Please help Faye

I'm really worried about my beardie dragon. It's getting bad. A few days ago I noticed that one of her eyes would not open and looked almost crusted shut with abit of swelling. I gave her a bath to try to soften the gunk and wipe it off. I then did a little bit of research and tried applying some saline drops to her eyes for a few days. When no progress seemed to be happening, I called the reptile and rodent shop at which we got her, and they told me to do exactly what I had been doing all along, to add the saline drops and give her baths.

Now tonight, after little to no improvement, I started noticing that she is discharging mucus like substance from her nose and wheezing as well. Her eyes are almost never open anymore. She's barely ate in the past few days.. I'm really really worried.. Please help me make her better.

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about dragon being sick.

What are your temps? Basking, cool side, and nighttime.

It kind of sounds like an upper repiratory infection.

How about your UVB light? Which one specifically are you using?

I ask because some are known to cause bad issues with their eyes.

Warm side was just at 95, cool side about 85. I'm not sure about the basking spot because it smack dab in between both thermometers. I haven't really ever noticed what the temperature at night is because we make the fatal error of alternating between heat lamp during the day and a uvb bulb at night. We are trying to remedy the situation as best we can. We will be purchasing a second lamp to provide both uvb and heat at the same time. However tonight it is too late for purchase these items.

I have just recently applied to this site and just found out that bulbs make a big difference. If I would of known this information prior, Faye may not be sick. As it turns out the reptile shop at which we got her has been giving us horrible information about how to care for her. I feel horrible.

The UVB is a white 10.0 UVB by Repti Glow.

I'll give you as much information as I can.

Faye is only about 5-6 months old. She is female. Her diet mostly was consisting of mealworms. Her bedding was Repti Bark. She normally eats anywhere between 20-25 worms. She's a glutton. She shares her 40 or 50 gallon tank that measures 3ft long by 13inches wide by 16 inches high with a male black platted lizard. We've tried feeding her vegetables in the past but she's never seemed found of them. She's never eaten anything but mealworms really. We've been bathing her maybe 1 a week if that. We've been missing the misting lately. She does have a little water lagoonish thing that's the width of the tank.

After reading a few blogs.. We're changing her diet now. We are substituting the bark for paper towel. Until we get the second lamp tomorrow, we are going to use a heat bulb. I don't really know what else to do.

other pertinent information.. she's about 15 inches long. not only is her eye shut but swollen, bruised and now leaking. We have a Repti Heat Cable installed under the tank that heats up the warm side of the tank. I just made a puré of baby bearded dragon pellets, cucumbers, carrots, celery, calcium and a little bit of chicken, just to get some food in her. She lapped some up but not much. Hopefully enough to keep her going. Is there anything else you can help me? We will be getting some crickets tomorrow. Hopefully that helps.

Don't beat yourself up about following the info the pet store gave you - I think many of us have fallen into the same hole when starting out. The most important thing is that you found this forum - you'll get good info from everyone here!

You're on the right track getting her on paper towels.

I'm concerned about her being housed with another reptile - beardies are solitary creatures and generally do not do well being housed with other reptiles. I'd strongly encourage you to get her into her own enclosure.

As for your lighting - you need to have 2 bulbs on her during the day: a UVB tube and a basking bulb (this can be just a regular incadescent bulb - its only purpose is to put off heat).

At night, you want NO light on her at all - if the temps drop below 75 def F, then you can use a ceramic heat emitter.

There are really only 2 UVB bulbs that a recommended for beardies, and that's the Zoomed Reptisun 10.0, and the Arcadia D3 12% - both are tube bulbs.

You also should pick up a digital thermometer with a probe to take accurate readings of her temps. They aren't expensive - many people here use one by Accurite, I use one made by Zilla that cost $10.

You want her basking temp to be at around 105 deg F.

I think once you get some of those things straightened up, we might be able to narrow down what's going on with her. At this point it might be stress-related (due to the the other lizard orand the UVB bulb). Whatever it is, it can very likely be fixed.

Dooter is doing great helping you out. I would advise though for you to take Faye to a vet about the eye issue, it sounds as if it has gotten to the point that she needs to be seen. I read a post somewhere about an eye issue and the person was having a terrible time getting it healed up and she went to a different vet and this one did something that the other one hadn't done,,and I think it was a nasal flush / rinse?? Turned out the dragon had a piece of sand way down in her eye and the flush thing finally got it out then she healed up. Anyway, you don't want to mess around with that especially since it sounds infected. And one more thing, 65 degrees is the point at which they need night time heat.

We just put in a Zilla Night Black Heat Bulb because I'm not sure if the temperature will get to that temperature. I will however keep an eye on it. As for her and King, they have always been housed together since we got her at a very young age like 5 months ago. I do know however that from the time we had her, she was the bully, not our plated lizard. She calls the shots, guards the food, etc. She's even been spotted on numerous occassions piggy backing him either in water or in the tank. I will deffinitely invest in a second lamp and try to find that probe.

