Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone,
I miss you guys. My new job limits the time i can spend talking about herps. Its annoying.

I did have a question about Charlie. He has been having a problem opening his eye. When i offer him food he really tries to open it but it does not seem to want to go. Every once in a while it will open for a few hours and than close again. I have been trying to flush out the eye with some warm water. Any other suggestions? He has been doing this for a couple days and im strating to get worried that it is not just a poke or something. There is no fluid leaking from the eye.

Thanks,
Jeff

Eye problems can be tricky. Most often it is dehydration from too dry cage conditions. What is the humidity level in your cage? How do you check it? The cage may be drying out so quickly after spraying that his eye is irritated all the time. Sometimes eye problems are nutritional, but I think you would be seeing problems in both eyes. First, check your humidity over a 24 hour period to see just how dry things get. Second, check your nutrition...how are you gutloading, dusting, how often and with what...tell us in detail. How old is your UV lighting and what brand is it? Next, find an experienced herp vet and get the eye checked.

Hey, I gutload my crickets and supperworms with either vitamin orange cubes (for the superworms) or feeder porrage with herpcare cricket dust. I lightly dust all crickets during cricket days and dust every other superworm during worm days.

I just checked the humidy over a few hour period and it is fluctuating badly. Bcause of the outside weather i am having trouble with the humidy and temperature througout my entire house. I just increased the misting system on the cage to compensate.

The UV ligths need change. the end of March is 6 months.

Should i continue to try to spray his eye with warm water like i have been doing?

He is a healthy weight so i am not worried about him starving too much yet but i am starting to worry a bit.

I just checked his cage again. He is trying to open his eye again. he got it open a little but for a few seconds so i could see it. It looks normal. No odd colors, swells, or fluids.

Concentrate on humidity for now. If you have showered him before do it more often. If you don't have a humidifier (ultrasonic room type) it would really help. Hopefully this will take care of it!