Hi i have 2 horsfield tortoises and have had them for about 4 months now, but recently one has developed a problem with his eyes. The one has gone white and puffy and closed up and the other is white around the outside, he has just gone off his food and lost approx 10 grams in 10 days.
I have taken him to the local vet who just cleaned his eye with cotton wool and said he was healthy and it was just probably something in his eye or the other one had scratched him with his claw.
Can anyone help me please as my little boy loves his tortoises and we are worried, the other one has no problems and is eating fine.

thanks

Gavin

Sounds like conjunctivitis to me - if it is this then it would needed to be treated with anitibiotic drops. He probably is'nt eating because he cannot see very well (if at all). Regular baths are a good idea & you could try Reptoboost to get some nutrition into him. Is your vet a reptile specialist? If not see another one.

thanks for the help, should i be separating the other tortoise?

gavin

It may be best to seperate them, conjunctivitis is very contagious. Is it just the one eye? you should be able to ask the vet for eye drops as he failed to prescribe them on an initial consult. if you dont live near a reptile specialist it may be worth phoning one for a telephone consult and getting the name of the advised medication and also the dosage. Then pass this on to your local vet. Mine is really good about that type of thing, so i only make the journey to the specialist when its necesary. let us know how you get on

Just out of curiosity what lights are you using? i only ask because if the uvb is positioned too close this can result in eye swelling and closure too. i imagine it would display in both of them but if one spends more time under the light than the other it may display on a different time scale. what uvb is it ( tube, compact, mercury lamp?) what wattage or size and how close is it to the top of there shell?

I'd agree with tinkerbruce - separation is a good idea. I think that a consultation with a specialist vet is recommended. It may not be conjunctivitis as there are other things that can affect chelonia eyes (vit A deficiency springs to mind) or there may be an underlying problem and the conjunctivitis is a secondary symptom.

Here's a link to the BCG list of recommended tortoise specialist vets, hopefully you can find one not too far away from you from this:

British Chelonia Group: Vetlist

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It would be helpfull for a bigger picture of the care and feeding of the tort too.It certainly needs seeing by a good rep vet if it has lost that much weight that quickly I would say.

hi i dont keep horsfields but have been keeping meds for about 25 years this eye problem could be related to a heavy parasite infestation has your vet tested for worms if he hasn't then i would suggest it to him as i feel this may be one of the reasons it is off its food.

terry

hi sorry i forgot ,i assume this tortoise isn't dehydrated if they arent supplied with a deep enough substrate so they can thermoregulate and control their humidity they need to be bathed regularly.

terry