Bearded dragon health issues

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sparten57

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OK lately my bearded dragon has been having some health issues and also hasn't been eating (At all. Me and my brother have been force feeding him some apple sauce every few days to make sure he eats at least a little bit). We think it's because of his eye. For he past month and a half he hasn't opened it at all that we've seen and we figured it was because of the bad lighting (We also think this is why he wasn't eating as well). We got him a new repti glo 10.0 UVB tube light and he's started moving around more than he used to but his eye still remains shut (I say 'eye' because his other eye was dead on birth and he's only had one eye his whole life as it is, so he's always had problems eating food). He seems to have started knowing where everything is in his cage though because he has been drinking water on his own every now and then but he still mostly just sits in the middle of his cage. Any help you guys could provide would be most welcome. Some info on his cage:

Lighting: repti glo 10.0 UVB tube light
Heating: (not entirely sure on the name but on the side of it, it says) pearl co CSE 110 volt 150w
His cage layout: He has a log he can sleep under (Not very well but I built him a small hiding area in it that he went in a few times before) a water dish and then a food dish with some green bearded dragon health food though he has yet to eat any (probably because he can't see it).
He has some kind of sand as flooring but I don't remember the name of it (I looked it up a while ago before we tossed the empty bag and I couldn't find anything on google saying it would be bad for him)

Draco (his name):
He's about 4-6 months old (We're not entirely sure)
Hasn't eaten on his own for at least a month but possibly longer (We were feeding him some super worms that he loved a whole ton but we can't get him to eat them any more)
We started feeding him apple sauce about 2 weeks ago but has only pooped once sense and that was about 5 days after we started (How he survived without food for 2-4 weeks is a complete mystery to us)
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About a week ago he started growing some crusty stuff on his eye lid (For his good eye) and just today I cleaned it off but I took some pictures of him and his cage as well as a before and after picture of his eye and also a picture of his very large sized dead eye. The person we got him from said it should fall out eventually (It was someone from petsmart who took care of him before we got him).

I'll add the pictures in the comments one I figure out how
 

sparten57

Member
Original Poster
ok I couldn't find how to post pictures in the forum itself but I found this (Could someone tell me if this worked for them?

Here's a picture of the inside of his cage: file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0165.JPG
Here is a picture of him from the side of his enlarged dead eye: file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0166.JPG
Here is a picture of his eye with said crusty stuff on it: file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0170.JPG
Here's a picture of after I got it off. After I got it off though some white liquid stuff came out of under his eye lid (Though it was a very small amount): file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0175.JPG
Here's another picture of his completely disgusting dead eye (I'm pretty sure the stuff on it isn't sand either because I couldn't get it to come off and the dead eye feels like a rock so nothing would stick to it): file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0177.JPG
And here's a complete over view of his cage with the heat and lighting in view (We can only put the lighting over one half of his cage because otherwise it would get melted by the heat lame. But he stays on the light side mostly anyways): file:///C:/Users/Beth.Beth-PC/Desktop/Draco/DSCN0178.JPG
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
Pics didnt work.... go to photobucket and set up an acount and upload photos there. Then copy the IMG code for the photos to here :D

Did you give him any break from uv before installing the repti-glo? I hav had a beardie who experienced similar issues under the reptiglo tube. If you can, get a repti-sun. Also, he may need a couple of days of NO uv to allow his eye to recover.
 

sparten57

Member
Original Poster
Wow you guys are quick! Alright lemme go do that right now. And to answer your question we did have about a two day break between when we switched the lights (Sense we found out the other one was bad for him we turned it off right away and then got him the new one two days later). Right now his eye looks completely normal sense I cleaned that stuff off but he still isn't opening it (Though he still blinks it every now and then)
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
A few major things im going to comment on... please dont be offended by any of what I am about to say...

Have you had him to a vet to determine what has happened to the enlarged eye?
What did you use to get the crust off the other eye?

It appears he may also have metabolic bone disease. His spine and tail look deformed and 'wiggly' This can be caused by improper UV, insufficient UV and insufficient calcium absorption (all 3 can be linked). This cannot be reversed but it can be stopped from progressing so that he lives a much happier life.

