Bad lighting or eye infection?

[NewDragonMommy]

I am a first time beardie owner, and came into this barely informed. I bought our baby at petco (bad, I know), but she got a clean bill of health from our vet. We have had her about a month, she is about 7 inches, so she is estimated at 2 months old.she is in a 20 gal for now and I bought the lights petco said to, she has reptile carpet for her substrate, and Temps of 100 Basking and about 85 cool side. Humidity is anywhere from 40 to 60. Now the problem. She keeps her left eye closed the entire time she is in her tank. There is no pus and doesn't look infected. She will open it in her bath, and it looks normal. I think the lights are hurting her eyes. I will include some pictures.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Its the uvb light. Those coil\compa ts cause eye issues. Replace it with a reptisun 10.0 long tube.

 

[NewDragonMommy]

Thanks. I honestly figured it was the lights. Is the tube light going to be too big for my 20 gal tank? We don't have plans on moving her to a bigger tank until around next March.

 

[CooperDragon]

You will probably need a bigger tank before March. They grow quite quickly. I would plan for something like this https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html

For now, I find the 18'' T8 bulbs to be pretty good for a 20g. A 18'' T8 ReptiSun 10.0 combined with a reflective fixture like the Zilla Slimline sitting on top about 6'' from the basking spot should work nicely until it's time for a new tank in a few months. Once you switch to a larger tank you'll probably want to move to a T5 bulb and fixture like this http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/ Which should sit about 12'' above the basking area. The T5 bulbs are more expensive but can last 2-3x longer than the T8 without needing replacement.

 

[Drache613]

Moved & Merged by Moderator from General to Health

 

[kingofnobbys]

Some compact UV globes are really cheap and poorly made (these generally are shop brand chinese clones of high quality brand name compacts), these have very poor quality control in manufacture and generally don't have the same durability, longevity and same spectral output as quality brand name compacts.

In the first instance I suggest you try taking the existing compact out of service a day , wont hurt your hatchling to be without UVA and UVB for a day, observe if he uses both eyes while in his tank, he may just be resting / basking with one eye open , the other closed (beardies do that).

If he continues - it's not the globe and just a behavioural quirk of his.

I would swap the existing compact for a 26W UVB200 , they are very good globes and very high quality , only brand that's probably better are Arcadia , I've used these for all my beardies for several years and have had zero problems or health issues associable with the UV lighting.

I strongly suggest moving the UV light so it is UNDER the mesh top and so the mesh top is not blocking it's UVA and UVB emissions (can block more than 25% of the UV).

A T8 or T5 UVB rated at least 10%UVB in a reflector hood or luminaire mounted under the tank's lid would be a better option but involves a bit of expense.

You could remove the compact UV and existing spotty and replace these with an all in one mercury vapour globe of suitable wattage (about 80W say) , this will be best option provided it is a good quality (say an Arcadia MVB) and it will provide all your hatchlings light , UV and heating needs during the day all in one globe. This may be a very much cheaper and quicker option and fix.

Can you also tell us exactly how you measured your basking and zone temperatures and what kind /s of thermometer ( analog stick on dial type ? digital with probe on end of long cable ? laser non-contact gun style thermometer ? )