Eye diseases of red-eared turtles: symptoms and treatment

Amphibians are in high demand. They are often bred at home for breeding, given to children, or simply bred as a hobby so that there is someone to take care of. Despite the fact that turtles are unpretentious animals and do not require special care, it is still necessary to closely monitor their health. Turtles are especially susceptible to eye diseases. Often, pathogenic bacteria penetrate into them, which can cause severe infections, inflammation and other unpleasant symptoms.

What is important to consider

First of all, make sure that the pet is simply not sleeping, because the good vision of the red-eared turtle allows it to stay awake both during the day and at night. Observe her throughout the day. Too much sleep and general lethargy can be warning signs of illness, even if the reptile's eyes are still shiny and wide open. In this case, immediately adjust the conditions of detention. So, the disease can be provoked by:

Low water temperature;
Lack or insufficient use of UV lamps and shore heating;
Unbalanced diet;
Poor filtration and irregular bottom cleaning.

If, after all the conditions have been corrected, the red-eared turtle does not open its eyes within 6 hours, sound the alarm. This means that the disease already exists. It remains to be found out what kind of illness struck the pet. To do this, observe the ward for another day. By the way, during this time be sure to stock up on:

Container for quarantine;
Pharmaceutical chamomile;
Methylene blue;
With cotton swabs.

Other medications may also be needed, but this will be discussed later - when the cause of the problem is found out. Let's start with the most common eye diseases of reptiles in aquaterrariums.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR EYES ARE CLOSED?

If your turtle suddenly stops behaving as before and spends all the time with his eyes closed, you need to start observing him to understand the cause of the symptom and take action.
The disease is not as terrible as the lack of treatment or a late reaction to the symptoms - most turtle owners wait until the last minute for everything to go away on its own. This should not be done under any circumstances - the turtle cannot control its condition and say when it feels bad, and diseases usually develop very quickly.

The first thing to do is to make sure that the turtle is kept in good conditions. Perhaps the temperature has dropped and the animal is trying to hibernate, or the water is too dirty and microbes are multiplying in it. In any case, after the errors identified in care are eliminated, the disease can slow down significantly.

Read about what to feed your hamster at home, what your pet’s daily diet should consist of. The specifics of caring for and maintaining pet hamsters are described here.

What are the common diseases of red-eared turtles, treatment methods - more on that here.

It is necessary to carefully observe your sick pet - how it moves, how it breathes, whether it eats, how much it sits on land and how much time it spends in the water. Observations will help you find out the cause of closed eyes, however, you should not extend this period for a long time - it is optimal to watch your pet’s behavior for about a day in order to begin treatment the next day.

Video: swimming with eyes closed

Possible reasons

Even under excellent living conditions, a pet can get sick. Eyes swell with conjunctivitis, pneumonia and may be accompanied by rhinitis. It is best to have the turtle examined by a specialist, however, not all cities can boast of veterinarians who know how to treat turtles.

Sometimes it happens that after expensive treatment in a veterinary hospital, a turtle not only does not recover, but becomes more ill. This is due to the use of strong drugs against diseases of turtles - the same drugs are often used for them as for dogs and cats.

You can determine the cause and begin treatment yourself. It is possible to cure a turtle if the disease is noticed and identified at an early stage. If the turtle has been in this condition for a long time, and several of the listed reasons and signs are present at once, it is better to look for a truly trusted specialist and entrust the pet to him.

Common conjunctivitis

A sure sign of this sore is inflammation of one eye. If the disease starts, both will swell and close, and the mucous membranes will turn dark red. A red-eared turtle can “catch” this eye disease due to insufficient clean water. For treatment you will need:

Place the turtle in any dry container and completely disinfect the aquaterrarium.
Wash your pet with warm running water and pat dry thoroughly but gently with a simple cotton or linen towel.
In the morning, at lunch and in the evening, drip sodium sulfacyl (aka albucid) into the eyes; in severe cases, a special tetracycline ointment in a small tube will not hurt.

Main symptoms of eye diseases

Eye diseases in turtles have different etiopathogenesis and, accordingly, are characterized by different symptoms and clinical manifestations.

The main symptoms of eye diseases in red-eared turtles:

swelling, edema, sticking of the eyelids;
redness of the mucous membrane;
cloudy cornea, presence of a bluish film, white coating on the eyes;
partial decrease in visual function, loss of vision;
photophobia, blepharospasm;
lacrimation;
abundant mucous, catarrhal-serous, purulent discharge from the eyes;
inadequate reaction of the pupil to light;
corneal clouding;
decreased activity, lethargy;
deterioration of general condition.