Your UV light needs to be no more than 8 inches away from him for him to absorb what is necessary to process the calcium.

Please try to get a reptisun 10 and mount it inside the viv so that he is at the correct distance.

Also, try to get him to a vet to see about that enlarged eye - it looks like there is something stuck to it and it is bound to be causing him pain - he really does not look good.

In the mean time, rinse BOTH of his eyes with saline solution and dab with cotton balls or a soft paper towel.
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
Also, take the sand out of his viv and replace it with non-adhesive shelf liner or paper towels - it will be causing more irritation.
 

sparten57

Member
Original Poster
Alright, yes I figured his condition was bad. Sense my brother is technically the owner of him I'll try and get him to take him to the vet (We don't have very much money currently so it might take a little while) and do you know what the cost of a full check up would be? The enlarged eye is supposed to fall out eventually although sense it's been this long of a time I'm starting to think it's not coming out.. For the other eye I just used a Q-tip which it just took some light poking (I was doing it to get the attached sand off but then the whole piece of crust just came off so I'm not entirely sure if it was growing on him or just some really clumped up sand). The UV light we've been having trouble with anyways sense it's been having trouble turning on unless we put it in a specific position so it shouldn't be hard to convince him to get the better light. Do you know the cost of what one of those from pet smart would be as well? I'm not sure we have any saline solution but would turtle eye drops work? I read that those might help his eye but I wanted to ask first (My brother was going to pick some up soon.) And then I also heard that mixing a couple drops of olive oil in his apple sauce would help as well.

I appreciate all the help though! This is our first bearded dragon (As if you didn't already guess that). The cage we got was from one of our friends who's bearded dragon died from what I think was old age (It was pretty old from what I heard) and the heat lamp is the one he gave us. Though the UV light that he gave us is the one I read that was really bad for him and that we got rid of.
 

MrWhite

Sub-Adult Member
I have a question about that UV light fixture. a lot of those fixtures come with a plastic shield over the bulb, make sure the bulb is fully exposed (no clear plastic between the bulb and your beardie). I know this because that fixture looks just like my turtle UV fixture which had a clear plastic shield that covered the bulb.
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
Well def get that sand out, priority and leave the UV off until you can get it replaced.

I know the best place to get the reptisun is http://www.petmountain.com. Im not sure tho, if you will be able to mount the starter you have inside the viv :?

Turtle eye drops will be fine. Dont put them directly into the eye but just allow them to run over the eye (he will probably close his eye and that is absolutely fine). There is def something more serious going on with that other eye tho - it could be infected or anything. Im not sure how much a vet visit is going to run you over there - I pay roughly £25 for a straight forward check up but once meds etc become involved it can go up dramatically.

Also, what calcium supplement are you using? And how often? Are you using any vitamins?

How about temps - what are you measuring those with?

How long have you had the little guy? His situation can improve in terms of the MBD but it will take some effort.
 

scubasteve25

Juvie Member
nothing more to add, but i hope the little guy gets better, he looks in real bad shape, the vets here charge 50$ for the office visit. like the other poster said, looks like he also has MBD which could be linked to the bad UVB and lack of supplements. hope he makes a recovery.another thing to add, you can get the reptisun on amazon.com for 28$ with free shipping, just takes a little longer to get to you
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
Im looking at these again.... that bad eye - the crust looks like it is actually coming out of his eye socket!! Hmm... there is def something going on in there! It also looks like it is affecting the shape of his mouth.
 

sparten57

Member
Original Poster
Alright well I'll talk to my brother when he gets home (He's the one with the job so it's mostly up to me to take care of him). He should hopefully be home in the next hour so I can ask him about it then. Well we'll probably check out our local petsmart for the reptisun first. currently we're not using any calcium because we were having trouble getting him to eat at all. So now that we got him to start eating apple sauce we were going to look at something we could put in that to help him. Any suggestions? It needs to be something we can either put in the apple sauce or his water dish because he won't eat anything else. We also only have a crappy measuring thing for his cage (We're getting a new one of those soon) it's just the one you stick on the glass. we've had him about 3-4 months I believe and he was about a month to two months old when we got him so his age should be right about 5 or 6 months old.
 
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