# Bearded dragon black eye



## kieren1234 (Aug 28, 2012)

Hi all, im new to the forum. 

I have a 6 month old bearded dragon. Since yesterday morning he has had one eye ball that is jet black and he keeps it shut all the time. He will only open it if he is shocked at me picking him up for instance then he closes it slowly again. He cannot aim for his food properly and im very worried. 

I have has him in the sink and gently squirted luke warm water into his eye when he seldomly opens it, done this once yesterday and once today. 

I had him out for the last twnety minutes and he seemed to open it a little more than yesterday but still can see he has problems. 

Can anyone offer any advice at all to what has happened? 

He has a normal UVB tube. Lately he has been trying to climb on it so i guess he has been closer to it which i have researched can cause them problems with their eyes (but he only has a problem with the one and has been climbing next to the bulb for months). 

His bowel movements are regular. 

His diet consists of greens, locusts, crickets, sometimes small mealworms. 

He has no substrate at all still. 

His vivarium is kept very clean and theres never any loose particles around apart from his skin when he is shedding. 

His mood doesnt seem as good as usual, he still has a good appetite.

I tested him by making him open the eye by suddently moving him whilst a mealworm was at his bad eye side and he could not see it at all so assume he is blind in this eye at the minute., I done the same the otherside and grabbed the mealworm straight away as he usually does. 

Please help. 

Im currently researching reptile vets in the area (to no avail). 

I have had another bearded dragon for 4 years and would like to think i know how to take care of them pretty well. 

Thanks in advance.


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## kieren1234 (Aug 28, 2012)

anyone that can help?


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## dramen (May 29, 2012)

Bad shed maybe and although the shed is gone maybe he scratched it and caused an irritation. I cant advise really as i have never owned a bearded but hopefully it will grab someones attention that i've replied


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

any chance you could get a picture up, it does sound a bit like retained shed, although i am unsure if they do shed their eye caps(never noticed it with my own, he tends to eat most of it lol)

good job on looking for a vet, if you post your rough location hopefully someone from your area can advise a decent vet.


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## kieren1234 (Aug 28, 2012)

thanks alot for the help both of you. I think you could be spot on. I got him out this morning once he had warmed up a little and got some life in him and when he opened that eye briefly i could see that a bit of shed on his lower eye lid seems to be touching his eye ball so perhaps this is irritating it and scratching his eye. Ill bath him when i get in and very carefully move the shed with a cotton bud, i wont need to go anywhere near the eye ball as the shed is a few mm in width so can move it from the eye lid not the eye ball. I really hope this sorts it, feel so bad for the little guy!


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

kieren1234 said:


> thanks alot for the help both of you. I think you could be spot on. I got him out this morning once he had warmed up a little and got some life in him and when he opened that eye briefly i could see that a bit of shed on his lower eye lid seems to be touching his eye ball so perhaps this is irritating it and scratching his eye. Ill bath him when i get in and very carefully move the shed with a cotton bud, i wont need to go anywhere near the eye ball as the shed is a few mm in width so can move it from the eye lid not the eye ball. I really hope this sorts it, feel so bad for the little guy!


ah good i am glad, hopefully that is the problem then, hardy things lizards so its always off putting when something does not look right.


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## kieren1234 (Aug 28, 2012)

Kuja said:


> ah good i am glad, hopefully that is the problem then, hardy things lizards so its always off putting when something does not look right.


Yes i know what you mean! The adult i have had a bath a couple of weeks ago, must have breathed in loads of water and went jet black and did not take a single breathe for over 2 minutes. To me he was definitely dead then all of a sudden, was sick and took a deep breathe, sounded gargly but 2 hours later running around like nothing happened. Crazy!


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## dramen (May 29, 2012)

kieren1234 said:


> thanks alot for the help both of you. I think you could be spot on. I got him out this morning once he had warmed up a little and got some life in him and when he opened that eye briefly i could see that a bit of shed on his lower eye lid seems to be touching his eye ball so perhaps this is irritating it and scratching his eye. Ill bath him when i get in and very carefully move the shed with a cotton bud, i wont need to go anywhere near the eye ball as the shed is a few mm in width so can move it from the eye lid not the eye ball. I really hope this sorts it, feel so bad for the little guy!


Welcome mate glad my "guess" was the right one, Its the only thing i could think of given the information you provided. Thank-fully i spend a lot of time on these forums so i tend to read threads on all reptiles as i get bored :lol2:

Good luck on clearing that shed and hopefully it clears up soon 

Ps And thanks Kuja for advising as i wasnt 100% sure on my advice as it was based on Leos and reading these forums


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## kieren1234 (Aug 28, 2012)

Really appreciate it. I had read online somewhere it could be something like this but couldnt see anything at all on or around his eye that could be causing the problem untill this morning. Maybe it was stuck behind the eye somehow. Hopefully a good soak and plenty of drops of water will help ease it out and soften the skin. Was hard to watch him missing his food yesterday, could kind of see he was getting frustrated at not being able to catch the food! 



dramen said:


> Welcome mate glad my "guess" was the right one, Its the only thing i could think of given the information you provided. Thank-fully i spend a lot of time on these forums so i tend to read threads on all reptiles as i get bored :lol2:
> 
> Good luck on clearing that shed and hopefully it clears up soon
> 
> Ps And thanks Kuja for advising as i wasnt 100% sure on my advice as it was based on Leos and reading these forums


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

dramen said:


> Quote:
> 
> Originally Posted by kieren1234
> 
> ...


No probs I'm not 100 percent that it is the cause but it's a start =p

Other thing I forgot to mention is that he may have scratched it while trying to remove the shed from his eye, so if not does not clear up with the shed being removed nip him to the vets to make sure it does not get infected 



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