So I'm back with another health question. We purchased Rosie a 3 year old beardie 3 days ago and since then I have noticed she keeps her left eye closed 95% of the time, she will open it briefly and very occasionally, she was doing this the day I picked her up so I don't think it's the environment we have her in. It's not crusty or watering. Please tell me what you think it could be before I head to the vet and possibly waste my time and money.
Current conditions:
UvB: Reptisun 10.0 T5 mounted inside and 13in from basking area.
Heat: 100w exoterra intense basking globe. Temps taken with digital probe. Basking area: 100f. Mid area: 86f. Cool side: 75-78f.
She is currently eating: Crickets, woodies and occasional mealworms plus salad everyday.
Please note: I don't think she was cared for very well in her previous home.
At the shop they had her on bark chips but she hadn't been there for very long and previously to that I have no idea. I did gently run some water over it while she was soaking but she kept her eye closed so I couldn't rinse it.
You can use some regular saline solution no contact lens solution and see if that helps- I was wondering if she had been on sand - that can cause eye irritation --
Karrie
Well I think I finally figured out what is wrong with Rosie's eye. I got some saline and was rinsing her eye and noticed some blackish gunk in her eyelid crease. I gently wiped it with a cotton bud and got some out and then noticed the black spots were crawling on the cotton bud.... it's mites!
I kept wiping in both eyelid creases until all the mites were gone then thoroughly cleaned her tank and everything in it with f10 ( I hope this kills mites)
I have no idea what to do now?
Could the mites cause permanent eye damage?
Poor girl, that definitely couldn't have felt very good at all.
Were you able to get them all cleared out with the saline solution?
I don't think that the mites will permanently damage the eye but it could have caused
some definite eye irritation. You can get some raw unpasteurized honey, thinned out with
some warm water, to help with any infection that might be setting in.
I soaked her in diluted betadine after doing some research to hopefully drown any other mites that might be hiding in her scales and wiped and rinsed her eyes with saline again just to make sure I had got them all but I think I did. I'll keep doing this every other day until I'm sure we are mite free.
She's still not opening up that eye but ill try the unpasteurised honey and hopefully her eye heals soon. She stayed so still when I was getting the mites out I think it must have felt good.