One closed eye - newbie owner could do with some help!

[Tintami]

Hello!

I noticed today that our beardie, who we have had for about 2 months and who is approx 6 months old, is keeping her right eye closed pretty much all the time. She has also been less active and is tending to stay on the bottom of the vivarium rather than the log that she usually hangs out on.

I have been doing some googling and there seems to be a wide array of possible reasons so I thought if I posted a photo on here and some details I could get someone's opinion?

I know you will want to know about the lights etc so here are some of those details:
- Pro Rep Heat Bulb 60W
- Habistat Dimming Thermostat
- Arcadia Desert 10% UV Bulb 24 inches
- Arcadia 18W UV Light Controller

The kit is all 2 months old and appears to be working okay. She eats a mix of crickets and locusts and salad (mostly spring greens). She is not off her food particularly. We havent added a substrate yet as we were waiting till she was a little bigger first.

I dont think the eye looks swollen (but I am not convinced I would be able to tell). She will very occassionally open it briefly and then close it again so I assume its not stuck shut. I have attached a photo.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Many thanks!

 

[Tintami]

Bit of missed detail.... She has been a bit less active and sitting on the floor of the viv for maybe 4 days. Its only today that I noticed she is keeping her eye closed but that may have been happening for a few days too.

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

Her eye doesn't look bad. I'll have to have others take a look.

 

[xp29]

How are your light positioned? If the lights aren't straight over head (mounted on the wall or something) it can cause that. The light shouldn't be pointed at them from the side. Also any colored bulbs can cause it.

 

[Tintami]

How are your light positioned? If the lights aren't straight over head (mounted on the wall or something) it can cause that. The light shouldn't be pointed at them from the side. Also any colored bulbs can cause it.

UV light is on the top towards the back and runs the full width.
Heat light is above and approx 1/3 of the way along so that heat decreases to the right of the vivarium.
No coloured lights.

Basically, I copied the layout and setup from the specialist exotic pet shop where we bought the beardie.

 

[xp29]

UV light is on the top towards the back and runs the full width.
Heat light is above and approx 1/3 of the way along so that heat decreases to the right of the vivarium.
No coloured lights.

Basically, I copied the layout and setup from the specialist exotic pet shop where we bought the beardie.

Something else you can try, look at your uvb light through your phones camera. (in video mode)
I had a run off ZooMed fixtures that were no good, my girl Snickers was going bonkers and my boy Zen was keeping an eye closed all the time. I was trying to video Snickers to see if anyone knew why she was acting the way she was. With the camera in video mode I could see the light was rolling in waves. All 4 fixtures did it in a span of a month or so. Beardies have more rods/cones in their eyes than we do, they can see spectrums of light we can't. I switched to Arcadias and within a day or so Snickers was back to normal, it took Zen a bit longer to stop keeping his eye closed.
This is a link to my post about it, there is a video so you can see what I'm talking about.

ZooMed light fixture issues revisited | Enclosures

I posted a thread yesterday about having issues with 2 outta 4 Zoomed fixtures. So i was going through my pictures last night and came across a video I had forgotten. Snicker Doodle had been being silly, but of course by the time i got the camera on she stopped.What is interesting about the...

www.beardeddragon.org

 

[Tintami]

Something else you can try, look at your uvb light through your phones camera. (in video mode)
I had a run off ZooMed fixtures that were no good, my girl Snickers was going bonkers and my boy Zen was keeping an eye closed all the time. I was trying to video Snickers to see if anyone knew why she was acting the way she was. With the camera in video mode I could see the light was rolling in waves. All 4 fixtures did it in a span of a month or so. Beardies have more rods/cones in their eyes than we do, they can see spectrums of light we can't. I switched to Arcadias and within a day or so Snickers was back to normal, it took Zen a bit longer to stop keeping his eye closed.
This is a link to my post about it, there is a video so you can see what I'm talking about.

ZooMed light fixture issues revisited | Enclosures

I posted a thread yesterday about having issues with 2 outta 4 Zoomed fixtures. So i was going through my pictures last night and came across a video I had forgotten. Snicker Doodle had been being silly, but of course by the time i got the camera on she stopped.What is interesting about the...

www.beardeddragon.org

Thanks for the reply! I've had a look at your post and tried videoing myself. It doesnt look like I am getting the same strobing effect:

She's just hiding under a log today. I found this post which has a few suggestions:

https://www.justanswer.com/pet-rept...clude trauma (bite,too high or low, irritants

I have ordered some drops to try which should arrive today. If that doesnt work I think I'll have to book in with a vet

 

[xp29]

Is that your setup? If so the light placement is most likely the issue. It needs to be straight overhead. When they are off to the side your beardie will be staring into it constantly. It's to bright and hurts their eyes.
Also the uvb really needs a reflector, your loosing a ton of uvb without it. The reflectors concentrate all of it in the direction of your beardie.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Absolutely agree. The UVB tube will need to have a light fixture encircling it so it will have reflective backing behind it & mounted directly overhead.
This helps direct the UVB light downward onto your dragon instead of straight into their eyes.
The eye that is being affected, is that the eye facing towards the tube bulb or closest to the tube bulb?
You can get some sterile saline solution to help flush out the eye. You can do that a couple of times per day or as needed.

Tracie

 

[Tintami]

Bit of an update...

I figured I would try everything. So sterile drops to wash out her eye, change of supplement to one with more vitamins, reflector for UVB light, new UVB bulb (it was only a couple of months old, but better safe than sorry). I checked the temp and humidity and that was fine.

Aaaaaand... she initially picked up a lot. She became more active and both eyes were open most of the time. But she didnt do a poo for a couple of days and then went back to hiding under the log. Then she did poo and was more active again... but then no poo for a couple of days and she's back under her log again.

So I think what was originally bothering her is mostly resolved but in doing so she seems to now be constipated? Obviously the first thing I thought was that the new supplement is causing that so I stopped giving her the supplement but she hasnt improved.

I'll do some reading to see if there's something I can do to help her poo. At least she's a bit better than she was!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's good to hear her eye issue is essentially resolved. How is the lighting arrangement working
out for her?
What supplement are you giving her now that you think may have caused constipation?
You can give some canned pumpkin & sugar free applesauce with a couple of drops of olive or coconut
oil mixed in with it, to help give some fiber for her. Are you giving extra oral hydration too?

Tracie

 

[Tintami]

I think the "extra oral hydration" part from Tracie's post above pretty much nails where the problem was...

As I said further up in the thread, she was a lot better but then seemed to dip again. I think the dip was related to dehydration. I started doing everything I could to get her more hydrated and now she seems to be back to normal.

So what I think happened was she hurt her eye, probably while feeding. This led to her being a bit unhappy, hiding under a log and only coming out to feed on crickets. Eventually the eye got better and she seemed happier but she hadnt been eating much veg (which is where she will have been getting water from) so became dehydrated, leading to her pooing less and being lethargic.

That would be my best guess. Along the way she's ended up with better lighting and better supplements. And the crickets have benefitted too as I bought a better enclosure for them so I could do a better job of gut loading them.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am glad to hear she has improved so much! It is pretty amazing how small changes with them can
make such a huge difference. I hope her eye is feeling better also.
That's great she is eating more again too, that will help a lot for her. How are the crickets doing? It
sounds like you have it all under control now!
Keep us posted on her & let us know how things are going.

Tracie