My bf is curious however is to why our Repti Glow 10 UVB fluorescent tube light would not work.

Is there anything else we can remedy before tomorrow?

kcarello":2vi6niwi said:

Dooter is doing great helping you out. I would advise though for you to take Faye to a vet about the eye issue, it sounds as if it has gotten to the point that she needs to be seen. I read a post somewhere about an eye issue and the person was having a terrible time getting it healed up and she went to a different vet and this one did something that the other one hadn't done,,and I think it was a nasal flush / rinse?? Turned out the dragon had a piece of sand way down in her eye and the flush thing finally got it out then she healed up. Anyway, you don't want to mess around with that especially since it sounds infected. And one more thing, 65 degrees is the point at which they need night time heat.

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Very true - her eye should definitely be evaluated by a vet.

About the UVB bulb you are using and why it wouldn't work: there's a lot of cases where this paricular bulb has caused various issues in beardies - do a quick search on this forum and you'll quickly see that its known to cause trouble (mostly with their eyes)

For tonight - I'd recommend just keeping her warm and dry. Keep flushing her eye gently with the saline, and the fact that she's on paper towels is good, because it will help eliminate any possible irritation to her eye.

I suggest leaving the uvb bulbs off completely until her eye heals. If the uvb bulb you have now is what has been causing her eye problems, and yes, it's known to happen before, she will need to have all uvb off until the eye heals better. Also, you can get some herbal tea bags just warmed up and put them on her eye, that's also been know to help heal her eyes.

Thank you all soo much for the help. We have turned off the heat bulb for the night. We believe our place should not get that cold but we will keep an eye on the temperature for the night. As for the UVB, we are looking to buy other ones as we speak for once her eye heals. We have also found that digital thermomether you have been so kind to show us. We are in the process of purchasing this item as well. I will keep you posted. I'm hoping that somewhere in the town I live in, at least one of the vets take lizards. I want her feeling better. She is my baby and has a big significant meaning for me. We got her to commemorate my grandfather who passed away just before christmas.

Fayethedragon":3c2c0fku said:

Thank you all soo much for the help. We have turned off the heat bulb for the night. We believe our place should not get that cold but we will keep an eye on the temperature for the night. As for the UVB, we are looking to buy other ones as we speak for once her eye heals. We have also found that digital thermomether you have been so kind to show us. We are in the process of purchasing this item as well. I will keep you posted. I'm hoping that somewhere in the town I live in, at least one of the vets take lizards. I want her feeling better. She is my baby and has a big significant meaning for me. We got her to commemorate my grandfather who passed away just before christmas.

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You are very welcome. Just stick around here and keep reading... hang on, I'm going to find you a link that has a list of reptile vets listed by cities.

Here it is: www.herpvetconnection.com

Unfortunately, it's the long weekend here in Ontario, Canada. The vet won't be open till Tuesday. so for the next few days it's home care for us and hopefully it don't get too bad. If it does, we'll have to pay double rate for the emergency vet if we can even get ahold of the reptile vet for Sudbury on a long weekend. I'll keep you guys posted. Going to have to stop at the pharmacy tomorrow and pick up some more saline to keep flushing her eye. As for the food, I'm not sure if I should go out of my way and get the crickets right away or wait till she's diagnosed and better to avoid more irritation to her eye? the bf is going to buy the thermomether online now so we should be getting is it soon as well as the UVB bulb.

Hello,
Just wanted to ask this, is it possible the other lizard "fought back" and got her in her eye? I think they need to be seperated ASAP. Maybe you could divide the tank with some cardboard until you can permanently get them their own setups. Also, if what she has is contagious, you now run the risk of having 2 sick lizards... Just a thought. Good luck, and I hope Faye is better soon for you!

Hugs,

Sue

I do hope the uvb light you ordered is a reptisun 10.0 or the arcadia 12%. If it is any thing other you still are putting your dragon at risk.
As far as housing the two lizards together,,,BAD ideal. I know it seems like they get along and you think they are cuddling up...NO. They are fighting for dominance. I don't know much about the other lizard you have, but your beardie can suddenly and unexpectantly turn on the other lizard and do terrible damage or even death. Not to mention, as Sue stated. if one of them gets sick, then you risk the very good chance that they will both be sick.
You live in Canada so I assume at some point it may very possibly get below 65* in your house. You need to purchase a ceramin heat emmiter,,they put off heat, but no light. They screw right into your light fixture and your problem is solved.
As far as having to wait till Monday for the vet, I suggest you pm Drache613, she is very knowledgable in dragons and will probably be able to help you out alot till you can get to the vet.
Please mention this repticable heat pad thing you have under the tank, as I am not sure about that or its use.
Good luck, and I will be keeping you in my thoughts.
Kelly