Ok so weird question but I broke a light bulb that had aluminum in it and some of the like dust from it breaking got on my hands and like if I hold a light to my hand it kinda sparkles. Now let me say that these particles are TINY like a fraction of size of a small grain of sand. I can’t even see them if the light from the flash light didn’t shine off them. Should I be concerned about that stuff transferring from my hand onto my bearded dragon or him possibly licking it from my hand or something or maybe getting it on his food during food prep or hand feed (which I normally do). Just looking for opinions because I don’t want to hurt my little buddy accidentally ya know. He’s about 8 months old and 12-13 inches long 208g for reference.
I have never dealt with anything like this before.
I wouldn't think it should be an immediate threat no, but I would try to get your hand washed
off before handling him as much as you can in case he did lick your hand. I don't think
ingesting it would be all that desirable though.
What type of bulb broke? Are you sure it was aluminum and not mercury? I would expect to see aluminum dust like that from a light bulb unless it was some specialized bulb.
What type of bulb broke? Are you sure it was aluminum and not mercury? I would expect to see aluminum dust like that from a light bulb unless it was some specialized bulb.
That could be mercury then. Not something you want on your skin at all.
MVBs contain mercury. And its skin permeable. I would look up mercury clean up procedures. I'm at work right now and cant get you a link, but if you have trouble I'll be able to link you to something in a bit. Better safe than sorry even though they usually dont contain too much mercury.
I’ve washed my hands very throughly about 6 or 7 times and it has dissipated. The little pieces I know are from the reflective lining on the bulb. Right now I think I’ll just use gloves to prepare food and feed him until these little tiny particles go away.
claudiusx said:
From the first post, it doesnt sound like it broke in the tank. No concern of shards of glass being eaten hopefully.
Did you get everything all cleaned up? The mercury vapor bulbs are more hazardous then
so good to hear you took precautions & washed your hands often. I think it sounds like it all
got cleaned out. At least it didn't break on your dragon.