My toirtoise has redfoot eye issue

[marcusjor]

Hello,
I noticed today my tortoise was looking like he was digging in the dirt, and rubbing his eyes. I went and took a look at him and something looks very wrong with his eyes. I am not sure what it could be. It could not have been going on for more then a day or two because I am always checking in on him. Could it be from humidity blowing on him through the night? I'm concerned that it could be a RI. I try and point the humidifier tube towards him at night. It has been so hard to keep the humidity up during this season. I keep it clean and use distilled water for it. He is in biodude substrate.

[Nina]

Hi, and I'm sorry that your tortoise has an eye problem. Could you describe what it looks like (is the eye swollen, closed, does it have any discharge coming from it)? Can you post a photo?

The most likely cause is that a bit of substrate has got into his eye, and I would advise first using some eye drops that contain hypromellose. Do you live in the UK? You can buy eye drops for humans with hypromellose at any chemist/pharmacy -- they are often called 'Artificial Tears', and you could try applying some of those to your tortoise's eye and see if it relieves the problem. Also, if you give him his regular soak in the bath and drip some warm water over his head, that could help too.

If that doesn't work then do you have a good reptile vet? If not, then let us know where you live and we will see if we can find one. If you are in the UK, we have a list of recommended vets on our website, arranged by area and county, here: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... s-by-area/

Nina