Cherry-headed red footed tortoise

Question
I have owned the above for a couple of weeks.  The tortoise is apparently about 10 months old - approx 3 inches.  Noticed yesterday that tortoise was walking around with eyes shut.  one eye opened after 10 minutes and the other about another 10 minutes later.  not sure on the cause.  any help or advise?

Answer
Whenever the eyes are involved like that, but not swollen, the probable causes are respiratory infections (RI), dehydration, and something in the eye/dusty habitat.

RI would include nasal discharges and noisy breathing.

Dehydration can be determined if the habitat is too dry, and other signs would be dry/flaky skin, tears in the eyes, feeling lighter than a same-size bag of sand.

Dusty habitats should not happen for the humidity-loving Red-foot, but can usually be easily corrected.

The most likely problem is dehydration, possibly triggered in part by the stress of the big change. If the cage temps and humidity are solid, then just monitor for changes for a few days- if it fades away, great! If it stays the same or worsens, we'll need to re-evaluate.

You can learn a lot of good stuff for this species at a good site like http://www.re4dfoots.com or http://www.tortoisetrust.org- the cares are the same for all Red-foots.

Good luck!