Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone eles? I am changing the substrate and my face, nose, and eyes are all itchy and burning a bit. My eyes and nose are all watery as well.

Are you changing the substrate that the leos are on? Or are you changing the mealworm food?

After you started, did you touch your face/eyes with your hands at all? Don't do that! I know sometimes it's an unconscious action, but don't.. hehe One of my friends was cutting up a whole bunch of jalapenos one time, barehanded.. After she washed her hands, she touched her face - BAD idea, even then! She was crying for the rest the night.. It was actually kind of comical to watch..

If you're afraid that you might be allergic, wear gloves next time - I'm talking about surgical gloves.

~~Dusty
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

I was changing the mealworm food. I have a bug phobia, so I didn't touch them at all. I would remember if I had, I still jump everytime (I'm such a wuss). I didn't touch any part of my face or eyes either. It was strange, everytime I put my face close to the mealworms I felt it, kinda like an onion. Lol, I've had jalapeno in my eye many times, boy does it burn. I have no known alergies, I think I do now. I'm not sure if wearing gloves would help. Up until now I have not had any problems with them. I have never had more than 50 at a time, but I have 500 right now. Plus they are usually refridgerated, I decided to keep them out. Maybe I'll just have to order them in smaller ammounts again, or get someone eles to change their food. I'll will probably just end up sucking it up and doing it myself, it's not too bad.

Firstly hehehe, mealworms are nothing to handle.....try superworms, those suckers grab on and hang on for life.....more times than not when picking them out of the container they end up stuck to me.....LOL

As for the allergy thing. What are you using for bedding?

Dust will make my nose run and eyes water. Seeing as the *drop* ceiling that was in this room (gecko room) actually dropped one day (heavy footed brothers upstairs finally knocked it down) i don't have any ceiling up and for the most part i get stuffed up when i'm in here. Don't laugh the ceiling came down on MY HEAD and it appears i have a hard head cause i didn't get hurt.
Dusting the place is rather redundant as once i'm done i have to start all over again.....i'm forever dusting lol.

Since its most likely that you do have an allergy to them, or their bedding, i would suggest wearing gloves when you do anything with them AND wearing a mask. They have become readily available now since SARS came about. I just recently had to take a client i support to the hospital. On the doors was a sign that said if you had any cold symptoms to please put on a mask. Well i don't so i didn't. HEHEHE not two minutes after sitting down in the waiting room did i start hacking up a lung. I quickly said to my client "i really need to quit smoking eh?!?" as people looked up from their magazines in horror at me HEHEHE.

My only concern is that alot of people have allergies to latex so when your looking for gloves look for vinyl. They are an absolute pain in my line of work and i prefer latex but they work. I buy my own latex gloves for here at home when i'm cleaning the tanks. I have a bad case of cracked dry hands that bleed alot so its best i wear something.

Sorry for rambling LOL.

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

I can't stand superworms. I have only ever had one and when my gecko didn't eat it in 1 minute I flushed it. It was terrifying, it moved so much faster than mealworms.

I thought it might be the bedding (chicken mash) but when I changed it the same thing happened.

I am forever dusting and sweeping as well (damn dogs shed like crazy), and sneezing from the dusting, but I don't think that's what caused this. Btw, sorry about your roof, but it is funny.

Yah, smoking is the worst. I remember trying to work with chronic bronchitis caused by smoking. It's been a year and a half since I quit, yay.

I had the best cream for extremely dry hands (I had eczema), worked like a charm. I can't remember the name of it, when I do I'll let you know, my skin doctor gave it to me.

Lisa

Congrats to you about quitting, I just quit smoking Friday, yay!
And im NEVER going back. But I must admit..I now have this strong urge for chocolate, LOL.

~Crystal Light
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Crystal Light (Yes..that's my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

Lol, yes when I quit my sweet tooth grew ALOT. I gained 20 pounds the first few months after I quit, thankfully I've lost it again.

Of all the bugs superworms are the ones that get to me the most. I mean i can even pick crickets out of the container and it doens't bother me as much as superworms. It almost feels like they are biting when they grab on so tight hehe.

I guess providing people with a laugh is worth it....but the ceiling on my head thing....what a pain. Whats worse is that i now know why the floor sqeeks so bad upstairs.....half the nails missed the beam LOL.....if your going to build a house make sure the nails are in the right spot LOL

Oh my hands.....i've tried every type of cream out there. Its not that.....its because i have to wash my hands at work SO MUCH that even with putting cream on inbetween washes my hands still dry out and crack. (plus wearing glvoes filled with powder doesn't help!!!) And then theres the to true to heart woman fixer upper in me. Yes a pair of tweezers can be used as a screw driver but in doing so i usually (like the other day) get a huge gash cause the tweezers slipped. So my own idiotisy, washing non stop and the new kitten additions have resulted in my hands being an absolute mess. (finally got the cats nails clipped).

