Dragon not eating, eyes closed, lethargic

My dragon Chiyo was and still is (I suspect) impacted. These past two days, I've been giving her Paraffin oil (yesterday 2ml, today 3ml) and it's worked wonders. She passed quite a bit of poo yesterday and a tiny bit today. I can still feel some lumps in her lower tummy though.

I've noticed though that she's not taking any interest in her food. She's also sitting there with one or both of her eyes closed and has become quite lethargic. Her skin's also turned rather dark and she seems to be losing her scales one by one rather than shedding completely. She's also gasping but I think it's more of a hiss.

I was wondering if I should continue using the paraffin oil to clear her impaction or if I should give it a rest for a bit.

There are no vets who will take reptiles in my area.

Information :

Age of dragon : about a year
Terrarium size : 1mX50cmX60cm
UVB light : Reptisun 10.0 (3 months old)
Temperature for basking : 40-42°C
Coolest spot : 30°C
Feeders : crickets
Baths : daily (often two or three)
Substrate : wallpaper

Thank you.

Is the Repti-Sun bulb a compact or strip fluorescent? What distance is this particular bulb? Is it right alongside a bright white basking bulb?

Sorry, I got that wrong it's a repti-glow 10.0. Like this one :

Thanks for filling us in on that. Sure seems like you found the answer then as the compact bulbs are notorious for causing eye problems, lethargy & loss of appetite. Even the Repti-Sun coil is not a good UVB bulb. We only recommend the Repti-SUN 10.0 strip fluorescent or the Arcadia brand bulbs.

It is a condition called photo-kerato-conjunctivitis and I've read that it is very painful for them causing it to feel like they have sand in their eyes continuously. You can read more about it & view some pictures here: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

Please turn the UVB off right away to try to give his eyes time to heal. It can take anywhere from a few days to even a wk or so for them to get better. If his eyes don't look any better in a few days, let me know and I will tell you about some drops that you are use that would be soothing for your beardie.

Had you been using the UVB alongside a white or colored bulb or were you using a ceramic heat emitter instead for the heating? Do you happen to know how close the UVB was to him?

I've been using it along with a daylight basking heat lamp hung from the ceiling :

That's good that you switched to a white basking bulb, I remember you were using a CHE before.

How close to the top of his head is the coil bulb? Have you turned it off to try to help his eyes out? That's VERY important so as to prevent further damage.

The UVB is about 6 inches away from her head. She's asleep now, so I turned off the light. I was always told that repti-glow 10.0 were a good bulb! I feel really bad now...

Good that you turned off the UVB. Actually NONE of the coil bulbs are good and even the Repti-SUN coil bulb isn't good. I'm so glad we got to the bottom of the problem.

How long had you been using the coil bulb?

How long has it been since she's eaten and what did she have?

About two months now but I only really noticed the problem a week or so ago. It was only her right eye at first and she was often turned to that that was the eye looking out of her terrarium; I assumed that she was afraid of me or something.

Two days ago, she started doing it with both of her eyes. It was about the same time that I started to use the paraffin oil, so again I assumed that was the cause. I took her out of her terrarium today because it was warm out and I took her outside. She opened her left eye out there and even her right one for a bit but not for long.

The last thing that she ate was a little apple sauce. The last thing of any consequence was a cricket.

I'm sorry that you were misled about a good UVB light. Was it someone at the pet store that recommended the coil bulb? What UVB did you have prior to that or have you only had her for about 2 mos?

Hopefully the eyes will improve quickly since you only noticed the symptoms until a wk or so. The sun must have irritated her eyes too, poor thing.

Has it been about a wk or so since she ate the cricket? Have you tried handfeeding her a cricket? If you have and she wouldn't open to even look at it, I would suggest picking up some chicken or turkey & some squash or sweet potato baby food. Mix a little of both together and thin with a little water if too thick. You can even add a small pinch of calcium to the mixture and then heat it in the microwave to just take the chill off. Use a plastic medicine dropper and put drops on her nose for her to lick off. It might take her a minute to try it but once she gets a taste, she should really like it. That way she can just lick it off with her eyes closed. Let me know how it goes.

I had a UVB light like this one actually two but they kept on burning out in about two months so I changed models :

It's been about a week, she's still trying to clear that impaction. Some of it's still there, I can feel it in her tummy but I'll try that tomorrow morning.

I got my light off of amazon (considering this research dates back a little, there's an argument that says that they shouldn't be selling it) but before that the guy I got my dragon from suggested the light (I don't think he had any problems) and I saw it rated as a good light on several sites.

I've never seen or heard of the Bright Sun MVB before. Too bad that the guy you got her from recommended the coil bulb. The person that posted at Amazon is right, they shouldn't be selling them.

If she had been impacted, had she been avoiding the basking spot? Are you thinking that a particular feeder caused her to get bound up?

I'm pretty sure it was the meal worms that did it. She's been sitting in the basking spot because it's the warmest part of the cage. I'd give her the paraffin in the morning, so she had the whole day to work it through her system. She'd then half climb onto a rock with her eyes closed (one or today both) and just stay there for the rest of the day.

Oh ok, mealworms do have a chitin shell which makes them hard to digest. Good that you switched to crickets. Have you thought about getting her some silk worms or hornworms? Those are easy to digest, nutritional & help put moisture into their systems.

Sure hope her eyes start to improve tomorrow. The baby food will be easy for her to digest too. What type of thermometer have you been using?