One eye shut

[trec09]

I have a concern. My beardie was fine this morning. Fed him just like normal and left. I got home at 7pm this evening and one eye is open and seems normal and one is a little swollen and shut. He can't open it. You can see him trying with the lid kind of moving. He seems alert with his other eye, follows my movements, seems to be eating same as normal but he's become lethargic in the past few hours. He lays with his head flat on flat on his belly. He was not like that earlier. He's also shedding but I didn't think that would have anything to do with it. Has anyone got any advice? I don't want him to end up really bad if I can do something now.


How old is your dragon? 7 months
How long have you had your dragon? 4 months
How long is your dragon? 9 inches head to tail
What is the sex of your dragon? Male
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 40 gallon breeder
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Tile
Do you use UVB lights? Yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Reptisun 10
How old is your UVB bulb? 4 months
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 12 inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Yes, 125 watt heat lamp
What are the basking temps? 110-117 degrees
What is the cool side temp? 68 - 78
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? Gun
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? Take them 3 spots and do an average. highest temps are directly under the bulb at the closest distance dragon can get
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens and kale Fed crickets daily and sometimes phoenix worms. Both worms and crickets are purchase from Ghann's. Fed from there the entire time I've had him.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Morning and night
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes, Ghann's cricket chow.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Yes, repitcal. Every other day.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? Yes as far as I can tell several a day.
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Yes, once a week
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? Yes but they do not fight at all. He's in with a female and has been the entire time. They are the same age purchased at the same time.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No

 

[Embee]

Hi,

I'm sorry you dragon isn't feeling himself.

I'm not sure what would be causing the eye issue specifically. Your enclosure looks to be in good order, however there were a few things that stood out to me... so here is my 2 cents, for what it's worth:

Your basking temp gradient is a bit to "rangy." You want to shoot for more of a 105-110 range for basking temps, and 78-80 cool side. Too high of basking temps can cause rapid dehydration, and lethargy, and worse. Too low of temps (on the cool side, as you mentioned 68-78), can cause unnecessary dampness that can lead to rot (skin issues, or mouth), and respiratory infections. I would suggest either raising your 125w heat lamp, or switching it for a 100w. What type of heat lamp are you using, btw? Is it bright white light? Usually, in a 40 breeder a 100w is sufficient in getting 105-110, but often a smaller wattage (40w or so) can be helpful on the cool side in maintaining warmer temps there (again, about 80 is recommended).

Usually, in an eye issue type situation, I would look to see if the UVB you're using is one of the suspect ones, but as you're using the ReptiSun tube, that shouldn't be an issue. It is 4 months old however, so you'll want to think about a replacement in 4-6 weeks. I would customarily suggest that your dragon be able to get to within 6-8 inches of the ReptiSun 10.0 UVB TUBE, but under the circumstances, I'd hold off on that for now.

As to vites and calcium, you say you use them every other day? Do you use both every other day? Sorry, I'm unclear there. The recommended dosage is this: dust 5 meals per week with calcium (with D3 for UVB tube users), and 1-2 meals per week with vites. What this amounts to obviously, is that you are dusting every day, once per day, 5 days a week with calcium, and the other two with vites. Hope that makes sense.

As for bathing dragon, you may want to increase number of baths to 2-3 a week, for optimum hydration. Soak up to shoulders in baby warm water, for 15-20 minutes. Particularly because your basking temps are running high, your dragon (both of them I imagine) might be needing a little extra.

Only other thing I can see (you knew I was going to say it :wink: ) is housing two beardies together. Yes, people do it, but it's truly, not recommended. Even dragons who seemingly get along fine, can after a time, begin to have severe dominance issues. In the case of a male and female together, it's nearly a given. Thing can change very quickly, and with grave results. Less overt issues of course being that male keeps female from eating properly, shows dominance in other ways such as head bobbing, laying on top of her, and more. All of these things can create HIGH stress for both beardies, the result of which can open them up to mental and physical health issues in the short and long term. I highly recommend that you separate them at your first possible opportunity. By nature, beardies are solitary creatures who do not long for another beardie's company (they do LOVE your company though :mrgreen: ).

That's what I see for now. If you could answer as to the type of basking bulb you're using, that might give me (or someone else here) a clue as to what is going on. And one more question... you mentioned he is shedding. Our dragon often scratches herself about the viv when shedding. Is there anything he could have rubbed his face/eye on that would create debris, such as log with bark? Just wondering if something got into his eye and it's causing irritation.

I hope your dragon is feeling better soon.

The best,
Em

 

[NegativeCreep]

I just rescued two dragons. The female has an eye injury that is healing, and the folks that gave her to us said that it was from the male. He bit her in the face.

Are you sure he wasn't attacked by the other beardie? There are many, many examples of beardies living together fine for a long time, then all of the sudden, they snap and attack. I would separate them, seriously.

The only thing that usually causes eye damage are bad lighting (which yours is fine), sand or other particles getting in the eye (you said you use solid substrate), or trauma.

 

[Embee]

Hello,

How is your dragon eye's doing today?

Hope you can get some time to answer our questions. We're happy to help in any way we can.

