Sunburn

[acpart]

Imagine my surprise this weekend to discover a 2" in diameter discolored patch on my 9 year old beardie's back with a small area leaking clear fluid. Discussing it with some people at the show today confirmed that she has been burned by her basking light, which is weird to me because she's had the same light and the same hammock for quite awhile. At any rate, I've been told to put some bacitracin on it and I've temporarily removed the hammock. Once she heals (she already looks a lot better) I'll off-set the light so it doesn't shine directly on her back when she's up there. Just wanted to share my experience so it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Aliza

 

[RyuuKirin]

ow! poor girl! sounds like you caught it before it got too bad though?

 

[acpart]

She seems to be doing OK. She's a bit quiet now anyway due to the season, but I caught her at her veggie bowl this morning.

Aliza

 

[LaurenceH]

I'm very sorry to hear about your dragon. It sounds like you are handling the situation well, though. I'm glad you are bringing attention to the issue because it actually is a little discussed topic.

This is common with larger reptiles and high wattage bulbs. A lot of people think they need higher wattage for higher temperatures, but this is actually a dangerous misconception. For larger lizards this is especially a problem, because it is more difficult to heat the larger space in a larger animal's enclosure. Many people choose to compensate for this by using a high wattage bulb reasoning that it will keep up the temperatures better. In reality it is better to have a row of several low wattage bulbs across the basking area if high temperatures are required. This way there is no focused hot spot that can burn the reptile.

 

[coker101]

Imagine my surprise this weekend to discover a 2" in diameter discolored patch on my 9 year old beardie's back with a small area leaking clear fluid. Discussing it with some people at the show today confirmed that she has been burned by her basking light, which is weird to me because she's had the same light and the same hammock for quite awhile. At any rate, I've been told to put some bacitracin on it and I've temporarily removed the hammock. Once she heals (she already looks a lot better) I'll off-set the light so it doesn't shine directly on her back when she's up there. Just wanted to share my experience so it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Aliza

You must be using a bulb that concentrates the light in a small point. I used to use one like that but my dragon would not site under it because the heat was too strong in that one small spot…about 2” in diameter. I switched to a different kind of bulb…one that looks like a regular light bulb and have had no issues since. This has been my experience anyway and maybe not all brands of those bulbs are dangerous but I quit using them for that reason.
Bad =

Good =

 

[RyuuKirin]

Ryuu has a basking area and on the other side of her area, a ceramic heater... I hate having two lamp fixtures, but w/o it, she'd end up burning herself trying to stay warm =/

 

[acpart]

I changed the bulb from 75 watt to 50 watt and she seems much better.

Aliza