turtle beak

Question
Hi, I have a year old ornate box turtle and I noticed the small dish I had been using for her food is chipped on the edges. Since it is only used in her enclosure I assume she must be biting the edges. Is this normal behavior to file down her beak? I am removing the dish and replacing it with a small rock since I assume this is something we would normally use but I have never seen this behavior in my five year old ornate who is in an outdoor enclosure. I also noticed with some alarm today that she had one eye open and one closed. I placed her in a warm bath and the eye opened right up. I hadn't seen that until today too and I'm worried about her. Also what is an optimum temp for her enclosure. I switched to a higher UVB light but the wattage is lower and only coming up to about 75 degrees now. Too low?
Thanks for your response!  

Answer
Hi Delia,

I don't know if she was biting at the dish or if it was chipping in some other way, but it was a good idea to remove it.  Normally the beak is kept trimmed by eating fibrous or tough foods, or from eating on hard/stony surfaces.  Putting a cuttlebone in her enclosure will help trim the beak and also allow her to self-regulate calcium intake.  What kind of substrate are you using in her enclosure, and are you keeping it moist enough?  Eye problems are sometimes caused by irritation or infection, but very often they're due to the turtle or tortoise being kept too dry.  Depending on what substrate you're using, I'd consider adding some sphagnum moss (you can buy it at Lowe's or Home Depot as "orchid moss") which will hold moisture very well.  

She needs a basking area in the high 80s to about 90 degrees; there can be a cooler area as well, but she does need to be able to bask in the higher temperature if she wants.  I like the 100 watt T-Rex Active UVheat bulb for both heat and UVB.

Hope this helps.  If you have more questions, please ask!