Another eye problem...

[barnaby]

Hi,

Yesterday I noticed that my female pygmy (4 months old) had what seems to be swolen eyes and kept them close a big part of the day... And saw her miss 2 shots at crics! I was a little worried and today I checked it again and that's how she is looking (see pics below). Mind you that she was half sleeping...

I gently cleaned her eyes with a damp q-tip, in case it's some debris caught in the eye lids. I have a ExoTerra Reptiglo 10.0. The crics are gutloaded with some green veggies, carrot and JBL Terra Crics.

I have a bigger male (1 year old) with her and he seems ok.

Is it the lamp? Debris? Any opinions?!

Thanks!

 

[Julirs]

Reptiglo 10.0 is WAY too much for pygmies-that might be your problem. I use a Zoomed 2.0, and some keepers use very used 5.0's. How long have you had that light on them? What are the red spots on her?

 

[barnaby]

Light on her for about a month, on him 2 weeks...

Red spots are substrate (she fell on the substrate yesterday and is still a little dirty)... So all I need to do now is take off the light?

Thnxs!

 

[Julirs]

I would get the light off pronto and order a 2.0-they will be fine without it for a few days. Can you decribe your setup including what the substrate is? Pictures?

 

[barnaby]

Light removed!

Here's the pic (sorry about the blur...), biggest Exoterra terrarium 65X65X40cm

Substrate is humus with coconut fiber, small rocks at the bottom of it all, and a ficus at the middle.

 

[Julirs]

Set-up looks nice! I would just order a 2.0 light. Also, Terramycin ointment is a good eye remedy for many things. You can order it online. Do her eyes look cloudy like they are showing in the pic?

 

[barnaby]

Set-up looks nice! I would just order a 2.0 light. Also, Terramycin ointment is a good eye remedy for many things. You can order it online. Do her eyes look cloudy like they are showing in the pic?

A little... sometimes, when she moves them they almost look okay, but they're kinda sunken under the eyelid...

How's she gonna eat until she get good?? I think she can't aim very good. Can she go a few day without eating??

Thanks!

 

[Julirs]

If she is real young she won't be able to go long without eating. I would mist her several times a day maybe even lightly towards her head.

 

[barnaby]

Even if I order it now it may take a week to get here!

Is there any other ointment I can use to speed up the process?? I have bacitracin (sp) ointment in my house, I used it once in my piercing to avoid infection, seem very mild... please check this link:
http://www.drugs.com/cdi/bacitracin-ointment.html

Can I use it?

Thanks!

 

[Julirs]

Not for eyes! Only use eye ointment for eyes. With chameleons it is always good to have Terramycin on hand-order it and try misting her.

 

[barnaby]

I may try to buy some ointment for the eyes in a pharmacy... maybe for conjunctivitis? Is it ok?

 

[Julirs]

The only one mentioned to me that is safe to use is Terramycin.

 

[barnaby]

Ok! Bought it!

It's a portuguese version with a slight diferent name. A couple of friends of mine with reptiles told me about it... hope I'm not too late!

I have to put it twice a day, I think...

thanks!

 

[Julirs]

Very small amounts-pygmies are very small animals!

 

[Dyesub Dave]

For the feeding part you could try some small silkworms. You could hold them close to her so she can get them easier. Or if you can find a way to get her to open her mouth they you can just put it in and see if she'll eat that way.

Dyesub Dave.

 

[barnaby]

I'll try that, but she's not used to be hand fed... I guess she would be too scared to eat.

Is there any trick to make them open their mouths?? I can't force her cause I would probably hurt her...

 

[barnaby]

Maybe I can leave her in the crics enclosure in a twig, under my supervision, for an hour or so... and maybe she'll eat some...

 

[barnaby]

Well, it only took me a few minutes to see that was not a good option... she just stumbled around the crics enclosure looking for a way out and couldn't care less about the buggers... She seems to have her vision impaired.

I took her out to avoid further stress and applied her the medicine (a really small dose around the entire eye) and put her back in the enclosure.

She doesn't look too skinny and has a nice grip, maybe she caught a cricket during the day while I was out, but I'm not very confident... she's so small... I'll apply the medicine again tomorrow and hope for the best. I don't think she can handle more than a couple of days like this.

Thanks for the help!

 

[bucky]

Where did you get the teramycin from?

 

[barnaby]

Where did you get the teramycin from?

Pharmacy. Here it's called Terricil and it's standard medicine in reptiles and other animals (including humans) when it comes to mild eye problems.