Bearded dragon cant see food!! READ ME

I have recently made some changes in my bearded dragons enclosure. I have changed the substrate & lighting. The lighting is now a 125watt solar glo. Since those changes were made, he has suffered a loss of appetite & stress. The problem is, when I put food in front of his face/eyes, he doesnt see it. The only way is to put the food on the floor, then guide his eyes to it, which mostly doesnt work and, instead, he freaks out and runs away. Hes also addicted to superworms... in order to make him eat his healthy food, i trick him.

Since i made these changes he has been much energetic & active. However, he keeps his eyes closed most of the time (mostly the eye which is facing to the bulb) like if they were irritated. Today i noticed the bulb was way too close, so now its ON TOP of him, about 45-50 cm away. I dont know if i should put everything the way it was... the substrate were rocks on which he could break his wrists, and I never saw him being so active since i changed the lighting.

Anyways, what worries me is the fact that he cant see his food, and im always so paranoid i get anxiety & stress and i freak out thinking he's going to die.

Any help would be appreciated!

Brighter lights increase activity in dragons, this is what you are seeing.

The UVB lights I told you about in the other thread are higher in brightness and, UVB. Spreading the UVB across the enclosure instead of in one spot (like an MVB) is a better solution to your dragon's issues. My suggestion would be to order one of these UVB lights ASAP!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26053-Reptisun-Terrarium/dp/B00AQU8F2O

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_7?url=search-alias%3Dpets&field-keywords=arcadia+12%25+t5+ho&sprefix=arcadia%2Cpets%2C230&crid=YA9LT0SQXRV0

As long as the rocks you are using are to big to be ingested they will be fine. Larger rocks for basking and, climbing are good for them, (just like logs) plus they will keep their nails trimmed.

Gormagon":3fde1ow4 said:

Brighter lights increase activity in dragons, this is what you are seeing.

The UVB lights I told you about in the other thread are higher in brightness and, UVB. Spreading the UVB across the enclosure instead of in one spot (like an MVB) is a better solution to your dragon's issues. My suggestion would be to order one of these UVB lights ASAP!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26053-Reptisun-Terrarium/dp/B00AQU8F2O

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_7?url=search-alias%3Dpets&field-keywords=arcadia+12%25+t5+ho&sprefix=arcadia%2Cpets%2C230&crid=YA9LT0SQXRV0

As long as the rocks you are using are to big to be ingested they will be fine. Larger rocks for basking and, climbing are good for them, (just like logs) plus they will keep their nails trimmed.

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Here is an image of the tank before changing it.
I did order them, but they will come at the 10th of january. I just want to have a temporal solution as soon as possible. I already put the bulb further away, but this keeps on happening. Is there any explanation for the "not seeing the food" behaviour?

Can you feed in another tank? It would be beneficial to your dragon because, bugs can't hide that way and, that hot bright light is not in his/her eyes!!

If the light is hurting his eyes and causing irritation then it would be hard to see his food.
I’m thinking this could be the case.
The best uvb tube are t5s- Arcadia 12% or the reptisun 10%, i would def switch to one of those as soon as possible.
Reptile carpet you will find hard to clean but if you do then some other options are linoleum flooring or tile. I use Lino and love it as it’s real easy to clean and looks good in my opinion.

I think you did the right thing removing the rocks , I agree there are risks with that many. I would just place a couple of big stable ones for him to sit in if he chooses. I have a couple of slate pieces in Marlow’s viv to help wear down his nails

MarlowAndMe":1c47kqla said:

If the light is hurting his eyes and causing irritation then it would be hard to see his food.
I’m thinking this could be the case.
The best uvb tube are t5s- Arcadia 12% or the reptisun 10%, i would def switch to one of those as soon as possible.
Reptile carpet you will find hard to clean but if you do then some other options are linoleum flooring or tile. I use Lino and love it as it’s real easy to clean and looks good in my opinion.

I think you did the right thing removing the rocks , I agree there are risks with that many. I would just place a couple of big stable ones for him to sit in if he chooses. I have a couple of slate pieces in Marlow’s viv to help wear down his nails

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Thanks for the advice!! Will his eyes heal up?

Hi there, I remember your little guy from many months ago. He was on those rocks and I mentioned that with MBD it would be very difficult and would hurt to walk around on those.

How long ago did you change the rocks and the bulb ? Because any dramatic change can cause extreme stress [ even if it's an improvement ] because the dragon feels like it's in an entirely new place and becomes insecure. That could also be playing a part. A 125 watt Solar glo shining through the screen shouldn't have that much of a detrimental affect from overhead but it's possible.

AHBD":g9kywkdf said:

Hi there, I remember your little guy from many months ago. He was on those rocks and I mentioned that with MBD it would be very difficult and would hurt to walk around on those.

