Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Axe and I are fine, we really lucked out and the eye of the storm moved into the state about 30 minutes south of us, the portion of the storm that hit us was the smaller side with less winds.

I just talked to my daughter, in Winter Haven who is on the fourth floor, the eye passed there and they are getting hit hard now, they have lost the roof off their condo on the fifth floor and the windows are out of the apartments at that level. She said there is a tree on a jeep in her parking lot and they really had a scary time. Their cable and power is out, only cell phones for communication.

Ronnie of Cricketfood.com was talking to Axe about 20 minutes ago, he is in Orlando, the eye is moving toward him and he had to get off the computer as power was going off and on with winds really picking up.

Those at the Daytona Expo are restricted to the hotel and the bands of the storm is starting to hit there now, the eye is moving right toward them, but the full part of it will not hit til around midnight. We were on cell phones to our group there and lightning has struck the hotel, the water in the toilets is moving and the winds are starting to pick up more. It's a really well build hotel, so they all should be safe. The hotel sits right on the beach, but the storm is coming in from the other direction.

I think that Bennett is there also, but do not have his cell number to call and check on him. What a Daytona to remember.

Our only serious problem is one of the older dragons we rescued 3 months ago, seems to be having some type of neurological event. I think the barometic pressure is causing small strokes and/or seizures in him. His eyesballs were drawn way back, one we could not see for a few hours and it looked like there was no eyeball. He's in my room on a heat paad and we are keeping a close eye on him. He is calm now where he was panicked before and very black beard. He seems to be recovering and has use of all his legs, so I am not sure what is going on and of course no way to get him to a vet.
-----
www.reptilerooms.com

Wow, close call. Glad to hear you guys didn't get hit too hard. Scary about your daughter, but she safe now, right?

I think Bennett was gonna play it safe and stay home, or drive up tomorrow. So he may not be there right now.

I hope everyone else is safe too. I have a lot of friends who live in Florida, two in Jacksonville. I'm not sure but they may be getting pounded right now.

Hope your beardie gets better quick. Let us know.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I have never seen anything like this, its happening again and the town is still closed down due to the storm so no hope at all tonight or tomorrow getting him to a vet.

The only thing I can think is that the barometic pressure is effecting him. He's not stressed now like earlier, I have him in my room with me on a heat pad and talking to him, but obviously something is wrong. His pupils in the eye we can see is very dialated, the other eyeball looks sunk, hardly there. the tissue around the eye is misshaped. This happened rapidly, no warning of a problem before it happened, then it seemed to improve, but repeated again. He does not seems distressed... its maybe like a Bell's palsy?

the eye that is drawn back:

the eye that is sunken in

-----
www.reptilerooms.com

There is a muscle behind the eye that allows retraction of the eye ball. There could be a nerve damage, by what I can't tell you. But again I doubt it's barometric pressure. That's just too weird an explanation.

Things to try. Do his pupils change according to light? Shine a flash light in his eye and see. Has he been drinking at all? He could be dehydrated. Check his gums. Are they wet or tacky feeling? if you gently pinch the skin on his back does it stay pinched tightly or does it fall back down a bit? Does he respond to you? Sound?

I still think it's a "freaked out by the weather" reaction. He's stressed and either an under-lying condition has become apparent or he's just spazing out and trying to hide inside himself. The pupils kinda make me think that. Especially with the eye retraction. That's pretty sympathetic nervous system reaction there. (fight or flight).

Does he have an absolute favorite yummy food like wax worms? See if he'll respond to his favorite food. IF he's really limp another test is the "will he fight if I try to open his mouth" test. If he lets you open his mouth (unless he's like two of my dragons who are trained to allow it) then he's very sick.

But this time he is not stressed, no dark beard and his responds to us calmly, seems to want to be held. You would not know anything is wrong with him by his actions except for the eyes.

The first time he was alone in the reptile room. But I have had him in the room with me on a heat pad for a few hours and they appeared to be returning to normal, then it happed again.

He is well hydrated, but not drinking, skin if filled out and not saggy skin.. I gave him a soak earlier and he relaxed in it. He is not eating, but not acting like he is hungry either. He can move all four legs fine. He can see, but not well out of the one because he turns his head to see me better. The one pupil is very dialated, even in bright lights, it reacts, but not like it should.
-----
www.reptilerooms.com

Wow what in interesting case. I would have to lean towards the direction of some type of sinusoidal pressure causing this phenomon. Maybe like human sinuses it takes a while to equilibriate if you have very convuluted sinuses and maybe in this dragon he has some very complicated sinuses and as you know every thing happens slower in reptiles so therefore maybe it is taking longer for his body to adjust to the low pressure systems. I really don't think that BD's are made to withstand sudden dramatic pressure changes b/c they would never see it in their environment in australia. Just a hypothesis.
-Randy
-----
AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

That is really strange, Cheri. I couldn't tell you what's going on. I'm good at recognizing problems I am familiar with, but not at diagnosing new ones.

All I know is that some animals have very strange reactions to certain types of weather, but who knows if that's the case here.

Let us know if and when you find out for sure.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

ONe of my beardies gets weird in storms. I think it's more due to stress than the pressure causing seizures. Probably just got really scared and sent himself into shock. That can happen, it's called neurologic shock. It's not really caused by a disease, more psychological. I'd say keep him comfortable and make him feel "safe". Realize that animals are pretty perceptive about weather. In his little mind something is probably telling him that that big storm thing wasn't a good thing and freaked him out. IF he continues to have trouble tomorrow or the day after a vet would be a good person to see. But otherwise keep him hydrated, get him eating, and keep im calm.