I'm not exactly sure why they do it, but I do know that they are able to flood the backs of their eyes with blood to push them out. Then they are able to allow the blood to flow back into the veins and return their eye socket to normal.
This morning I caught Dory bulging her "normal" eye and took pics.
Her bulged eye was as big as her big eye. Once she realized I was taking pictures, she let her eye return to normal.
Dr Folland and I think Dory's fat eye is caused because she's unable to pull the blood back out of her eye. So it's a reflux problem that causes one eye to always be huge, filled with blood.
Normal eye--
Bulgy eye--
Bulging eyes and black beards are two normal things for bearded dragons and they don't always signal a problem.
