Please help! My beardie's eyelid has been swollen 5 weeks!

At least you know that there is still a good eye in there. The honey should help this .

It's not the brand, Reptisun, that causes an issue, it's the fact that you've got an extremely weak, compact UVB bulb to begin with, and then it's on top of a mesh lid, blocking almost half of the UVB light emitted by the already far too weak UVB bulb. And it's most likely way too far away from him as well, but that's not even an issue, as no adequate UVB light is getting to him anyway, that I 100% promise you. It matter not one bit what you feed him or how often you give him a Calcium supplement, or how long that compact Reptisun UVB bulb is on, without adequate UVB light he's just excreting it all out.

I highly, highly suggest you not take my word for it, or AHBD's word for it, or Tracie's word for it, or Knobby's word for it, as every senior member/moderator on this board will tell you the same thing, a 13 watt Reptisun 10.0 Compact UVB bulb is totally inadequate for a Dragon to begin with, and having it on top of the mesh lid is ensuring your Dragon is getting pretty much no adequate UVB light...Don't believe us, but rather do a search in the search box of this forum for "Reptisun compact UVB bulb" and see the hundreds of posts of what this specific, exact UVB bulb had resulted in with pretty much every single Beardie that has ever been under one long-term...Sometimes it takes longer than others for the severe Calcium Deficiency/MBD symptoms and signs to present themselves, but I cannot promise you 100% on much that I'm absolutely sure of anything, but this is one of those things that I can...You may not trust all of the senior members of this forum telling you this, even though we LITERALLY see owners that have used only this exact compact bulb over their Dragons realizing they have a serious issue EVERY SINGLE DAY ON THIS FORUM, no exaggeration at all, that's fine, but you absolutely need to search for yourself so that you can see the end-game of using this bulb. It's not fair to your Dragon. And I don't know you, I don't know your Dragon, I have no vested interest in forcing this issue with you at all, EXCEPT that I'm passionate about Dragons and their welfare, as all the senior members and moderators on this forum are, and I can tell you that it's extremely frustrating to hear you say "This is not going to change, it's fine, he's always been under this bulb, yes it's on top of the mesh and that won't change either, I have a cat, blah blah blah" when I can 100% guarantee you that your Dragon is going to become extremely ill and have permanent disabilities if you don't get him a proper, long, 10% UVB output or higher UVB tube and a fixture for it that has a reflector inside it that sits behind the bulb, and if you don't mount that UVB tube correctly and within the correct distance of your Dragon's basking spot based on exactly which UVB tube you buy, which should be at least a 10.0 T5 strength UVB tube...

I said my peace, that's all I can do. I don't like seeing people come back her in 6 months to a year because they didn't listen to advice that has been well-proven and accepted over and over and over again...That's what I don't think you realize, you seemingly have no idea how common Calcium Deficiency and MBD are with the 13 watt Reptisun 10.0 Compact UVB tube...Please search it on here to find out what I'm talking about, this exact topic/problems resulting from it pop up on this forum at least once or more EVERY DAY...

By the way, if you buy either a Reptisun 10.0 T5HO or an Arcadia 12% T5 UVB tube and fixture with a reflector, these are the only UVB lights for a Dragon that are strong enough to sit on top of a mesh lid and still deliver adequate UVB light to your dragon, as long as his Basking Spot/Platform is within about 10" of the T5 UVB tube. And the T5 UVb tube inside a long fixture (you want a 22" or longer T5 Tube in a 24" or longer fixture) is just as heavy, if not heavier than the compact bulb/fixture is, so your cat would be just fine...And put this into perspective for yourself: Even a weaker T8 UVB tube (15-18 watts) inside a fixture with a reflector is too weak to sit on top of a mesh lid, it must be strapped to the underside of the mesh lid using zip ties, wire, twine, etc. and within at least 6" of the Dragon's basking spot/platform to deliver adequate UVB light for a Dragon or any DESERT reptile...That's 15 watts-18 watts...The much stronger T5 UVB tubes, the only ones that can penetrate adequate UVB light to your Dragon through a mesh lid, they are 24 watts or higher, and still must be within 10" of his Basking Spot to accomplish this...

