Possible eye infection and/or injury?

[Kelsey Isaksen]

Okay, so I just got my second little beardie baby about two weeks ago from Petco, where I also got my first beardie baby just maybe 2-3 months ago. They're approx the same age, the newest baby actually a little bit larger than the first one, and there wasn't much trouble getting them acclimated to sharing their living quarters with each other, blah blah blah. That's a story for a different thread lol...

So my newest beardie (yet to be named) has something going on with his left eye, and gathering from my own observations, seems to have little to no vision in that eye right now, and its swollen pretty large in comparison to his right eye and the other beardie's eyes. I first noticed it about 4-5 days ago as looking just a little weepy, and that turned into more of a scab-like appearance over his whole eye over the next day or two since I first saw it. I haven't noticed the babies fighting or anything besides just a little bit of aggressive behavior from the first baby I had (also yet to be named), but haven't seen him bite the other baby or other possible injury-inflicting behaviors so not sure if they just got into a little tassle and he hurt his eye in the process, or if he's just gotten some kind of infection otherwise.

He's also been head bobbing quite exaggeratedly and often times causes him to either spin around in a 360 turn or just flop over (aka fall off my shoulder etc) and even has a hard time eating his crickets. I think he can't see them very well so he has to focus with his good eye and it takes him a second to ready himself for the strike, but when he finally goes for it he ends up face planting or somehow flipping over and misses the cricket by a long shot, when he was a fine eater prior to his eye injury. Now I'm worried its going to cause him to stop eating or not eat enough, plus a number of other issues with his vision and what not.

But today he's looking a little better. Its hard to tell if there's any movement in his hurt eye, but its kind of hard to see it in his good eye anyway so that isn't very helpful. The scab-like 'film', for lack of better words, over his eye has finished some and looks to be improving somewhat. But the whole area surrounding his eye ball and socket is still very swollen and I can just tell its really bothering him, its breaking my heart!

I'm posting a pic I took of his eye yesterday in hopes that somebody who may know what to do will see this post and be able to point me in the right direction if nothing else.

If you need any more info about my poor little baby please pleeease ask, I need all the help I can get right now! I want him to heal up and feel better as soon as I possibly can!

Thanks

 

[Hdrydr31]

Sorry to hear about your little one's eye. He/she is a cutie!

I do need to say this Bearded Dragon's are solitary creatures and should not be housed together. Very few are able to stay together. The odds of them starting to fight are high. The head bobbing is a sign of aggression. Male and females should never be housed together as he will mate with her literally to the point of exhaustion/death. Male and male will fight with eachother for dominance. Female and female can still fight for dominance and will hog the ideal area's of the enclosure, food, lighting as will the other combo's of the sexes. Eventually you will have to house them each in their own enclosure for the safety of each.

There are a few things that can be going on with your little one: Injury, Vit A issues, parasites, viral infections, bacterial. All should be seen by a reptile vet to get proper diagnosis and treatment. Any of these are also contagious, can lead to blindness.

I hope that you can take this little to see a vet as the faster it can been seen and treated the better the odds of keeping their eye sight. Dragon's are notorious for having bad depth perception and often miss their food they have great eyesight for distance but not up close lol

please keep us posted on your little one

 

[PatsyB]

I second the vet. It doesn't look real bad yet so it's possible that if a vet treats whatever it is he could possibly see out of the eye but only if he gets treatment. It looks like something got in the eye under the delicate nictitating eyelid. This sometimes happens if they are housed on sand.

 

[Kelsey Isaksen]

I'm still new to this site and learning how to use it, so I accidentally posted before I was done typing haha...here's what I meant to post, disregard that last one til I figure out how to delete it since it won't let me edit it again :

Thank you so much for answering me! I've been worried sick about the poor little baby, and can tell its still really bugging him today. The swelling has gone down some more since yesterday, but still significantly bulging on the one side of his cute little face. Its the area surrounding his eye not the eyeball itself, and I'm scared there might even be some fluid in his eye cavity/head. I noticed today there's little to no scabbing or whatever that crusty stuff was in his eye anymore, and that he DOES have movement in his injured eye after all and I can tell that he's trying to see out of it so there must be some sight. It still looks funny though, just kind of a glazed or glassy look to his eyeball , and the swelling is what really has me worried...

We don't use sand ever though! We gather small gravel-like size pebbles and wash them off before putting them in the bottom of the tank for ground surface, so not sure what could've gotten in it. I'm kind of thinking if it isnt just some kind of bacterial thing then the other baby beardie bit him on or around his eye causing an infection.

I'll have to look into local reptile vets in my area, I have yet to see one for any of my babies so probably should bring them all in for check ups anyway!

I second the vet. It doesn't look real bad yet so it's possible that if a vet treats whatever it is he could possibly see out of the eye but only if he gets treatment. It looks like something got in the eye under the delicate nictitating eyelid. This sometimes happens if they are housed on sand.

 

[Kelsey Isaksen]

Also, I've seen lots of videos online and such with two beardies sharing the same tank, just have to use a rather large tank for two from the looks of it...are these people just taking that risk then if its so unusual for them to get along? Just curious, I was really hoping they could be buddies and live together since it seems to be taming my first baby having the more mild tempered baby around surprisingly haha maybe its only because they're still so young?

 

[PatsyB]

I deleted the post for you.

Well it's good that he's trying to see out of it. It's possible he may have scratched it on something in the tank or the other beardie did something. Glad you don't use sand but be careful with small pebbles in the tank. They taste everything and you don't want him swallowing something he shouldn't.

 

[PatsyB]

Yes people are just taking the risk putting 2 together. Some people get lucky with housing 2 together but most people end up getting dragons that show dominance or aggression towards the other. Plus, you don't want to risk the possibility of having a male and female together. When the male reaches maturity there is no warning, no signs leading to it, just one day he will decide he wants to mate with the female. I've always housed mine separate. My oldest female was 2 when we brought home our boy. In the beginning we let them play out side of the tanks together. He would run around the house and walk all over her and snuggle up with her. Then one day he was 9 months and we were sitting on the floor and he turned and charged her. He managed to scratch her back before I scooped her up. Ever since then we keep a close eye. I can't even hold her while he is running around because he will figure out a way to get to her.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yea it sounds like the inner eyelid got damaged maybe by a nail of the other or by a pebble.. please do get them checked out especially this one so he doesn't damage it further.
yes they tend to get "along" with eachother until they are a bit older however even when they are babies they will still establish dominance over the other.. They really are not social critters.. they have only been lucky...to me its not worth the risk