Dry eyes? Please help!!

[mindgamer8907]

Hi, I recently (approx.Dec 29) purchased a gorgeous little leo from a local pet chain (couldn't resist, she's a cutie). She came home and everything was honky dory, she shed that day and ate to no exhaustion. Now, she just "finished" a second shed on Sunday (about two weeks after bringing her home) and she's developed a scary eye condition it seems. This shed did not go well at all, she had it stuck to her face for at least two days after the shed began (Saturday night) and only yesterday did I get the last bit off her nose and around her eyes. I was extremely careful to check both her eyes for any remaining shed, and Khrysty helped me by double checking.

What worries me about her eyes is that she would not open them last night when I went to check on her. Khrysty had me flush her eyes with salene (for human eyes) and she seemed completely fine and exhibited no problem blinking or anything of the sort. Then this morning she was fine as well, but this afternoon her eyes seemed the same as before: squinty, dry, dark and abnormal. Even when she is picked up and handled, or layed out to frolic she won't change her eyes at all. When salene is applied she blinks and her eyes return to normal.

I have no idea if the two are related, but she also began nipping on me quite a bit when she is annoyed. Of course, I'm indestructible and she can't even break the skin, but she has been biting my finger, either the whole thing or the tip and nail. I am very familiar with my girls and take them out to be handled every day, regardless of their disposition, and so I recently noticed that she has developed an overbite, and pinkness in and around her mouth. She still has a strong enough pair of jaws to bite me and I have tried in one of those instances when she is about to bite I have replaced my finger with a mealie or mealie pupa and she can bite just fine. Still this worries me, perhaps I'm a hypochondriac? Here are pictures of the big worry, her eyes.

 

[MrLeoGecko]

looks like an infection 2 me

for some funny reason 3 of mine all shed at the same time last night and i did a little test I bathed 2 of them and just left the other and i was so amazed at the diffrence a 10min soak made i usally let them eat the shed off there back, head ect but i always get it off there feet by myself and it was remarkable how much eaiser it was to get off

i no this has nothing to do with your problem but i just thought id share that

i no this might not help but would it be worth a try at giving him a little sauna for a few mins just to see if there's shed stuck in there or if they are a little dry???

sometimes there might be a little peice stuck in the corner

but i never no how leo's get shed on there eye as ive never seen a eye cap on a peice of shed maybe someone could clarafiy that for me please

 

[mindgamer8907]

Thanks for the suggestion, I usually give my little ones a bit of a soak (luke warm, I had to learn that the hard way) when they've gone about 75% through their shed to help get the toes, heads and tails free from the stuff and I gave this little girl a few extra soaks just in case.

I'm pretty sure it's not shed in the eye, my gf Khrysty has had that before and she inspected all over the eyes and she couldn't find anything in them. I was thinking maybe an eye infection but I'd think there would be some form of discharge.

I also noticed a strange behavior (which makes me question my own judgment about the shed but then, I question eveything), she was scraping her eye against the wall for a few minutes, and then on the edge of the wood in the back of her enclosure. It was distinctly after I took her out and noticed her eyes were still a bit squinty this morning. Then, around 20 minutes later, when I placed her back in and she scrambled to the back I saw her pause by the wood ledge at the back of the "rack" and drag her face (from what I could tell, mostly her eye) across it. She repeated this back and forth for several minutes. Then I picked her up again (she seems able to see still, regardless of her eye condition) and dropped some more salene in them (she, of course, opened them right away and perked up).

One last peice of info, I used her biting to my advantage today, and popped a few mealies into her mouth while she was getting ready to strike me. So she finally ate after six days of her shed fasting. If anyone knows anything else I can do without going to the vet, as I have a balance of two dollars to work with until I can sell my plasma, I would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[MrLeoGecko]

could u watch this i know it might not be any help because it say's there was no conclusion on what it was

[yt]DOn9K0r6B5s[/yt]

 

[MrLeoGecko]

it might or might not be any help what so ever but yet again it might be..

 

[sworntotheblack]

I would suggest trying to flush the eyes out as even though you can not see the skin in her eyes it may be there, especially since you said she was having problems with her last shed. With my gecko the skin was actually stuck under her eyelids so while we could not see it when she had her eyes open it was actually just getting drug across her eye every time she opened/closed her eyes. Someone suggested using a squeeze ball like you use for flushing out babies/children ears and using some sterile saline to flush the eyes out. I had to take my girl to the vet, she ended up with tobramycin and some triple antibiotic ointment. Hope things get better...