The turtle's eyes are swollen.
Among other symptoms that indicate the development of ophthalmological diseases in pets, one can also note: weakness, decreased appetite, refusal of favorite treats, inappropriate behavior, lack of response to external stimuli. The turtle stretches its neck forward, takes unnatural poses, and rubs its sore eye with its paws. It hurts and stops opening.

The intensity of clinical manifestations depends on the root cause, the nature of the pathological process, and the stage of the disease.

Frequent pneumonia

If a red-eared turtle coughs, eats poorly, swims sideways, cannot dive and does not open its eyes, it is a 100% cold. The sore is not uncommon, unpleasant, but at the initial stage it is curable even at home. In this case, warm baths and inhalations with chamomile are effective. What does that require:

Brew a strong decoction of a medicinal plant in a deep saucepan and inhale it as for a person. Your own nasopharynx will be an excellent indicator of temperature. As an option, a hand in which you can hold a suspended turtle is also suitable. The procedure will take at least 10 minutes, so if it’s hard to hold your hand suspended for so long, use a sieve, but not a metal colander. Otherwise, the pet will get burns.
Upon completion of the inhalation, dilute the chamomile infusion with water to a temperature of 40-45ºC and give your client a bath. It is important that the temperature does not drop below 30ºС. It’s good if a sick pet splashes around in the healing infusion for at least 20-25 minutes.
Then you need to warm the reptile for four hours in a dry container at a temperature not lower than 35ºC.

Such procedures need to be repeated a couple of times a day until the reptile recovers. Typically, the process takes about a week. But there are also more complex diseases that require a special approach.

Possible reasons

Complex rhinitis

Many novice breeders often wonder what to do if a red-eared turtle sneezes, scratches its eyes, blows its nose, and at the same time has difficulty swimming. In this case, it won’t hurt to take a close look at the nostrils and inner corners of your pet’s eyes - they are inflamed with rhinitis. Further treatment depends on the causes of rhinitis:

Polluted water. In this case, you cannot avoid a procedure that is unpleasant for the reptile and time-consuming for the owner - to rinse the turtle’s nasal passages with an antiseptic liquid using a syringe without a needle. A weak solution of furatsilin or chamomile at a comfortable temperature is suitable as an antiseptic.
Another cause of a runny nose in a reptile may be improper feeding and, as a result, a lack of vitamin A. In this case, intramuscular injections of the vitamin or increased feeding with food containing it are recommended.
Rhinitis and swelling of the eyes also occurs with hypothermia.

Instillation into eyes and nose

When should you wash your eyes?

For prevention (slight redness, swelling of the eyelid, itching);
Before using medications;
If irritating substances get into your eyes, especially dust, pieces of wood filler, shavings, straw, hay;
NOT FOR TREATMENT!

How to wash your eyes?

Step 0. Prepare inventory. Select and prepare an eye wash solution from the list below. Prepare sterile gauze pads or clean cotton pads. Step 1. Catch and record the animal. First, lure the head out, grab it tightly and don’t let go. To do this, any reptile must be held with two fingers under the lower jaw.

Step 2. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap! Step 3. Open the eyelid.

To do this, use your second free hand, specifically a fingernail or a flat, non-sharp object, to push the lower movable eyelid down. REMEMBER: dripping or rinsing a closed eye is pointless!

Step 4. Rinse the eye. It is more convenient to rinse the eye, or rather the cornea and conjunctiva, using a sterile syringe with the needle removed, or a napkin generously soaked in the solution. Draw up the rinsing solution. It is better to apply the solution under the eyelid, in which case it will wash the entire surface of the cornea and conjunctival sac. When using a generously moistened cloth, the latter can be used to gently wipe the conjunctiva. If, during rinsing, you notice foreign, indelible particles lying on the surface of the eye or in the folds, do not touch them or try to remove them yourself, immediately run to the doctor! Step 5. Complete the procedure. Release the beast if you haven't forgotten about the second eye.

If you decide to prescribe antibiotic-containing eye medications on your own (and especially potent drugs from the groups of cephalosporins, macrolides, aminoglycosides), it is better to abandon this idea and call a veterinarian herpetologist.

