Hi everybody. I know that this is the Water Dragon forum but Basilisks require the same basic care so I was hoping there would be somebody here who could help me. A few days ago Crikey, my Brown Basilisk started to get some sticky sort of stuff in one of her eyes. It crusted over and she had some trouble opening it. I misted her cage down and by the next morning her eye was fine. I was worried but figured maybe she just poked it on one of her plants and was fine. Yesterday I came home to find both of her eyes crusted over with the stuff and her being unable to open them. She has hardly moved since yesterday and her eyes haven't improved at all. I have an appt. with a vet tomorrow but I was wondering if any of you might have a suggestion as to what this might be and any ideas on things I can do? Thanks folks
Hi There, RR was down for a while, how did things go at the vets office? Also, what UVB light do you have, some have been causing eye issues like you're describing. thanks, Michelle
Things went very well at the vet actually. She is on antibiotics right now so I have to bring her in every 3 days for a total of 7 shots. Plus I have to douse her eyes in saline solution once or twice a day. Her eyes are nice and clear again which is a relief. As a side note...somebody from another forum suggested that I use turtle drops in her eyes. Those did absolutely nothing for her. They worked the first day but they completely crusted over again within an hour and they didn't work again. As far as uvb I'm afraid I don't know. I've been using a light bar that sombody gave me and they said it was practically a brand new bulb. Now that I'm making her a new cage I've just been waiting to buy a new one for it (The other one that was given to me won't fit.) What type of uvb has been causing the problems so I know not to buy it?
Any of the ESU (R-Zilla) bulbs, the coils/compacts including the Repti-Sun 10 compact and the Repti-GLO 10 bulbs (including tube). The only bulbs I recommend are Repti-Sun 5.0 & 10.0 TUBEs and MVB's (www.reptileuv.com). I use MVB's for all my dinural guys and love 'em. Glad to hear the vet visit went well, do you have any pictures of her? I love seeing these guys!
I do have pictures but they really aren't very good quality. They were taken with a camera phone. Crikey was pretty young in this one This was taken the same day as the last one This was just taken today...I just gave her the saline treatment...She's NOT a fan of that...lol She's giving me the predator look Her new cabinet which is a work in progress. Almost done! The top section The bottom section...there's a filter in her water that splashes on the rock...makes for a nice moving water effect. I could use some advice on how to shield that lightbulb so she won't get burned. I'm going to move it back a little more into the corner but I'm still concerned she'll jump on it. and that's an outdoor light so it didn't come with a shield. Any ideas?
They sell cages for the light bulbs...fortunately my guys have figured out that it's not a nice feeling landing on the bulbs and tend to not try & jump on them any more. You can even make one out of chicken wire, just make sure it doesn't have any sharp points or edges (if you're handy). Cute lil basi you have and I love his set-up. I need to get new photos of my lil guy, he's growing up so fast! Here's an older shot of my Shrek:
He sure is a handsome fella! Looks like you've got a nice cage for them too. I'm going to Home Depot today to see about finding some sort of cage to put that bulb in. I'm sure they've got something that will work...