# Bearded dragon with sand in his eye.



## harry cresty (Jan 12, 2013)

Hi i have just got a bearded dragon from a shop that was shutting down they kept him on sand and they said when i went to fetch him that he was digging in the sand and they think some has gone in his eye . They have been bathing his eye and i have carryed on bathing it but he still keeps it closed alot is there anything else i can do or is it a trip to the vets ? . They did say if the sand is under the top eye lid then it can come out quite quickly but if it on the bottom lid then it can take a few days but i am getting a little worried now at the moment he is on news paper until i can decide what substraite to keep him on thanks any info would be great .


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## Aaron Kayla (Jan 27, 2013)

put him on a dry bark substrate and id keep bathing it for a couple of days but if no better trip to the vets .... hope it goes all good


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## tremerz97 (Nov 30, 2012)

Aaron Kayla said:


> put him on a dry bark substrate and id keep bathing it for a couple of days but if no better trip to the vets .... hope it goes all good


 id use lino or slate tiles, possibly paper towels until he is better! goodluck! not sure if a trip to the vets is necessary. just wash his eye out lightly with warm water. again good luck!


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## harry cresty (Jan 12, 2013)

tremerz97 said:


> id use lino or slate tiles, possibly paper towels until he is better! goodluck! not sure if a trip to the vets is necessary. just wash his eye out lightly with warm water. again good luck!


He has got lino under the news paper but only haveing him since last sunday i didnt think he would poo so much then he spreads it so when i come home from work it is everywhere at least the news paper soaks it up a bit but reading everthing on here i think i will just leave it as lino . I have been washing his eye out since sunday but if not better buy saturday then that is my chance to pop too the vets .


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## tremerz97 (Nov 30, 2012)

You can try washing his eyes out gently with a sterile saline solution such as what is used for contact lens wearers. You can apply this to soft gauze or softly mist into the eyes. If that does'nt help, your dragon may have some type of eye infection and need to see a vet,which would most likely prescribe Gentamicin or other prescription eye drops. so are you sure its not an infection of some sort?


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## harry cresty (Jan 12, 2013)

I dont rearly know if it is an infection or not the shop said he had sand on his face and they noticed his eye was then shut , all he is doing is keeping his eye shut most of the time and when it is open it is quite watery but it doesnt look red !also i have two t5 tubes one is a reptiglo 10 and the other is a reptiglo 2 they are both on in his viv which is a vivexotic 4ft would this be to bright for his eyes .


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## tremerz97 (Nov 30, 2012)

harry cresty said:


> I dont rearly know if it is an infection or not the shop said he had sand on his face and they noticed his eye was then shut , all he is doing is keeping his eye shut most of the time and when it is open it is quite watery but it doesnt look red !also i have two t5 tubes one is a reptiglo 10 and the other is a reptiglo 2 they are both on in his viv which is a vivexotic 4ft would this be to bright for his eyes .


 i think youll find they are t8 tubes m8. arcadia t5 12% is the way to go! and i dont think i can help anyfurther than that sorry bud good luck though! : victory:


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## harry cresty (Jan 12, 2013)

tremerz97 said:


> i think youll find they are t8 tubes m8. arcadia t5 12% is the way to go! and i dont think i can help anyfurther than that sorry bud good luck though! : victory:


Sorry yes they are t8 thanks for the info anyway cheers.


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## nicnet (Apr 3, 2011)

Aaron Kayla said:


> put him on a dry bark substrate and id keep bathing it for a couple of days but if no better trip to the vets .... hope it goes all good



Dry bark is actually one of the worst things you can keep a beardie on...:gasp:


There are many debates about substrated as regards to beardies, and the ones that come up as regarded as downright dangerous by most beardie keepers is bark, woodchip, calcisand. All of them are major impaction risks and the problem with bark and woodchip is that if they do manage to swallow any if literally rips their insides to bits on the way through...sharp wood and soft intestines don't go together.



As regards to the dragon. You only have the shops word for it that its sand in his eye, it could be anything from a bit of sand to 'arc eye' from bad UV or an infection.

I'd say he needs a vet visit.


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

Substrate wise its your choice, im sure in a few years there will be a huge boom in substrates as what we have at the moment is no good, calci sand had the right idea just didn't pull it off so thats one to avoid. 

Thing with bark, chips etc is if they do get eaten(through some freak accident or stupid lizard) it needs to come out, now it would be like us trying to remove a rather large bone from our guts, its going to hurt like hell and sting like a :censor: if we do manage to shift it, worst case its going to cut us internally and thats not going to be pretty, sure the phrase game over could apply.

now think of the size of a beardies gut, and the size of woodchips(small ones, beardie isn't going to be able to eat the large chunks but still risky), it would have to be one huge bone for us lol, i suppose checking it fits both ends would be the first step!

I do agree with lino mind, causes no end of problems with a messy lizard spreading it up the glass and everywhere else, i have half lino half tile(rough tile i got no idea what they are called).

It is down to you though, substrate like husbandry is subjective, there are more than two ways to skin a cat as they say(Sorry cats i will not be skinning you any time soon)

as for the eye, keep a close(eye) on it, as the pet shop has shut down i wouldn't be surprised if it is something else other than sand, vets would be the best place to go to have it checked as if its a infection its going to need seeing too.


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## harry cresty (Jan 12, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your comments i will keep an eye on his eye , if i need to go to the vets then i will give my local one a go because the proper reptile vets is just over 100 mile round trip .


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