In cases where eye drops were prescribed by a doctor, instillation is carried out according to the same principle as rinsing. Use a cleanly washed pipette or syringe (when the bottle does not come with a special dropper), instill 1-2 drops. Eye ointments (eg 1% tetracycline eye ointment) are applied in a similar manner. The ointment is placed 0.5-1 cm behind the lower eyelid, into a neatly opened eye. After applying any medication (drops, gels, ointments), it is necessary to carefully close the eyelids and lightly massage the eye to allow the medication to be evenly distributed over the surface of the cornea and conjunctival sac. It is important to maintain a time interval between eye procedures. It is possible to apply anything to the eyes after rinsing after 5-10 minutes, and the interval between medications should be at least 15 minutes. What solutions should I use to wash my eyes? • Physiological, 0.9% sodium chloride solution, sterile; • Chlorhexidine 0.01% (it is possible to prepare it yourself from a 0.05% solution of chlorhexidine; for this, 4 ml (0.05% solution) must be taken into a 20 ml syringe and diluted to 20 ml with physiological sodium chloride solution); • Potassium permanganate solution 1:5000 (this is slightly pink); • Chamomile decoction (Brew 1 bag of dry chamomile in a glass of boiling water, or 1 tablespoon of chamomile flowers in crumbly form, pour 200 ml of boiling water. Cool before use!). • Spilled tea (that is, the one that remained unfinished from yesterday evening); • Ordinary running water - from the tap, preferably boiled water - from a kettle; It is better to use all solutions slightly warm, or at room temperature.

(Material prepared with the help of the Zoovet veterinary center)

With severe swelling or sticking together of the eyelids, it is difficult to determine their boundaries. The incision between the eyelids is usually located at the level of the upper third, and the lower eyelid is movable. A thin pipette or syringe with a blunt needle is inserted from the side of the muzzle parallel to the eyelid incision. Use the tip of the needle to slightly move the lower eyelid and inject the drug. To make it easier, you need to learn to carefully fix your head - this is the main key to success. When the turtle resists, its eyelids swell and it is enough to simply apply the needle in the catheter in parallel to the incision of the eyelids, move the lower eyelid down and press the piston. The tip of the syringe can be filed down to a blunt point using sandpaper or a nail file.

For instillation into the nose or eyes, it is convenient to use a catheter (for example, a g22 venous catheter). You need to pull out the needle and use the remaining thin silicone tube as an attachment for a syringe.

DISEASES AND TREATMENT

Conjunctivitis

Signs - one or both eyes close and swell, the mucous membrane may turn purple.

Treatment begins with transplanting the turtle from the aquarium into a separate basin without water. Conjunctivitis is often caused by bacteria and germs getting into the eyes.

Keeping turtles in water promotes their reproduction, so a sick turtle is kept without water .

A sick pet will benefit from warm (warmer than regular aquarium water) baths with freshly brewed chamomile.

The aquarium must be washed and cleaned to get rid of germs, and new water must be added. For final disinfection, it is advisable to drop a few drops of Mythelen blue into the water. You can return the turtle to the aquarium only after complete recovery.

Pneumonia

Closed eyes often accompany a turtle's cold.

Signs - lethargy of the pet, poor appetite, the turtle floats on the surface of the water and does not sink, but at the same time does not make any movements and seems to float, often cannot dive. May “cough” – make strange sounds with the mouth while sitting on land.

Treatment can be divided into medical and traditional methods.

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In the first case, an examination by a veterinarian is required. The turtle will need to be weighed, and based on the weight (excluding the shell), intramuscular injections of the prescribed medication will be given. The difficulty of treatment lies in calculating the correct dose, since the slightest overdose leads to the death of the animal.

Veterinarian advice: help with eye disease

The traditional method of treatment does not pose any dangers, and in non-advanced stages of the disease it is very effective.

The turtle must be removed from the aquarium into a dry container. The room in which it is located must be warm, with dry air, without drafts.

The main medicine in this case is chamomile . A strong decoction is brewed and two types of procedures are performed on the turtle - “inhalation” and bathing.

Inhalation is aimed at warming the lungs. You need to boil water in a saucepan, brew chamomile in it, and then carry out actions similar to regular cold inhalations. It is best to sit on the bed and place a stool next to it, with a pan of boiling water on it.

To concentrate the heat and prevent the heated air from dissipating throughout the room, you need to cover yourself with a blanket. You can hold the turtle in your hands, but it is even more effective to hold it directly above the pan, without burning it, at a distance of ten centimeters. To avoid the risk of dropping your pet into boiling water, you can place it in a sieve and cover it with something on top, even your palm, and prevent it from getting out.

During this procedure, the turtle breathes a hot chamomile infusion, which is very useful for inflamed lungs.

Sore eyes with pneumonia must be treated in the same way as with conjunctivitis - by instilling albucid into the eyes and applying tetracycline ointment. Chamomile will also treat sore eyes - as an antibacterial agent.

Who is better boy or girl

Visual differences between males and females in turtles appear after puberty is complete. Until two years of age, it is impossible to accurately determine whether a boy or a girl is hiding under the shell. For solitary confinement, the difference is not fundamental.

Females of any turtle species will carry out their natural program of laying eggs, even without contact with a male. If more than two years have passed since the last meeting with a representative of the opposite sex, there will be no offspring. The reptile's body requires vitamin support during this period. In rare cases, the process can negatively affect the health of the pet. Male land turtles are usually noisier than females. They are more active and more likely to show aggression.

