Help!! i think my BD is BLIND!

[DragoandRex]

I have two BDs and I'm unsure of their exact age. But I'm guessing 5-6 months old. I was feeding them today and Drago ate the crickets fine but Rex acted like he couldn't see so it seemed like he was using his hearing and sense of smell to find the food. He was very uncoordinated and off balance. Im really worried he may be blind.We later put some greens in their food bowl and he was acting the same way and I saw him completely miss his log when he was done eating. his eyes look fine and don't look blurry. I have read that it may be the light bulbs we are using but i have read 2 different opinions/suggestions.Please Help me. My boyfriend and I are very worried. They are our first pets! Thank You!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Do you have them housed together or separately?
What type & brand of UVB lights are you using? Is it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil light? How far away are the lights from him/them? What type of basking light are you using, a bright white light or a colored light?
Are you supplementing calcium?

Tracie

 

[DragoandRex]

Hi Thanks for responding soo quickly.
They are housed together in a 75 gallon tank. we have one florescent light that sits towards the back. we are using a light bulb that said it was recommended for a dessert. then we have two basking bulbs. one on each side of the cage. one is the repti sun 100W tight beam bulb and one zoo med basking spot lamp 100W. both bulbs are compact i guess? and they sit on a log on one side which is wear they stay most of the day and the have a cave the lay on on the other side. the lamps sit about 10" from the log and 15" from the cave however, its not directly over the cave. And we dont use any colored lights.we do use calcium but not every day.
Thanks

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So you have a flourescent tube as a UVB light? What brand is it, the brand should be stamped on the base of the bulb.
The compact lights, are they basking lights or UVB lights?
I know the Reptisun 100watt lights are flood lights but not compact lights.
What are the temps getting to, & what do you use to measure the temps with? A stick on thermometer, a digital probe or a temp gun?
They do need calcium 5 times per week. Is he exhibiting any other type of behavior such as loss of balance? I am thinking he could be experiencing low calcium possibly as he might be growing a little faster than the other one & his requirements are higher.
Try increasing the calcium to 5 times per week & see if that helps. Also, let me know the brand of the UVB. Can you post a picture of your tank?

Tracie

 

[wizbee]

Just to clarify... Tracie means 5 times a WEEK not 5 times a day she corrected herself in the end of the post.

 

[DragoandRex]

Hi!
Ok its a repti-glo 8.0 uvb bulb. its a 40W. And the other two lights are basking lights. Rex, the BD who I think is blind, he is growing quicker then Drago. The temp in the cage is usually around 85 on the side they stay on most of the day. And we are using a stick on which I have learned now isn't a good idea. We are using two different brands for the basking lights. One is the Repti-sun 100W and the other is a zoo-med 100W. I will try and post a picture soon. Also I was wondering if it is ok to feed them crickets daily and how can I keep my bag of greens for them fresh. It usually doesn't last long enough. And if it's ok to keep their food dish full of greens all day correct?

Thanks

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...How old is your UVB? You need to order a new UVB...ReptiSun 10 long fluorescent tube (NOT ReptiGlo). http://WWW.Petmountain.com is the cheapest place to order from...about $20.

What is the temp of the basking spot?
What is the temp of the cool end?
What do you use to take temps? stick on, temp gun, digital with probe on the end of a wire?

To keep greens longer, make sure they are dry when you put them in the fridge. Lay them in layers between paper towels. When you get ready to feed, run them under very cold water to crisp them up and to add moisture for your dragons to ingest.

Do you feed them in their tank? You might want to put the better eater into a rubbermaid tote to eat so the other doesn't feel intimidated. You may even need to set up a different tank so they can be separated. I f they are both males, it is very likely that they will fight for dominance...sometimes til death.

You should still be feeding them each 35-50 crickets no bigger than the space between their eyes, twice daily as well as leaving fresh greens in daily for them to munch on. You can alternate crickets with Phoenix worms, Silkworms, Butterworms, or Hornworms.

Keep us informed
Good luck
Patsy

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Yes, I edited my post! I have had inlaws over this week so being distracted is hard! :lol:
The Reptiglo 8 is a decent bulb. How old is the bulb, & how far away is the bulb from him again? You mentioned they sit at 10 & 15 inches from the Reptiglo bulb? If that is correct, that is most likely what is going on.
Since you said that he is growing more quickly than your other one, his calcium requirements are higher. He can't absorb his calcium fast enough to what his body is actually uptaking.
The Reptiglo 8, if it is older than 4 or 5 months, then it needs to be replaced. Also, it does need to be within 6 inches from your dragon, along with the bright basking light alongside the UVB light.

Tracie

 

[DragoandRex]

Hello! thanks for all the advice. Our UVB is only maybe 2 months old but I think we are gonna have to change all our light. He still is acting the same as before. SO I think he may still be blind. I also think we are gonna have to buy our selves a digital temp gage instead of our stick on and the temp on the basking side usually never goes past 90 so we gotta work on that getting higher but of course our temp gage may be reading wrong. I donno what the temp is on the non-basking side, we dont have a gage there. We have experienced the two of them fighting and we have separated them before but we haven't seen any of that lately. We have been feeding them large crickets and now I will stick with just the small ones. I really hope he gets better soon.
Thank you soo much for all your information and help.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Can you post a picture of your dragon? If he is blind, his eyes should be glazed over somewhat, or whitish. Have you tried putting your hand on each side of him, & moving it? Does he follow your hand when you do that?
Can you post a picture of your tank setup for me so I can see the way the lighting is setup? You definitely need to know the basking temps because if they are not correct, they will not have an appetite because they wont be warm enough or they could be too hot. Try to get either a digital probe or a temp gun as soon as you can so we can get those temps right.
The crickets should not be any larger than the space between the eyes to avoid impaction with them.
It is getting to the time that they will need to be separated so they will do better & be less stressed. Or you could put a divider in the middle of the tank to separate them.

Tracie

 

[DragoandRex]

Hi! Well we have been testing to see if he follows our fingers but he doesn't and when we fed them crickets today he was having a hard time finding them and it looked like he really was hunting them using his sense of hearing. I just tried to post pics of the cage an Rex but I cant figure it out.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Try to post a pic of Rex so I can see his eyes. Go to http://www.photobucket.com Upload your pictures to there, & then copy & paste from the URL & there you have it, your pictures.
Really he did not appear to follow your fingers? I do not know why he would be blind unless he was born that way, or something has injured his eyes.
That is too bad. You will need to make sure that he is getting enough food so you might have to help handfeed him.

Tracie

 

[DragoandRex]

Hello,

Well here are my pics. I hope it works. He wasnt blind when we got him, he just now recently started to act this way. Im kinda upset cuz I don't have any money to go and buy ll this new stuff we need for the cage. I hope I will be able to get the stuff this weekend though. maybe it is the lighting I don't know. My other BD, Drago is fine so I don't know whats going on. I hope he gets better!! Thanks again.

 

[vickson420]

I am sorry but we cant see the pics.Did I read your post correctly are you using 2 UVB bulbs?One reptiglo 10.0 linear and one reptisun 10.0 coil/compact or did I misunderstand?

 

[Trogdor_1]

Your UVB bulb, the repti-glo 8.0 - you said it was a 40 watt. If that is the case, it is the coil bulb. The linear bulbs are something like 16 watts. Take the coil off asap. Its probably causing the eye problems.