stuck shed on eyes

[geckoluver4evr]

Hey guys,
I have 3 leo's and a crestie. My 3 leo's share a 20 gallon tank. They are all female. My youngest leo, a snow tremper named Pearl, cannot open her eyes. I set her up in a quarantine tank with 1 hide and a water bowl, then bleached the 20 gallon tank and cleaned everything in that. My other 2 leo's are as healthy as ever but didn't want to risk bacteria spreading if that was the case. Then I did some research on what could be wrong with Pearl and found that it could be stuck shed. I looked closely at her eyes and could just make out the shed on her eyelids. I gave her a warm bath and gently stroked her eye lids with a wet q tip. All of my geckos are incredibly tame and friendly so she gave me no issues. I removed part of the shed in her left eye but couldn't get anymore. She is able to open her eyes a little better now. She is resting in the quarantine tank right now. Is there anything else I can do for her?
she is around 9 months old. I have had her for 8 months. 20 gallon had a heating pad around 94 degrees, 4 hides (1 hide has 3 separate levels), a water bowl, food dish and calcium dish. All 3 leo's have been on paper towels thier entire lives. They are fed mealworms every other day but always have a few in their dish. No prior health problems with Pearl.

 

[Phoenix1115]

You've been doing everything right so far. My suggestion is to keep applying clean water to the eye al frequently as possible. If it stays moist she might be able to get the skin out herself

 

[geckoluver4evr]

You've been doing everything right so far. My suggestion is to keep applying clean water to the eye al frequently as possible. If it stays moist she might be able to get the skin out herself

Thank you! I'll keep that up then. I was able to remove all of the skin from her right eye and she can open both eyes fully now. However there is a filmy gooey substance covering almost the entire eye. Hopefully that clears up quickly. Most likely it was caused by the irritation from the skin and her eye bring clamped shut

 

[SC Geckos]

Glad you were able to get the shed out of his eyes. If the film does not clear up in the next couple days I would suggest taking him to a herp vet. It may have developed into an eye infection which can lead to blindness if it is not addressed early and treated properly.
Good luck.

 

[geckoluver4evr]

Glad you were able to get the shed out of his eyes. If the film does not clear up in the next couple days I would suggest taking him to a herp vet. It may have developed into an eye infection which can lead to blindness if it is not addressed early and treated properly.
Good luck.

I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. I plan on getting some pure saline drpps tomorrow if I can and adding that to my current treatment. Hopefully that clears it up somewhat. Thank you for your advice.

 

[geckoluver4evr]

Update

So Pearl can keep both eyes open for short amounts of time but I still don't think she can see. She is drinking water but won't touch any food. I gave her another warm bath and rubbed her eyes with water on a q-tip. No real improvement. I ran to walmart and bought some saline contact solution and some disinfectant eye drops for irritation and redness. I rubbed a drop of saline on each eye, hopefully a little got in, then I watered down the other eye drops and rubbed some of that on each eye as well. I cleaned her QT tank and she's still in there with her water bowl. I took a few photos today and last night for you guys. If there is still no improvement tomorrow I'll do my best to take her to a reptile vet. My dad can be really obnoxious when it comes to taking pets to the vet, but hopefully he lets me take Pearl. I'll post another update later tonight.

 

[geckoluver4evr]

Pearl is doing a little better today. She shed again and her eyes look a little clearer, she got all of the shed off of her eyes. She still isn't keeping them open very much but I'm optimistic that she will recover.

 

[katie_]

Whats your set up like? What do you use to heat the tank? I would maybe keep her seperate from the others perminately, unless you get a bigger terrarium.

 

[geckoluver4evr]

Whats your set up like? What do you use to heat the tank? I would maybe keep her seperate from the others perminately, unless you get a bigger terrarium.

Right now I've got her isolated in a 5.5 gallon tub, if she needs to be separated permanantly I'll get a 10 gallon from walmart. Her tank was heated with a UTH set around 95 degrees fahrenheit. The geckos have 1 large warm hide, 2 moist hides (1 is a hide and 1 is the bottom level of a 3 level hide) and 2 cool hides, 1 is a regular hide and the other is part of the 3 level hide, the top two levels are cool. They also have a food, water and calcium dish and a plant.

UPDATE: It's been a little more than a week since I discovered the infection. Pearl's eyes are not better. I've been begging my dad to take her to a vet but he hasn't. I just sent him a very long email explaining her situation, the pain she is enduring, and the consequences if she isn't taken to a vet. My dad took my brother's bearded dragon to the vet, why can't he take Pearl?
I have been doing a saline rinse 2x a day and giving warm baths before the rinses. She doesn't keep her eyes open much, they are still cloudy and gunky. I don't think she has much sight left, she was blundering around her tank today, bumping into things. It is HEARTBREAKING. If my dad doesn't take her I'm going to call my grandparents and ask if they will give me a loan to take her to the vet. I can't do this anymore. It is breaking my heart and it's exhausting, all of my efforts and Pearl hasn't shown any sign of improvement. She's still very active. I was able to get her to eat 1 waxworm but she hasn't touched them since. I'm doing my absolute best.

 

[geckoluver4evr]

Just got back from the vet with Pearl, my email convinced my dad to let met take her. The vet was really nice, he let me help him put a water based solution on the eyes first, then we had to stain her eyes to check for scratches on her cornea. She had none. Then he prescribed an ointment that I have to apply twice a day on both eyes. He said his son had a bearded dragon who also had an eye infection that was far more advanced than Pearl's, the eye was so cloudy you couldn't even tell it was an eye. But using the same ointment he gave Pearl, the eyes cleared up so well you couldn't even tell anything bad happened. He said I did everything right in regards to treating her myself. He said she can go back in with her "sisters" when she's better. She weighed 40 grams and was around 7.5" long. Pretty skinny but considering she hasn't eaten in 2 weeks, I expected as much. As soon as she starts eating again I'm sure I'll get her back up to her previous weight in no time. I feel much more optimistic about her now. I'm really hoping that this ointment works and I can get her back to her old self. It was so expensive though! $83. But she's worth it. I'll post another update in a couple days.

 

[Phoenix1115]

I consider $83 pretty darn cheap! My last exotic vet visit for my BPs cost me over $200. I'm so glad to hear that you go to take her to the vet! I'd suggest, though, that you wait an additional 30 days after the infection has cleared up before reintroducing her, just to avoid any possibility that she could give it to the others

 

[geckoluver4evr]

I consider $83 pretty darn cheap! My last exotic vet visit for my BPs cost me over $200. I'm so glad to hear that you go to take her to the vet! I'd suggest, though, that you wait an additional 30 days after the infection has cleared up before reintroducing her, just to avoid any possibility that she could give it to the others

30 days? Yikes! Alright, I can try that, but I'll have to get another UTH then. :|

 

[Phoenix1115]

It's just standard quarantine protocol