Eye Bulging

It's pretty normal for some reptiles to "bulge" their eyes out. They have a little blood vessel flap they can open that releases blood into their eye sockets, forcing their eyes to push out into their eye lids. When they are done, the little flap opens again and the blood returns to the vessel.

The first time you see eye bulging, you might be creeped out. It looks like their eyes are going to explode.

I've seen it on bearded dragons, chameleons, and iguanas.

They do it if their eyes are itchy or if their skin is shedding or if there is something in their eyes or if they are bored or whatever. My beardie rescue Dory had a malfunction with the blood vessel flap behind one eye and so her eye was perpetually swollen. Turbo, my sweetheart iguana, developed an aneurysm behind one of his eyes and it was a mess every time he rubbed the eye and it ruptured. That poor iguana lost SO much blood. He eventually had to have is eye removed because it had died after being shoved up into his eyelid for so long.

So next time you see your beardie (or iguana or chameleon) and it looks like their eyes are going to bulge out of their heads, don't panic. It's totally normal. :)

Sweet Dory

Poor Dory had a hard time letting go today. The euthanasia injection took an hour to work. 

It's so hard when they aren't able to pass away peacefully and quickly. Most of the time it's because of the medicine not staying in the blood stream. If it leaks out of the blood vessel and is absorbed into the surrounding tissue, it takes longer for the medicine to be absorbed and stop the heart. 

The good news is that while I was waiting I got to watch a sugar glider surgery and x-rays on a duck. 

Poor Dory

Dory is my female beardie with the aneurysm in her eye. When the vet attempted surgery, she came close to bleeding to death on the operating table. My vet had to use a tiny metal clamp to close the hole in her vein to stop the bleeding. Because of that reaction, there's no surgical option for Dory. 

Unfortunately, her aneurysm is growing and you can no longer see her eye. She rubs her eye against her rock hide during the day and bulges her good eye out too. She's very lethargic and spends days at a time sleeping. 

I chatted with Dr Folland today and I think we've reached the point where it's time to put Dory down. Reptiles try hard to disguise their discomfort so the fact I'm seeing her run her face so often is an indication of how much she's suffering. That and her frequent black beard and struggle when I hold her. 

:( 

I know what I need to do, but I'm still struggling with the feeling that somehow I'm quitting on her. But I know if I leave her alone, she will most likely rupture her eye and bleed to death on me within minutes (a risk that increases as her aneurysm continues to grow). I expect within the next few days I will take her in and let her go. :( 

January is ending up being a hard month for losing rescues. 

Bulging Eyes

One of the creepiest things bearded dragons do (and iguanas too!) is bulge their eyes out. The first time I saw it, I thought my beardie's eyes were about to explode out of his head. 

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. 

Two Special Needs Beardies Available for Adoption

Dory, a 3 year old female, with one big eye. She eats well (though sometimes needs help finding live insects because she can only see well out of one eye). Super friendly, loves to snuggle, loves soft blankies. 

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Peanut, a 9 month old, is quickly recovering from Metabolic Bone Disease. Because of two undiagnosed bone fractures that healed badly, he walks on his wrists. He loves to be wrapped in soft blankies and snuggled. He eats great too! Because of his MBD, he hasn't been handled a lot and is still learning to be picked up without fear. I call him a "He" but I'm not 100% sure on that. 

Looking for stable loving homes for both of them. Willing to ship to right person. Must show you have complete set up (at least a 40 gallon tank). 

Message me for more details. 

Update on Mooshy, Dory, Delilah, and Peanut

All 4 of these beardies are doing great! 

Dory still has her stitches in and will for another 2 weeks. She actually can see better out of her swollen eye now even though she'll always have swelling. She adores her blankies and snuggling at night. 

Peanut is a PIG!! He still walks on his wrists but he's getting better at chewing solids with his jaw and his bones are getting stronger. He eats better and is more active now that he's alone in the tank (LilBit went to his new home on Monday). 

Delilah is perfectly fine and very temperamental. Some days, she's mellow and kind and other days (like today), she didn't want to be held and bit my finger when I wouldn't put her down. She's got a ton of personality and is ready to be adopted out as soon as I finds good home. 

Mooshy has finally started becoming active! This morning he was scratching at his tank so he could get out. He is eating more (he used to only be able to eat one superworm before he was too tired to continue) and putting on weight. I suspect he has some neurological issues going on because his aim is bad. He has a hard time catching insects because he misses them by a quarter to a half inch. 

Mooshy is getting sun therapy today! 

Except when he wants to go exploring which is a new thing for him. 

Snuggle Time

Tonight I have FOUR beardies wrapped in blankies and sleeping on my chest: Milo, Delilah, Dory, and Mooshy. Best part of the night. :) 

Dory & Mooshy at the Vet

Dory had her one week post-operation check up and I needed advice on Mooshy because he's not tolerating the Critical Care. So both of them went with me to the vet.

