how to recover a hatchling kept under a coil uvb bulb

[cowgirl4407]

I have a hatchling that just recovered from having irritated eyes from a uvb bulb. The hatchling constantly scratched its eyes and hid in the corner of its enclosure for days at a time almost comatose with its eyes closed. I looked for answers on this forum and came across threads about the coil uvb bulbs and how they damage their eyes. I started a conversation with @maggie3fan . I told her the situation and that I was already soaking in gerber carrot for an hour a day. I bought terramycin eye ointment and placed it in his eyes three times a day, soaked him in gerber carrot for an hour, and took him outside in the yard for at leat an hour a day. After 3 days of this he ate his first meal of dollar weeds and now hes eating fairly well. A complete turnaround untill I removed the bulbs and did what I was advised to do nothing changed. I do believe it was the bulb from now on long fish tank style bulbs or even better natural sunlight.

 

[Tom]

SO glad he/she recovered.

Very glad to hear a success story. Thank you.


By the way, where are all the people who used to argue that we were over blowing this "coil bulb" thing? I guess there have been enough obvious examples to convince them? Hope so.

 

[cowgirl4407]

I dont know the thread I stumbled onto was one where they were debating whether they were harmful or not. I saw maggies reply about her torts and how they were harmed by the bulbs. Without her help my little leo would have perished.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm so glad we were able to help you and your little tortoise. There are lots of folks who don't believe us when we tell them those bulbs are harmful, but some of us have first hand experience with it, and we have also read many, many threads from beginner-keepers telling us the same story.