How long ago did you change the rocks and the bulb ? Because any dramatic change can cause extreme stress [ even if it's an improvement ] because the dragon feels like it's in an entirely new place and becomes insecure. That could also be playing a part. A 125 watt Solar glo shining through the screen shouldn't have that much of a detrimental affect from overhead but it's possible.

Click to expand...

I changed the rocks 4 days ago. For now I just removed the solar glo and managed to borrow a 100 watt basking bulb (zoo med) from a friend of mine, and an uvb bulb. The new heat bulb is smaller and still bright, but less. The problem was there was no screen between the dragon & the solar glo... and it was hanging at only 30 cm away from him. This definitely irritated his eyes. I hope that now, with the proper care, his eyes heal up & improve.

Pd: is this just irritation in the eye or something much worse, like peanent loss of vision? If he has to stay like this his whole life, I have little hopes... but I don’t want to be that pesimist.

Hello,

How is your little guy doing tonight?
The Solarglo should be a safe bulb, I have used it before. Exactly how close was the Solarglo
MVB to him?
I agree to try & feed him in a smaller plastic bin to see if that helps out for him. Has he been
black bearding at all?

Tracie

Drache613":tow40zcu said:

Hello,

How is your little guy doing tonight?
The Solarglo should be a safe bulb, I have used it before. Exactly how close was the Solarglo
MVB to him?
I agree to try & feed him in a smaller plastic bin to see if that helps out for him. Has he been
black bearding at all?

Tracie

Click to expand...

I removed the solar glo, it was 30cm close to him, and there was no screen in between. He temporarily has now a 100 watt heat bulb and a UVB bulb. I have tried feeding him everywhere, but the big problem is, he only wants superworms.
He hasn’t been black bearding at all.

Just right now, while I was giving him a bath, he pooped something very strange. The part which should be brown was half brown half yellow, intense yellow.

Anyways, this is him right now. Stretching his leggy out at the sun.

Yellow urates are usually one of two things as far as I am aware ( someone correct it if I’m missing something) either a dehydrated or getting a bit too much calcium
How often do you give calcium?

MarlowAndMe":11zwfzlz said:

Yellow urates are usually one of two things as far as I am aware ( someone correct it if I’m missing something) either a dehydrated or getting a bit too much calcium
How often do you give calcium?

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I lightly dust every meal 4 days a week. Considering how thirsty he is in the mornings and how he cheers up when drinking water, he’s probably dehydrated. It’s strange as I usually bathe him every 1/2 days, and I daily drop some water on his mouth (until he doesn’t want more). I’ll have a look at this.

MarlowAndMe":2dvo755i said:

Yellow urates are usually one of two things as far as I am aware ( someone correct it if I’m missing something) either a dehydrated or getting a bit too much calcium
How often do you give calcium?

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Ok so i have “good news”. He doesn’t close his eyes when basking, he closes them when I’m in the room, but for whatever reason he doesn’t close them outside at the sun. The scales around his eye are shedding, so maybe that also has something to do?

It sounds like he should be hydrated from what you describe, if you think he may be dehydrated though misting his veggies lightly would help this. My boy won’t drink at all ever, not from his bath , not from dropper - nothing. So I lightly mist his veggies in the morning now and he gets enough from that
If it’s calcium related it could be that he is getting a bit too much - is he over a year old? If so I would cut back to 3 times a week calcium and one day vitamins - I’m just making this change myself for mine.
I’d give him 2 days without calcium from now and see if the next urate is white again - if it’s made a difference at least you’ll know it was that - if it doesn’t change it I would still start calcium again but cut back to 3 times a week and make a vet appointment to have his kidneys checked

As for the shedding around the eyes that could def explain the eyes being closed. Mine actually just did this also and he is shedding around his vent which made toileting difficult too so shedding definetly could explain it

MarlowAndMe":23cbugn6 said:

It sounds like he should be hydrated from what you describe, if you think he may be dehydrated though misting his veggies lightly would help this. My boy won’t drink at all ever, not from his bath , not from dropper - nothing. So I lightly mist his veggies in the morning now and he gets enough from that
If it’s calcium related it could be that he is getting a bit too much - is he over a year old? If so I would cut back to 3 times a week calcium and one day vitamins - I’m just making this change myself for mine.
I’d give him 2 days without calcium from now and see if the next urate is white again - if it’s made a difference at least you’ll know it was that - if it doesn’t change it I would still start calcium again but cut back to 3 times a week and make a vet appointment to have his kidneys checked

As for the shedding around the eyes that could def explain the eyes being closed. Mine actually just did this also and he is shedding around his vent which made toileting difficult too so shedding definetly could explain it

Click to expand...

Surely I will! the big deal is his mbd, I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I’ll contact with my vet and make sure everything’s ok I guess then I can put the solar glo back, since it isn’t too bright and the shedding explained it all. I’ll update you if something new happens. Thank you very much for your help