Black Crust Around Eyelids - Help!

[Landonius12]

About your leo:
- Sex: M
- Age & Weight: About 2 years: 60g
- I've had him about 1.5 years
- Where was he/she obtained: Pet store

A) Health/History
- I handle him about once every two weeks maybe
- He is not opening his eyes because there is black crust lining his eyelids. He can still see if he opens his eyes
- He hasn't had any major problems in the past.
B) Fecals
- Fecals look normal
- 3 days ago
C) Problem
- About a week ago I noticed he was squinting with his right eye and wouldn't open it. I looked closer and saw his pupil so i wasn't too worried. Later on this week his other eye started doing the same thing and he was acting very clumsy with his food. On further inspection, there is some sort of dry black crust on his eyelids that is preventing him from closing his eyes completely.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 10 gallon
- Type: aquarium
- Type: repticarpet
- Hides: 1 moist hide: 2 other hides
B) Heating
- UTH
- Cage temps Hot side: 86ish Cool side: 75ish
- Method of regulating heat source: No thermostat
- What are you using to measure your temps: Thermometer with probe
- Do you have any lights (describe): 10.0 UVB
C) Cage mates - NONE
- How many (males, females)
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding: Usually about 5 mealworms (or as many as he feels like eating) a day. Sometimes I will give him waxworms as well.
- How are you feeding: Tongs
B) Supplements - About twice a week
- What vitamin/minerals are you using - Not sure of the brand maybe zoomed calcium without D3
- What are you gut loading food with - oats for the waxworms but not the mealworms

About a week ago I noticed he was squinting with his right eye and wouldn't open it. I looked closer and saw his pupil so i wasn't too worried. Later on this week his other eye started doing the same thing and he was acting very clumsy with his food. On further inspection, there is some sort of dry black crust on his eyelids that is preventing him from closing his eyes completely.

He has been acting especially blind since yesterday. I have seen him open his eyes but only briefly to inspect what i'm doing. He's acting fairly lethargic up until I remove the lid to feed him. He usually will patiently wait as i prepare his food, but recently he has not reacted as well to the food and is eating significantly less. I placed some sterile saline drops in his eyes last night and this morning, hoping to wash out what was in his eyes, but I haven't seen much change as of yet. I added extra moist paper towels into his hides as it looks as if he is about to shed again. Someone please tell me what may have caused this and what I can do to help him. I would like to avoid a vet as they tend to be very expensive and I have little time and money to work with here.

 

[indyana]

It's a bit difficult to say without a picture, but it sounds like retained eye shed. If that is the case, then saline eye drops and adding a humid hide may help. You'll need to watch it to make sure it doesn't develop into an eye infection though.
Google for stuck eye shed: leopard gecko stuck eye shed - Google Search

For supplementation, it's recommended to use calcium with D3 and a reptile multivitamin at least once a week, not just calcium without D3. A lot of issues are caused by vitamin deficiencies, even eye issues.

A final bit of feedback is that the 10.0 UVB is too powerful for a leopard gecko. Even though they are desert creatures, they are nocturnal and are actually highly UVB sensitive. Too much UVB can stress them out or even cause burns.

I'm going to give you a link to a basic caresheet. I recommend you review it and see what you might want to adjust for your gecko.
Leopard Gecko Care Guide - Leopard Geckos For Sale - Quality Gecko Breeder - Fair Prices - Tremper - Bell - Rainwater - Giant - Mack Snow - Albino - Tangerine - Fattail

 

[Landonius12]

It must have been stuck shed because he finished shedding this morning and his eyes look completely fine. He licked the crust off of his eyes as he was shedding. In the past I have used calcium with D3, but he wouln't eat anything if it had the calcium/D3 on it. So I asked a pet store owner what to do, and she said that they don't need D3 if you have UVB, so I bought a UVB light along with regular calcium and he started eating the dusted food, so I just assumed that had solved the problem. That UVB bulb was pretty expensive but I guess I'll just have to cut my losses. :/ So I need to switch out the UVB with something else? I put a regular flourescent in there for now to keep the day/night cycle consistent. I assume I will also need to purchase multivitamins to mix in with his calcium? Thanks for all your help!