Dory looks great and Mooshy may have some decreased liver function that we'll have to keep watching. But overall it was a good visit. 

Here's both of them in their blankies, tucked into my shirt. They both slept most of the time. 

Updates on All 6 Sicklies

Mooshy ate a worm yesterday on all his own! He is very sluggish and doesn't move much. He has put on weight thankfully. He loves to snuggle at night. 

Dory is doing great after her surgery. She's out of her sick tank and in a regular 40. I'll feed her later today and see how she does. 

Peanut is eating on his own! He is more active but still walks on his wrists. He's such a pretty beardie. 

LilBit has SO much personality! He's doing the best. He's energetic and active all day. He eats like a horse! 

Saphira aka "Bean" doesn't move much and doesn't like to eat on his own. He has a vet appointment next week. 

Delilah is doing great. She is learning how to snuggle and be held. It's obvious she wasn't held much before. I think she'll quickly become a sweet & friendly beardie. 

Dory's Surgery

In an attempt to figure out why Dory's eye is so swollen and painful, my vet did surgery on her today. 

It took awhile to get her fully sedated. 

Even after she was "out," she had a few moments where she struggled. At one point, the top of her tail was shaking like a rattlesnake tail. 

For whatever reason, Dory has a blood vessel pooling into the area around her eye. When Dr Folland knicked the swollen area, she started bleeding furiously. It took 20 minutes to permanently stop the blood. 

The cause of the swelling remained a mystery. There was no obvious cause of the swelling. 

There are two possibilities. One, she has an aneurysm behind her eye. Two, the vessel that directs the blood out of her eye is plugged. Neither are fixable because the area is so delicate that there's no way to further investigate without the risk of her bleeding out. 

Dory had a hard time waking up. 

 

It took 20 minutes for her to start breathing on her own. 

Poor girl will be on antibiotics for another week. She'll get pain meds for a week too. 

She's home now and resting comfortably. I think she's sleeping off the after effects of the anesthesia. 

She'll stay in the sick tank for a few days until she's up and moving on her own. I'll be force feeding her too. 

Poor Dory. She should be able to have a good life after this even with a big puffy eye. 

Sad Sicklies & Bad Junie

No real change for my 3 sicklies. :( Dory will go in next week for another check. 

Mooshy is hanging on but I keep finding him in awkward positions where his body is half off the hammock. He got his 2nd saline shot today. 

 Peanut hardly moves and won't eat at all. I force feed him daily. He is gaining weight though; I guess that's a good thing. 

I did give Mooshy & Peanut a mixture of baby food mango mixed with Pedialyte today to give them something very digestible. I'll get some baby food squash next time I go to the store too. 

So we just keep plugging along. I check Mooshy several times a day to make sure he's alive. In the evening, he and Dory get kangaroo care with me (I wrap them in a blankie and tuck them in my shirt for a few hours). 

And in other news-- Junie tried to burn down my craft room today. :( He knocked his Mercury Vapor Bulb off and it burned the sheet under his "perch" area. I found the room filled with smoke as he sat calmly on the curtain rod. Bad Junie. 

This was around 11 this morning. I was supposed to leave the house at 10 for a couple hours but didn't sleep well last night and was being pokey. I feel sick inside when I think of what could have happened had I not been here. :( 

Dory at the Vet

Dory finally got to go see my awesome vet today. But unfortunately he was left baffled by her eye. 

He started by aspirating the lump around her eye and drew out a lot of clear fluid and then some blood. When he was done, her eye was flat. She was also very mad. 

Within a few minutes, her eye started swelling up again. 

And by the time my vet came back in the room, it was back to its big size. 

The bizarre thing is that there is NO infection in the fluid. He's not sure why her eye is so swollen. 

Since I am still paying off Fat Lucy's surgery and the vet bills for the last 5 rescues, I don't have the $350+ to pay for an exploratory surgery on her eye. It's not infected and it's not bothering her. So I'm going to see if I can find out more history on her this week. And maybe crowd source among my rescue friends to see if anyone else has dealt with this.

My vet says this is another head scratcher from me-- a new situation with new symptoms that he's never seen before. I'm doing a great job of bringing him cases that help him learn. ;) Two gold stars for me. 

Dory & Squirt, rescues 98 & 99

Dory is a young female beardie with a very infected eye. :( She'll be headed to the vet soon for treatment. She still has use of her eye and can see out of it. Hopefully it will be an fairly easy (non-surgical) fix. 

Squirt is a very tiny boy. Supposed he is an adult, but he's so tiny. He eats great though and seems to be friendly. He may have had a bit of MBD, but his bones seem to be firm. I'll just watch him for a few days.