Bearded dragon black eye

[asmart]

I got home from work yesterday to find my bearded dragons eye was completely black. He is acting as normal, eating as normal and has the same personality. He was shedding around his eye so we assumed he had cut his eye however today it looks as if it is his pupil. We aren't sure what it is and wondered if there is anything we can do for him? He cannot see out of it as we have tried putting his food that side and he doesn't even realise it is there. Any advice would be great. Thank you

 

[jarich]

Definitely needs a trip to the vet. Do you have a trusted reptile vet yet?

Also, if you want to take a picture and post it that may help us identify the issue, however a vet trip is definitely in order.

 

[asmart]

Yeah we have him registered at a vet.

 

[jarich]

How long have you had him? What do you normally feed in a week?

 

[asmart]

Umm 5 ish years, we feed locusts and greens in an average week

 

[jarich]

Which greens typically make up your dragon's diet? Do you supplement the locusts or greens? If so, with what?

 

[asmart]

Lettuce mostly and no we don't

 

[jarich]

Ok, Im guessing we might have found the problem then. Lettuce is pretty much just all water, and so basically a filler vegetable with very little nutrients. Its not bad necessarily, its just not good either. What you want to try to do is give a good mix of higher nutrient greens like dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, etc and then also other vegetables like squash, carrots, peppers, etc to round that out nutritionally.

Now in reference to your problem here, it seems like your dragon might be suffering from a Vit A deficiency. Most insects are very low in Vitamins A and E, so these are nutrients that have to come from the vegetables you feed. I would suggest taking the dragon to a vet as soon as possible and getting blood tests done. There are often other nutritional shortcomings that accompany this, so its best to check them all out while youre there. In the meantime, I would suggest getting a good supplement and also taking a look at this site for a nutritional guide. Youll notice the items are all colour coded based on how frequently to feed them. Let us know if you have any questions about the chart.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html

 

[asmart]

Thank you! Will take a look and let you know

 

[asmart]

Will try and get some of that at some point thank you

 

[PatsyB]

Great advice Jarich, I didn't even think about a vitamin deficiency, I just assumed it had to be an injury.

@asmart here are some lists of healthy greens that you can feed your beardie. They are both divided into everyday, occasionally, never and questionable. The Greathouse one has been updated more recently but they are both good to get an idea of the different foods you can feed.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf

 

[asmart]

Thank you guys appreciate it