I've already done myself in with smoking. Had a cat scan of my chest and stomach.....got masses all over LOL. Now the doc doesn't think any are serious.......yet but i'll go back for another CT in 6 months to make sure. Congrats on quitting. Thats a huge accomplishment!!! I'm working my way down, hopefully i'll quit too

I got some cool pics of Flame and Bell eating together this morning. I'm hoping to get some good shots of my crested geckos tonight...

Red

>>I can't stand superworms. I have only ever had one and when my gecko didn't eat it in 1 minute I flushed it. It was terrifying, it moved so much faster than mealworms.
>>
>>I thought it might be the bedding (chicken mash) but when I changed it the same thing happened.
>>
>>I am forever dusting and sweeping as well (damn dogs shed like crazy), and sneezing from the dusting, but I don't think that's what caused this. Btw, sorry about your roof, but it is funny.
>>
>>Yah, smoking is the worst. I remember trying to work with chronic bronchitis caused by smoking. It's been a year and a half since I quit, yay.
>>
>>I had the best cream for extremely dry hands (I had eczema), worked like a charm. I can't remember the name of it, when I do I'll let you know, my skin doctor gave it to me.
>>
>>Lisa
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

"Had a cat scan of my chest and stomach.....got masses all over LOL"
Oh my, Red...its time you quit. Thats the last thing you want. What if one turns out to be cancer, and yet...you could have prevented it by quitting? I know its not easy, but its for the best. Just go to bed one night and have your LAST cigarrette, thats what I did. But believe me, I know its easier said than done.
I decided I was going to spend the whole day at my sister's house, with no cigarrettes in sight, and I did it. I still cant believe I did it, I was EXTREMELY addicted...I still get cravings, just not as bad anymore.
I do wish you the best with your next cat scan.

~Crystal Light
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Crystal Light (Yes..that's my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

I still get cravings and it's been a long time. I don't think (for me) they will ever go away. I really enjoyed smoking. I think I was more addicted to the motion and having something to do than the actually nicotine.

See my other post Don't worry i'm not sick. Ok sick and tired of work LOL but not physically sick.

Congrats on quitting.....its a hard thing and i'm going to do it....

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

I made a promise to someone and quit cold turkey after 5 years of smoking a pack a day. I haven't had one since. I tried the gradual approach many times, but it never worked for me. Different things work for different people, good luck. I feel (and am) SO much healthier. The year before I quit I had the chronic bronchitis, I also had strep throat 4 times, and another recurrent "female" issue that I'm not going to talk about. I haven't been sick once at all since I quit. It weakened my whole immune system so much, but it came back to normal right after I quit.

Masses? That's a little scary, I hope they aren't anything serious.

Lisa

I am the same way lisa...I was addicted to the habit, more than the nicotine itself. I quit for 12 months when I found out I was pregnant with my son, but went back for some stupid reason. I know that I cannot touch another cigarrette EVER, or I will go back to smoking, thats all it takes for me. I vow I will NEVER touch another cigarrette as long as I live, for my health, and my son's health who has been around it since he was 3 months old.

~Crystal Light
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Crystal Light (Yes..that's my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

np

Yes i know i need to quit smoking and yes i have masses.....i should have been more specific....sorry The doc says they are deposits (i think he said of calcium) and a few are cysts that i knew about before. The cysts aren't cancerous either I have these things on 4 organs (two are female issues) and since my doc isn't concerned i'm not going to worry myself sick because of them. I used to get uptight about the smallest thing and was sick ALL the time. Migraines became a daily problem and i got depressed.

Now though i'm not so stressed out about stuff. I will quit smoking i promise. I don't smoke around my pets so all i have to do is fill the house with animals and i won't be able to smoke hahaha.
I just need to convince my family of the same thing hehehe. Wish i had a house of my own.....i'd love to expand into other reptiles, maybe even snakes. See reptiles can be a great thing in a persons life......they are helping me to quit smoking

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

so good to hear, you can do it! Im glad none of them are cancerous...we love having you in this forum, and want to keep you here!

Let me know if you need any support when you decide to quit!

~Crystal Light
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Crystal Light (Yes..that's my real name)

*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection

The Gecko Barn

Good to hear they are not cancerous. I actually have the same "female issue" with cysts, they have been there for a few years now.

Good to hear about you not smoking infront of your animals. The other day I was in the pet store there was about four staff members smoking in the staff room right next to four six week old puppies, I was so discusted. More discusted now with myself for not saying anyhing.

I have the same problem. When I deal with the mealies, I either do it outdoors or with a painters mask on.
good luck

>>Does anyone eles? I am changing the substrate and my face, nose, and eyes are all itchy and burning a bit. My eyes and nose are all watery as well.
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Bill DiFabio
Garden State Herpetoculture...website to follow...
Email Me
"The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense,
not between right and wrong." - Carl Jung