If you need to choose a second turtle, the introduction will have to be carefully planned. Boys of any breed rarely get along with each other. Girls are more suitable for pair housing. When an opposite-sex couple lives together, the male can oppress the female. Turtles feel comfortable alone.

Prevention

In order to prevent eye problems in your pet, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

Inspect your turtle's eyes regularly;
observe the coordination of the animal’s movement;
change the water in the aquarium regularly;
feed your reptile healthy food that contains vitamins and nutrients;
Monitor the temperature of the water in the aquarium - it should not be cold.

To ensure that your pet is always healthy and makes you happy, pay attention to it and take care of its health. Unfortunately, animals often suffer from the same ailments as people and need timely treatment and care.

How often should red-eared pets be fed?

Young turtles that are less than a year old need to be fed artificial food daily.

. Animals older than one year are fed every other day or two.

Newborn pets should receive fifty percent protein in their food. Most foods intended for turtles meet these requirements.

Adult animals should be given twenty-five percent artificial food, and the remaining percentage in the diet should be occupied by various plants.

In the first days of a red-eared turtle’s life in new conditions, food should be given to it, placing it at the very edge of the water.

Once your pet gets used to it, you can feed it from a bowl on the island.

Please note that the composition and size of artificial feeds differ. Therefore, when purchasing them, you should be guided by what the manufacturers write on the packaging.

How to wash your eyes

The following medications can be instilled into the eyes for rinsing:

saline solution, also known as sodium chloride - standard, isotonic;
chlorhexidine - diluted with saline to a concentration of 0.01% from the pharmacy 0.05%;
potassium permanganate - slightly pinkish, in a proportion of 1/5000 units;
chamomile infusion - a tablespoon of dry mixture per glass of boiling water, infused and cooled;
tea leaves - usually yesterday's brew, but not freshly brewed;
water - optimally purified or boiled.

All liquids should be neither cold nor hot. The optimal temperature is body temperature, that is, 36-37 degrees.

If the eyelids are swollen or stuck together, it is very difficult to detect the place where they close. Physiologically, the place where the eyelids close is in the upper third of the eyeball. Only the lower eyelid should be moved back - the upper one is not movable! The tip of a narrow pipette should be inserted in the direction from the muzzle, repeating the line where the eyelids close. Using this pipette, the edge of the lower eyelid is moved back and the medicine is instilled.

The skill of securely fixing your head will greatly simplify the task. For example, with turtle resistance and swelling of the eyelids, the lower eyelid can be easily retracted by simply applying a pipette or a blunt needle to the place of closure and slightly moving the eyelid down.

Associated symptoms of the body and behavior

In addition to the main symptoms of diseases of the visual organs in turtles, there are also secondary ones, which include:

lethargy;
increased body temperature;
lack of coordination;
general weakness.

Since the reptile loses its vision and cannot always see food, the amount of food it eats is reduced, and over time it may die.

How to extend the life of a turtle

To prolong the life of a red-eared turtle, it is enough to protect it from diseases and unfavorable conditions. A properly sized terrarium, balanced food, a heating lamp, quarantine for new individuals and timely inspections at least once a month - all this does not require much time, but can serve well.

A pet whose care is given enough attention may well become a long-liver and become familiar to several generations of the same family. To do this, you should get a young individual, for the purchase of which you need to equip a spacious terrarium.

What do red-eared turtles eat?

The natural diet of this reptile consists of small fish, crustaceans, aquatic mollusks, and insects. They eat plants, obtaining from them the necessary vitamins and fiber. When kept at home, the turtle is fed with low-fat fish (leave the bones in the fish, grind the large ones), liver, shrimp, squid, and snails. The meat is not thermally processed. Plants include dandelion, plantain, and lettuce.

Often a small turtle will not eat when fed vegetables and greens. Juveniles are predators; Vegetables, fruits, and herbs cannot be given to them. Until the age of two, they are fed every day, then two or three times a week. Do not overfeed the animal, otherwise obesity will occur. In half an hour, the turtle should have time to eat the entire portion.

Take care of your beloved animals and do not forget that we are responsible for those we have tamed. Let your pets always be healthy, cheerful and please their owners with their behavior.

Eye diseases of red-eared turtles

The eyes are a fairly serious organ of turtles, which have minimal protection from the influence of harmful bacteria living in the water. Eye diseases can cause discomfort, but sometimes lead to blindness. In this regard, it is necessary to constantly monitor the condition of the turtle’s eyes and at the first symptoms, the simplest measures should be taken to improve the condition of the eyes. If this does not give any effect, then you should immediately contact your veterinarian.