One eye open, one closed... what could it be?

[TimmyDragon]

Again, I am posting because of something I am worried about.

My beardie has kept one eye open and one eye closed whenever I wake him, and I think it might be dehydration considering nothing is in his eye and there are no signs of infection.

A little more information would help.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

They can definitely worry us to death. Have you reviewed your lighting with us yet?
Does he always open one eye & close the other one, inside & outside of his tank?
I don't think it would be dehydration but during the wintertime, some extra oral fluids
definitely would help.
Has he been shedding at all?

Tracie

 

[TimmyDragon]

We have been using this setup ever since we got him 6 years ago...

One regular heat lamp about 50 watts
A cooler UVB lamp on the collar side of the terrarium
And a night lamp, which I have removed because the eye problems started showing up just two days ago.

I am going to replace the night lamp with a ceramic heat emitter and I’m not sure what to do with the UVB.

 

[KarrieRee]

Your UVB and basking temps are the 2 most important things in the tank --- PLEASE NO MORE night lights - they cause eye issues long term use --- you need a good UVB like a tube fixture w/ reflector - like this https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-terrarium-hood.html
depending on the tank size I would get a 24" fixture for a 40 + gallon tank and you need to order this bulb https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-t5.html a 22" bulb
the fixture comes w/ a 5.0 hang on to it for a back up --- distance and placement is different between the two bulbs tho ---
You also need to be taking basking temps w/ a digital probe thermometer NO stick ons please -- those two bulbs the basking and UVB are crucial to the overall health and behavior to the dragon -
when you get your UVB placement and distance for effectiveness is imparative --- please let us know when you get it

 

[TimmyDragon]

Yeah, I got the night light out of there. Is it okay if I use an ExoTerra UVB coil for the UVB lighting?

 

[KarrieRee]

No- no coils please- they are inadequate-- please try and find what I posted-- they are the best on the market at this time

 

[KarrieRee]

The coil will give your dragon all kinds of health issues

 

[TimmyDragon]

He has had that light setup for about 7 years now... his whole life. He has just started with these weird symptoms.

It might now be the lighting, but I will still try to get that UVB listed.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Do you have any pictures of your lighting & tank setup for us just so we can see the lighting
placement you currently have?
Are you using a bright white basking bulb or is it possibly a colored bulb? It does seem a bit
strange he just started developing this eye issue if you have been using the same type of
lighting setup for a long time. Perhaps you got a bad compact/coil light, which is common
with these types of lights.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[TimmyDragon]

It’s a pretty simple setup and it covers the entire terrarium. I took the nightlight off because that might have something to do with his eye issues, but it is really strange that it is happening now... after 7 years with the same setup.

It’s hard to see in the picture, but the closer light is the basking lamp, and the far one is the UVB.

 

[TimmyDragon]

He just started opening his left eye again! I think removing the night lamp might have helped.

 

[KarrieRee]

That helped for sure and it can take a long time use of those nite lights to start effect the eyes or so I have been told -- but you really need to change out the coil UVB if I am thinking that is in one of those domes please