So for the ReptiSun 10.0 T5HO, is a 12" tube not suitable if it's going to sit on top?

Well, what size is your tank? The other thing you have to realize is that the wattages go down as the length of the tube goes down too...A good rule of thumb is an 18" UVb tube is the minimum, but if you are using a 40 gallon breeder tank or larger, then a 22"/24" is minimum.

I guess I should have pointed out, your goal when setting up a Desert Reptile's tank is to replicate natural sunlight over the Hot Side of the tank as closely as you possibly can. You do this by putting a strong, adequate UVB tube that is mounted correctly depending on it's strength, and is within the correct distance of the basking spot depending on the strength, right alongside a bright-white colored Basking Bulb, so that the 2 lights are "sharing" the top of the tank. Then you position the main basking spot/platform directly underneath both lights and within the correct distance from the UVB tube (10" for a 24 watt T5 tube), so that the dragon gets both lights at the same time while basking. In addition, the UVB tube must have a metal reflector behind the UVB tube, so that the most direct, strongest UVB light is going to be right on the basking spot, below the tube, but ALSO SO THAT ADEQUATE UVB LIGHT IS REFLECTED THROUGHOUT THE TANK, NO MATTER WHERE THE DRAGON IS. For this reason you need a long enough UVB tube compared to the size of the tank/enclosure, and you can't have the UVb tube right against the front or back glass or wall of the tank/enclosure, because you'll lose 50% of the UVB light immediately right off the glass/wall. The tube needs to be more towards the center of the top of the Hot Side of the tank.

So since a 40 gallon breeder tank is the absolute minimum size tank for an adult dragon, a 22"/24" UVB tube is the minimum length of UVB tube for this tank...a 12" UVB tube isn't going to get UVB light throughout a 40 gallon breeder tank or larger, in fact even a 20 gallon long tank needs an 18" UVB tube minimum...Honestly though, the difference in cost between a 12" UVB tube and fixture and a 22" tube and a 24" fixture is only a couple of bucks anyway. Even the 34" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube is like $5 more than the 22" tube on Amazon.com and other online stores (retail has a bigger spread, but no need to pay retail, lol)...

Hello,

How is your dragon's eye doing today, any improvements? I think that the honey will really
help out for him. It is very good for decreasing inflammation & infection, too.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

The honey is definitely working. The lid still looks swollen and he still likes to keep it shut, but it's definitely seems to be killing the infection. He does freak out a bit and scratch when the solution runs down his face, but seems to like the taste. He's made it really hard to get any directly on his eye, though, so I think that's why it seems to be taking longer for the swelling to go down. Looking forward to the next few days of improvement.

Hello,

That is terrific the honey seems to be helping out so much! I am sure it is irritated so it
is annoying to have something being put into it. Hopefully he will continue to cooperate
with you. LOL
How is his appetite doing, is he still pretty active also?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

For all the pros.. would Neosporin possibly help?

His appetite and activity hasn't changed. He still eats minimal veggies and goes crazy over roaches, and he's mostly been lying around.

So it's been awhile now, but other than his coloration returning to normal, the swelling still has not gone down all the way. I don't know if it's gone down at all, even. I've gotten some on his eye a few times or so, but mostly I can only get his outer eyelid. I even get thorough coverage of his eyelid. I'll keep doing it, and hope for improvement soon.

Hello,

Oh ok, that is why the eye isn't getting a lot better yet. You will need to try & get it into
his eye, literally. You can gently open the eye, using either your finger or a swab so you
can get some into his eye to help with irritation.
Is he still eating & basking now?
Can you post more pictures, when you get a chance?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

It's his bedtime now, so I'll take a picture tomorrow. I gave him a bath today and his eye looks really good besides the swelling. I do manage to get some in his eye once a day or two; it usually depends on him opening his eye and the syringe launching the juice into his eye, because the honey exposed to air dries and makes it stick a little. He's still eating and basking as normal.

Can your vet give you a referral to a more experienced exotics vet? I’d be hesitant personally to keep going back to someone with inadequate experience - professionally I’m sire they will understand.