desert spiny lizzard

Question

EYE   QUESTION: back in June my sister found a Desert Spiny Lizard , my son wanted to keep it .so i let him he finally decided to let it go after getting a bearded dragon for Christmas. well yesterday he found the lizard again in a tree it ended up under a trash can in the street well he didn't want it to get ran over so he tried to get it again. it took off running all crazy (yeah i know duh) then all of a sudden it stopped and both its eyes were all bloody. could this be normal? is there any hope? it doesn't seam to be able to see. the blood is crusted over one eye and we can't really tell with the other one as there is a piece of sand covering it

ANSWER: Hello Shawna,

Wow he really hurt his eyes!  If you are keeping him in a tank with sand, take the sand out & replace that with paper towels or non adhesive shelf liner.  You can get some sterile saline solution to help wash his eyes out.  
Is he eating anything?  If he is not eating, you can get some chicken or turkey babyfood & use a plastic syringe or plastic dropper to drip food onto the end of his nose to help him out.  
The only lizard that I know of that shoots blood out of his eyes is the horny toad lizard.

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for answering! we are keeping him in a tank with sand but we also have two turtles with him. he lays on the turtles. should we separate them? he has been moving around but he has not ate that i know of in three days. i got 3 bugs today and tried to feed him. he did not eat. i used tweezers to hold one of the bugs it kept crawling on his nose but he would not eat it. and one of the turtles ate one of the other bugs. i haven't seen the pincher bug or the other one since i tried to feed him but they could be hiding. what about we hay some rocks and a piece of tree do we take that away from him also? where can we get  sterile saline solution?

Answer
Hello Shawna,

I would go ahead & get him in his own tank since the environment for turtles & lizards are usually a little bit different.
You will need to get him setup with a UVB light such as a Reptisun 10 tube bulb.  Here is a good link you can get it from, for much much cheaper than the petstores:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-rept

They do need a full spectrum light that includes UVB to avoid them getting metabolic bone disease.  He also needs a basking spot of around 90 or so, & the temperatures should be measured with a digital probe or temp gun for the best readings.  The cooler end should be around 78 or so.  That way he can thermoregulate & cool off if he needs to.  The UVB only needs to go 1/2 to 3/4ths of the length of the tank.   
You can leave a potted plant or type of cactus in for some moisture.  Try misting the leaves for moisture & a little bit of humidity in the tank.  A small water dish would be ok too, though I am not sure he would drink from it, but you never know.
A basking light such as a regular household light bulb will be fine for him.  It will need to be placed at one end, & the UVB tube light needs to go directly beside it to protect his eyes.  It also encourages him to bask while getting UVB's so he will heat & UVB all in one focused area, with a diffused UVB exposure through other parts of his tank.

Do not leave any bugs or insects in the tank with him for extended periods of times as they will bite him when he is sleeping & leave some nasty bites or infections.  Have you been leaving any type of bugs in with them in the tank?  What type of pincher bug are you referring to?  Is that a possibility that the pincher bug damaged his eyes?  It is just a thought.  Can you post a picture of the pincher bug for me, or do you know the name of it?

If he is not eating, you will need to get some chicken, turkey or beef babyfood & get him to try & eat that.  You can use a plastic dropper or a plastic syringe to feed him with.  Are you using any calcium supplementation for him as well?

You can leave a couple of rocks for him to bask on, as well as a little tree as long as it doesn't have thorns that could have hurt him possibly.  What type of substrate is he on, sand, peat moss, eco earth?

You can get the sterile saline solution from the drug store, or the pharmacy area in walmart.  It should be where the eye drop area is.  

Also, your turtles do need a full spectrum UVB as well to keep them from getting soft shell disease due to lack of UVB expsoure & calcium absorption.  

Reptiles & amphibians cannot properly absorb calcium or synthesize D3 without UVB exposure to complete the chemical process.  It is very important for their health, overall.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Oh, I would get at least a 40 gallon tank for him.  That should be large enough.   

Tracie