 

[mindgamer8907]

Thank you Billy, yeah I keep flushing her eyes with the salene and (knock on wood) it seems to help a little more each time. I've got a brief reprieve between classes so I think I'm going to try a little more to see if I can't coax what's in there out. Unfortunately, she's so small and my hands are too large to be very delicate or discerning with where I'm able to pull shed from. Hope it's not an infection.

 

[mindgamer8907]

I was thinking, perhaps if I made the ambient humidity in the house higher? I don't really know, I feel like she's just got dry eyes, but my other girl and Khrysty's girl are fine.

 

[Khrysty]

it might or might not be any help what so ever but yet again it might be..

Steve,
He's so scared about his little one. What on earth made you think that video would be the least bit helpful? He doesn't need to be reading/watching anything about a gecko who slowly wasted away after eye trouble. That just hurts him and intensifies his worry. Why would you even post something like this?

 

[MrLeoGecko]

because i was pointing out that it might not be an eye problem and it could be something underlying

there's no need to word it like i was trying to worry him

after all the one point of being on here is to help and get help im not going to do the opposite

 

[MrLeoGecko]

if u read the things that was said on that video then u would understand what i was trying to say. i would never try and make somebody feel bad about a animal that is a bit under the weather

 

[Khrysty]

because i was pointing out that it might not be an eye problem and it could be something underlying

there's no need to word it like i was trying to worry him

after all the one point of being on here is to help and get help im not going to do the opposite

Regardless of your intention, it didn't help. And it DID worry him. Whether you intended it to or not. We already know it might be another underlying issue, which is why this post was made. The video offers no helpful suggestions whatsoever and simply depicts a gecko dying of unknown causes. Granted, it does show that there may be underlying causes to her (Joe's gecko's) eye trouble, it doesn't really help the situation any.

I'm sorry, if this comes off meaner than it should, that's not my intention either. But if anyone has any idea about what his gecko's problem COULD be..that would be incredibly helpful

 

[MrLeoGecko]

wow someone's in a mood

and i already made a suggestion but if nobody is going to listen to me then i might aswell not make them

i also said that it might not be helpful

im realli not going to get in a strop i was just trying to help and yes i no the video wasen't helpfull but inleast im sitting at home trying to help when i could be doing something ele's

 

[MrLeoGecko]

and there's no need to be sarcastic about it either

 

[Khrysty]

wow someone's in a mood

No. That someone is very worried about one of the animals she cares for.

yes i no the video wasen't helpfull

Then why post it at all?

 

[Khrysty]

and there's no need to be sarcastic about it either

I'm not being sarcastic at all. In fact, I'm being quite genuine. I'm sorry if you misinterpreted that.

 

[MrLeoGecko]

again i never said it was helpfull i was just trying to say that it's possible it's not an eye infection and the first post did'nt say WE NO IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING UNDERLYING
so again im extremly sorry for trying to make some suggestions

 

[MrLeoGecko]

well this is realli ridiculas 2bh because it's not going to solve what's a matter with the animal

im just going to leave it to the EXPERTS of geckoforums

i really do hate it how just because some people dont breed 1000's of animals that they dont get the respect that they deserve

 

[Khrysty]

well this is realli ridiculas 2bh because it's not going to solve what's a matter with the animal

You're right. It's not. Which is why I didn't respond to the last post.

im just going to leave it to the EXPERTS of geckoforums

Considering our little "miscommunication" or whatever you want to call it isn't helping, then yes, probably a good idea. Perhaps someone has a different idea about what is causing this problem. And our argument is taking up valuable help-space.

i really do hate it how just because some people dont breed 1000's of animals that they dont get the respect that they deserve

No one here is intentionally disrespecting you. And I don't automatically respect big time breeders, either. You admitted that your "advice" wasn't really advice, and that you knew it wasn't helping. I was simply pointing out that there was no reason to have posted it.

You said you wanted to show that there could be underlying causes. You have. There was your insight, your advice, your help. I was just saying that it may have been more tactful to tell, rather than show. That's all.

Again, I'm sorry if I offended you. That was not what I meant to do.

 

[MrLeoGecko]

im not meaning me about being disrespected ive seen on a lot of other threads where people seen as NOVICES are not respected just because they might keep 1 leopard gecko

anyway thats the last im going to say on the matter and i hope that everything works out for the little guy