background right now

['02 magna]

have you tried putting eye drops in? that could reduce some of his swelling and irritation.

[Shashi M.]

The vet is probably your best option.

[forlogos]

Thanks, but I don't have any eyedrops for reptiles - the eye swelling went down a bit overnight, looks jut a little bit better

This morning he somehow wedged himself where his basking corkbark meets the white eggcrate tank divider, but this was before the heat lamps went on. I repositioned him since I wasn't sure if he was just napping there or was stuck, and he promptly jumped back into the water. I wonder if that and his climbing attempt last night is just him trying to dry dock himself or if the pain is just making him panic and do some unusual things...

Anyway, I agree, the vet is the best option. My turt has an appointment in a few hours

[Shashi M.]

That's good to know. Hope everything goes well .

[Turtle_Gal_Tami]

Keep us posted and let us know what the vet said about your little guy.

[forlogos]

thanks for all your concern...

So my fiancee took Rex (my male turtle) to the vet. They said that he is suffering from a UV burn, basically a really bad sun burn, which is why the affected areas are red. He also has some burn marks on his nose, he was stuck pretty close to the UV lamp.

There aren't any infections but he was given a vitamin shot to help with the healing. To be safe, they provided him with antibiotic eye drops and an oral pain-killer, which we have to give him every few days. The eye drops were easy to apply. He took the drop to his left eye ok, but the drop to his right eye (the eye affected the worst) must've been really painful as he reacted to it and quickly withdrew his head into his shell. Giving him the oral pain meds was difficult, as we had to take him out of the water and use a syringe to put it into his mouth. Twice he threw up and he actually urinated on me while we were trying to give him the meds. I've never heard of a turtle urinating out of the water before, he must really be in real pain... In the end we coated one of his food pellets in the meds and he quickly ate it as soon as he was back in the water.

Both eyes are looking better and he's able to open them both now. The left eye still has redness and swelling around it, but the right still looks very bad. Because of the puffiness and swelling, his right eye makes him look Chinese.

I put his driftwood and rocks back into his side of the tank - he's now sleeping peacefully on top of his driftwood. He's going to be ok

In the same way that we all say that gravel isn't a good idea in a turtle tank because of possible impaction (compaction, whatever), styrofoam tank backgrounds are also not a good idea, especially if filter tubes are setup right next to them because a turtle can climb them, get stuck, and hurt themselves

This post has been edited by forlogos: 14 August 2008 - 09:20 PM

[Turtle_Gal_Tami]

forlogos, on Aug 14 2008, 10:13 PM, said:

he actually urinated on me while we were trying to give him the meds. I've never heard of a turtle urinating out of the water before, he must really be in real pain...

I can say that I have had many RES turtles urinate on me and these ones were not in stress. Crawled up on my lap and peed on me. So they do pee outside of water.

On a more serious note: I am glad the vet gave you pain meds for your little guy and I am glad he is going to be ok. I can imagine it was a scary experience for both you and the critter. It is very evident you care a lot for him. It is a good sign he is able to open his eyes a bit now.

I am glad he will be ok. Keep us posted on his progress.

All the best to you.

[Turtle_Man_Marc]

Glad to hear he's going to be ok. Not that it matters now but you can use standard visine eye drops in a pinch. It'll help with irritation before you can get him to a vet. Just some free advice

[Turtle_Gal_Tami]

Any updates on how your little guy is doing?

[charliea]

On your egg crate partition you should place (Fasten) a 2X4 on edge horizontally to it up higher than they can reach. Do this on both sides of the partition. This way the turtle can still climb, but the 2X4 limits how high.

In my outside enclosure I have a 1 1/2 in turtle who climbs 1/2 in hardware cloth I sure he would climb 10 ft if I did not put up climbing barriers. He gets in the corners and tries to climb upside down around the wood. I watched him and thought once he fell he would not try any more wrong. He just keeps going back for more. He is very determined to get out I have to modify my climbing barriers as I am sure he will eventually suceed. After 4ft up I changed to 2X4 inch wire and he could get through that. He is in an 80 sq ft enclosure with a 350 gal pond with free run of the whole place and all he wants is out. If you can not invision a climbing barrier I can send you a photo

Good luck

[forlogos]

All, sorry for my delay in responding and thank you so much for your concern- after my turtle got better i got real busy in school and wasn't able to sign on back here.

Anyway, my turtle's eyes healed very quickly. After the first week of giving him the meds, he looked almost back to normal. He's all back to normal now, like nothing ever happened. Eating, basking, swimming about...

charliea, that's actually a great idea. I haven't seen them climb and they wouldn't be able to get out, but a fall from the very top might hurt them alot. ypur setup sounds awesome too btw!

[Arney]

forlogos, on Dec 31 2008, 10:28 PM, said:

All, sorry for my delay in responding and thank you so much for your concern- after my turtle got better i got real busy in school and wasn't able to sign on back here.

Anyway, my turtle's eyes healed very quickly. After the first week of giving him the meds, he looked almost back to normal. He's all back to normal now, like nothing ever happened. Eating, basking, swimming about...

charliea, that's actually a great idea. I haven't seen them climb and they wouldn't be able to get out, but a fall from the very top might hurt them alot. ypur setup sounds awesome too btw!

Thanks for update!

[allison finch]

It's never a good idea to use "egg crate" type material for vertical dividers. Turtles are excellent climbers and will climb right up that stuff. I saw a box turtle that constantly climbed out of a chain link fence. I watched her do it, one time.

[forlogos]

yeah, I've been thinking of changing the egg crate - it's such an eyesore. I've been thinking of changing it to clear acrylic - hopefully I get to do that soon.

I have some pix of my turtles eye recovery - I'll share them tomorrow...