The best,
Em

 

[trec09]

Hello,

Thanks for the advice. Sorry it's taken so long to get back on here. The weekend was crazy. The basking light I use is bright white. It's a Phillips heat lamp 125w. I did move it up a little like you reccomended Em and the temps have come down. I also put a 40w bright white bulb on the cool side of the cage to raise those temps as well. I dust their crickets every other day with Reptical +D3. I didn't know I needed to use other vitamins as well. The reptile store I got them from told me just to dust thier food every other day. I even asked if their was anything else I needed to give them. I also soaked both of them in a bath like you said for the past two nights just in case they were dehydrated. There is nothing in the enclosure that I think he could scratch it on. The eye was open yesterday but still appears a little swollen. It wasn't cloudy or discolored and it didn't appear injured. He wasn't as lethargic yesterday either. He was wide open at cricket time just like always. This morning was the same. Wide open at feeding time but his partially closed again. If it's closed this evening when I get home I may take a pic of it and post it on here so you guys can look at it. As far as him being attacked, there are no scratch marks anywhere on him or the female. I am going to seperate them in the next few weeks. I would have done it sooner but neither shows dominance over the other that I've seen.

 

[Embee]

Hello,

Thanks for the advice. Sorry it's taken so long to get back on here. The weekend was crazy. The basking light I use is bright white. It's a Phillips heat lamp 125w. I did move it up a little like you reccomended Em and the temps have come down. I also put a 40w bright white bulb on the cool side of the cage to raise those temps as well. I dust their crickets every other day with Reptical +D3. I didn't know I needed to use other vitamins as well. The reptile store I got them from told me just to dust thier food every other day. I even asked if their was anything else I needed to give them. I also soaked both of them in a bath like you said for the past two nights just in case they were dehydrated. There is nothing in the enclosure that I think he could scratch it on. The eye was open yesterday but still appears a little swollen. It wasn't cloudy or discolored and it didn't appear injured. He wasn't as lethargic yesterday either. He was wide open at cricket time just like always. This morning was the same. Wide open at feeding time but his partially closed again. If it's closed this evening when I get home I may take a pic of it and post it on here so you guys can look at it. As far as him being attacked, there are no scratch marks anywhere on him or the female. I am going to seperate them in the next few weeks. I would have done it sooner but neither shows dominance over the other that I've seen.

Sounds like your dragon's eye is doing better then. Good to see that. The general rule for calcium is 5 meals per week. The multi-vites, 1-2 times per week. Yes, of the two the calcium is the MUST have, and some do view the vites as "optional" but they can be very helpful as well. Dust 1-2 meals per week with vites. For example, we dust the morning meal/live feeders with vites on Mondays and Thursdays. All other days of the week, we dust the morning meal/live feeders with calcium. Here is a link to a good brand of vites at a good price: http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-supplements/105550/rep-cal-herptivite.html

Ok, so your heat is a bright white light. The reason I ask is that sometimes even quality UVB can damage a beardie's eyes if they are not simultaneously basking under a bright light white as well. The bright light white guards the eyes. That said, do make sure your UVB tube and heat lamp are aligned at the basking end of the tank like this:

__________tube
0 basking bulb

... so that beardie has benefit of both bulbs while basking.

Glad to see that you'll be separating your dragons. In the long run, you will have happier and healthier dragons for it, I'm sure. That said, I wouldn't want to say anything specifically about the reptile store where you purchased from, but it is a rather common refrain around here to receive "expert" advice from pet and even reptile stores that turns out to be 'not so expert,' if you will. *sigh*

For now, I'd keep an eye (sorry, bad pun) on the eye, and you can try flushing it lightly with a little sterile saline solution. If somethings gotten in there, it could help flush it out, and also saline is good for keeping it clean. Pat dry gently.

Please keep us posted on how your dragon is doing.

The best,
Em

 

[munchkins9802]

Are you sure it isnt just the classic eye buklge during shedding? I saw some of it today for the 1st time with my daughter's dragon's head shed. Glad he seems better tho

 

[chancellor91]

is he shedding?? do you leave a lot of live feeder crickets in there because they can bite, sorry thats all i can think of

keep us updated

chancellor

 

[trec09]

Yes he is shedding. I put that in the original post because I didn't know if that would have anything to do with it or not. There's nothong in his enclosure for him to scrape it on. I also don't leave feeder crickets in there. I only feed what he can eat at one time. His eye is doing better and has been open for the past couple days. I'm still not sure what was wrong with it though.

 

[chancellor91]

has he been bulging it out, cause he is probaly haveing trouble getting the shed off his eyes

keep us posted

chancellor

 

[Embee]

Glad to hear his eye is feeling/looking better. When our beardie is shedding her face/eyes, she sometimes rubs her head on the substrate. I wonder if it's possible that your beardie got some of his own skin in his eye and it caused some irritation? Just another theory, but all the same, glad it seems to be healing quickly.

The best,
Em

 

[chancellor91]

yes, that is a very good theory embee better than mine

jk but yes good to hear the improvment

keep us posted

chancellor

 

[Embee]

yes, that is a very good theory embee better than mine

Oh, I really needed a giggle this eve Chancellor, and the angry emoticon really did it for me. :laughing6:

Seriously, it was such a surprise, I'm having to stifle the laughter because the rest of the fam is asleep... they really don't need to hear me giggling to myself, being a 'mad theorist' and all. :twisted:

The best,
Em

 

[chancellor91]

they really don't need to hear me giggling to myself, being a 'mad theorist' and all.

bahahahhahahahahahhahahaha OMG OMG OMG that was friken halrious, and im in school library laughing at that OMG bahaha that so friken funny

:shock: