Swollen/bruised looking eye won't open

[Motherofdragons628]

Hi, so my husband got me a new baby for christmas! We also have anot her bearded dragon about 14 months old, we've had him for a year. As I was attempting to feed the older one crickets (unsuccessfully that day, he's been showing no interest in his food every third day or so since winter started), I took him out & put him on the bed to get the crickets out of his tank & put his "furniture" back. My husband was holding the new baby, about 3 months old that we've only had a few days now, and she jumped out of his hands and ran up to the older dragon, who immediately turned & bit its poor little head. We knew as soon as he turned his head what was happening but he is fast, and we pulled them away from each other immediately and into their own tanks, in their warm basking spots. There was no blood or broken skin, the baby held its jaw open for a little while but eventually closed it & it looks aligned correctly, a friend told us this reaction may have just been due to shock. This is now 24 hours later and the poor baby hasn't opened its left eye all day, it looks swollen compared to the other eye and i've also noticed a little darkening around the eye socket compared to the coloration of the other eye. The baby was showing signs of this last night, the eye looking a little swollen right off the bat & tending to keep it closed, but would occasionally blink & open it, the eyeball coloration looked normal. But today, no opening of the eye at all. The eye moves okay under the closed eyelid & there is no discharge or anything. Can a vet even treat this on a little 3 month old baby? I've read there could be bleeding behind the eye causing the swelling. We are very worried about our new baby.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry to hear of the accident, it happens very quickly.
I don't think a vet could do much, but could try to check for blood pooling in that area.
What you could try at home is getting a bag of chamomile tea, warmed & moistened & place it on his eye at night, before bedtime with a cloth over it to hold in some heat. Be sure it isn't too hot, but chamomile has some healing properties.
Do you have a picture of the eye?
Is he at least continuing to bask, even with his eye closed?

Tracie

 

[Motherofdragons628]

Will do, thank you... She (we think lol) is acting normal, moving around normally, basking, normal response time to our motions, shadows, etc. Maybe a little less hyper today than previous days but no behavior changes of serious concern. She didn't eat today, at the pet store she was fed only pellets but we've since introduced her to some greens & some tiny little crickets, which she had a few of each day so far. The crickets seemed to scare her today, she shied away from any that came near her, & no change to the pellets/greens in her bowl. I misted her to get a little moisture & she seemed to appreciate it. Don't have a picture yet & don't want to wake her but I will take one in the morning. Gonna try the chamomile bag tonight though since she's already settled into a comfy spot for the night.

 

[Motherofdragons628]

Will do, thank you... She (we think lol) is acting normal, moving around normally, basking, normal response time to our motions, shadows, etc. Maybe a little less hyper today than previous days but no behavior changes of serious concern. She didn't eat today, at the pet store she was fed only pellets but we've since introduced her to some greens & some tiny little crickets, which she had a few of each day so far. The crickets seemed to scare her today, she shied away from any that came near her, & no change to the pellets/greens in her bowl. I misted her to get a little moisture & she seemed to appreciate it. Don't have a picture yet & don't want to wake her but I will take one in the morning. Gonna try the chamomile bag tonight though since she's already settled into a comfy spot for the night.

 

[Motherofdragons628]

I also tried eyedrops today, the best I had in my cabinets with the least amount of additives & junk. They didn't seem to cause her any pain but didn't really help the swelling or opening of the eye either. I hate to sound terrible but i'm trying to judge if this is a mandatory vet visit or not because the only reptile specialist we knew of in our area has since moved to a different location much further away & I really don't want to drive all that way just to hear "well it seems you were right, but there's nothing I can do, that'll be $100" lol... not to mention taking her out in the car in the cold & away from the home she's just gotten used to for such a long period when she seems to still be a little nervous from the incident.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

If her head is not smashed or caved in, then her head shouldn't be injured but just possibly her eye orbit. Maybe it is just bruised & will heal up eventually.
Just monitor her for now & try the chamomile to see if that helps out. Keep her a little warm at night, around 80 or so for boosting her immune system.
Give her some time, accidents like this can traumatize them for awhile.
Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

 

[Motherofdragons628]

Ok thank you so much, I will ?

 

[Motherofdragons628]

Here are some pictures this morning, the swelling has gone down a bit overnight, the eyelid is not sticking out in comparison to the other eye now, but the eye orbit is still rounder & larger than the shape of the other eye.
Here is the injured eye (there is a small piece of skin hanging but she is shedding right now so I believe it's unrelated to the injury):

Here from the top of the head, comparison of the shape of the right eye (normal) to the left, injured eye:

Here is the right, uninjured eye in comparison (she is being camera shy this morning and closes her eye when my phone gets a little too close to her lol, but it is normally open with no problem):

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She is very pretty!
It is possible that she has come out of it relatively unscathed. Since there doesn't appear to be any puncture wounds above or around the eye, I believe it is just trauma/bruising perhaps. When that happens there will always be water retention with a little bit of blood pooling due to the bruising. It "should" correct itself hopefully soon.
If the eye itself is going to shed in that area, that also yields water retention because of shedding too.
Hopefully after the shedding is completed, the eye will look much better.
It doesn't look too bad right now.
Is she eating right now?

Tracie

 

[Rankins]

As per usual, excellent advice from Tracie. I agree, it doesn't look too bad. Hopefully it will continue to improve...
Is he able to hunt his own food down? Has he been eating? If not you may need to try assisting with that for awhile. If your needing advice on that forum members can help.

 

[Motherofdragons628]

So today she ate (a little bit), please no hate for this but I mixed some "fresh dead" tiny crickets (they were new & alive as of yesterday) with her salad, dusted with calcium powder, and she ate a few bites. Still nervous about trying to get her to eat live crickets because she was scared of them yesterday. But good news! I tried the eyedrops again and almost immediately after she opened her eye! Just a few blinks, she still prefers to keep it shut but I was able to see the coloration of the eye & everything looks normal. She still has swelling in the eye orbit & there seems to be a clear skin-like film covering & protruding down from the upper eyelid which may be giving her difficulty opening the eye along with the swelling, but still improvement from not opening the eye at all for 24 hours. I gave her a nice warm bath which she seemed to love, she drank a little of the water off my fingertips as I was gently cleaning her little face (adorable) and drank a few licks at the shallowest part of the sink I bathed her in. Kept her in to soak for about 10 mins before she got antsy & wanted out. Then dried her off, set a little soft kitchen towel makeshift blanket in her tank to warm up under her light, and tucked her in for the night. Seems happy as a clam ? will update with hopefully continued progress!

 

[Rankins]

Nothing wrong with feeding dead crickets as long as they died within a couple hours. Any later I might worry a bit.
Just for clarification...the white part you see is on the lid and not the eye...correct?
If so, it may just be shedding.
Also what eye drops are you using? Is it saline or medication? Kind of important to know...
Sounds like things are going in a positive direction though

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great news she opened her eye more now.
I hope she is on the mend too, that would be amazing. Yeah, you are talking about the shed or whitish skin around her eye getting ready to shed?
That's ok about the crickets, they should be fine. I am sure she liked them. As long as they were fresh, it shouldn't be a problem.
It sounds like she enjoyed her bath, also!
Keep us posted on her progress.

Tracie