Hi everyone, within the last few weeks my four year old Iggy's eyes have become what looks like swollen and teary and I'm not sure what this could be, I'm getting very worried for my little bearded princess!
Here's the photos I've taken of her eyes in their current state; http://imgur.com/a/FVENi
And here's a photo of what she normally looks like; http://i.imgur.com/qtX2Enx.jpg
I've already taken her to the vet. Their first assumption was possible heart disease causing liquid build-up behind her eyes. For this, they performed blood tests, x-rays and an echocardiogram to look around; thankfully, they found it's unlikely to be heart disease at this point but from there they're unsure of what it could be now.
My first consideration was photo-kerato conjunctivitis. There seemed like a chance of this, as within the last year I swapped out her normal basking lamp for mercury-vapor bulbs in addition to my typical length of 10.0 UVB T5 HO. I had been using this for nearly a year, within the last two months or two the first bulb went out so I swapped with another and, from what I read, there's a chance of this happening from bulb-to-bulb. However, looking through more characteristics of this ailment and her behavior, the vet didn't think this was the case.
My next idea could be possibly vitamin A toxicity. Again, within a year period I began to feed her butternut squash in the form of "noodles" bought from my local grocery store. Literally just butternut squash shaved into strings, and I would break them into smaller lengths (about the size of a typical superworm) and add them to her greens (which typically consist of either collard greens, dandelion greens, or kale occasionally). I don't add them to every salad; I would estimate I would give her maybe a handful a week if that. Because she's had trouble/reluctance to eat greens, she has not had butternut squash for about two weeks now. Considering this, her issues haven't appeared to diminished much so I'm not 100% sold on this, but it's higher up the list than PKC.
In addition to the greens, I also feed her mostly hornworms I've ordered online. In addition, I'll mix it up with either dubia roaches or crickets, sometimes superworms for treats but not a staple. I'll powder these meals with calcium, she normally gets these meals weekly. Sometimes my stash of live food may not last and she may go up to 5 days without live food (I really can only get live food on the weekends with my schedule, horn worms are delivered bi-weekly) but not often.
I try to keep her viv clean, sometimes I don't get to her poos right away but they're usually cleaned within about two days.
To elaborate the lighting situation, this includes the high output length of UVB light, a 100W ceramic heat emitter on a variable lamp (cranked up for the winter months), typically the 160W mercury UV bulb I mentioned before but now swapped for a regular 150W basker, and a 100w bulb on the other side of the tank. I haven't actually measured the heat recently but from "eyeballing" it with my hands her temperatures should be okay.
I included a picture of her tank in the album I posted above, but to explain the setup further her tank flooring is an overturned piece of tile (rough side up), she has a few rocks to climb on, a wood log with a crawl space, and usually I have a wooden "house" structure meant for large rodents like guinea pigs or rabbits in there with bedding (pieces of old shirts or blankets).
With the information provided, I hope someone could help me figure out what the heck is wrong her. Let me know if there's any more info I can provide, really appreciate your time reading this!
EDIT; I forgot to add they did prescribe her with daily medication to try alleviate her eye swelling; 0.07mL of furosemide (Lasix) a day. In addition, because of her eating behavior they also gave me Carnivore Care to force feed her if necessary (2-4mL a day). As I mentioned earlier, she does not seem interested in greens currently but I can get her to eat live food when she sees it/feels like it. From my offerings of food, it seems like she may be able to see but maybe not well? It's hard to tell.
EDIT 2; I added her age to the description (4yrs)
Here's the photos I've taken of her eyes in their current state; http://imgur.com/a/FVENi
And here's a photo of what she normally looks like; http://i.imgur.com/qtX2Enx.jpg
I've already taken her to the vet. Their first assumption was possible heart disease causing liquid build-up behind her eyes. For this, they performed blood tests, x-rays and an echocardiogram to look around; thankfully, they found it's unlikely to be heart disease at this point but from there they're unsure of what it could be now.
My first consideration was photo-kerato conjunctivitis. There seemed like a chance of this, as within the last year I swapped out her normal basking lamp for mercury-vapor bulbs in addition to my typical length of 10.0 UVB T5 HO. I had been using this for nearly a year, within the last two months or two the first bulb went out so I swapped with another and, from what I read, there's a chance of this happening from bulb-to-bulb. However, looking through more characteristics of this ailment and her behavior, the vet didn't think this was the case.
My next idea could be possibly vitamin A toxicity. Again, within a year period I began to feed her butternut squash in the form of "noodles" bought from my local grocery store. Literally just butternut squash shaved into strings, and I would break them into smaller lengths (about the size of a typical superworm) and add them to her greens (which typically consist of either collard greens, dandelion greens, or kale occasionally). I don't add them to every salad; I would estimate I would give her maybe a handful a week if that. Because she's had trouble/reluctance to eat greens, she has not had butternut squash for about two weeks now. Considering this, her issues haven't appeared to diminished much so I'm not 100% sold on this, but it's higher up the list than PKC.
In addition to the greens, I also feed her mostly hornworms I've ordered online. In addition, I'll mix it up with either dubia roaches or crickets, sometimes superworms for treats but not a staple. I'll powder these meals with calcium, she normally gets these meals weekly. Sometimes my stash of live food may not last and she may go up to 5 days without live food (I really can only get live food on the weekends with my schedule, horn worms are delivered bi-weekly) but not often.
I try to keep her viv clean, sometimes I don't get to her poos right away but they're usually cleaned within about two days.
To elaborate the lighting situation, this includes the high output length of UVB light, a 100W ceramic heat emitter on a variable lamp (cranked up for the winter months), typically the 160W mercury UV bulb I mentioned before but now swapped for a regular 150W basker, and a 100w bulb on the other side of the tank. I haven't actually measured the heat recently but from "eyeballing" it with my hands her temperatures should be okay.
I included a picture of her tank in the album I posted above, but to explain the setup further her tank flooring is an overturned piece of tile (rough side up), she has a few rocks to climb on, a wood log with a crawl space, and usually I have a wooden "house" structure meant for large rodents like guinea pigs or rabbits in there with bedding (pieces of old shirts or blankets).
With the information provided, I hope someone could help me figure out what the heck is wrong her. Let me know if there's any more info I can provide, really appreciate your time reading this!
EDIT; I forgot to add they did prescribe her with daily medication to try alleviate her eye swelling; 0.07mL of furosemide (Lasix) a day. In addition, because of her eating behavior they also gave me Carnivore Care to force feed her if necessary (2-4mL a day). As I mentioned earlier, she does not seem interested in greens currently but I can get her to eat live food when she sees it/feels like it. From my offerings of food, it seems like she may be able to see but maybe not well? It's hard to tell.
EDIT 2; I added her age to the description (4yrs)