My Water Dragon wont eat *urgent*

Question
QUESTION: I have to make a new question because this is urgent. I turned the UVB so it will stop irritating her eye but she hasn't eaten in a whole day. She won't even eat freeze dried mealworms. I ran out of live mealworms and can't restock since we're having a blizzard and right now it's actually against the law to be driving on anything but state highways, freeways, or turnpikes.

All I have to feed her are freeze dried crickets, freeze dried mealworms, the can o grasshoper thing but she's never touched those and I also have this can of Adult Bearded Dragon Monster Diet but she never has touched that either. I have some live crickets but she won't go for them like she used to. I've been wiggling these freeze dried mealworms in front of her for awhile now but she won't eat.

Could this be a result putting a new uvb in too early?

Could it be that she's going to lay some eggs and doesn't have room for food? By the way, when do female Water Dragons begin to lay eggs? She's a year old about now. I know they lay eggs even if they aren't fertile just the way birds do.

She's still running around but wants to go to sleep unusually early. How long can they go without food before it becomes a serious problem?

I couldn't find any aloe vera without this chemical that numbs to sooth sunburn (started with an L) so I got some baby oil ( Mineral Oil and Fragrance ) is that ok to use on the unshedded skin?

Could she not be eating because of the unshedded skin?

Lastly I've noticed an almost transparent whitish casing that's been around her poo. Does that tell you anything?

That's about anything and everything I could come up with.

ANSWER: Hello Chase,

I don't think the UVB would cause that so quickly.  Good you turned it off for now.  Leave it off for another week or so until her eye clears up.
The stools are normally supposed to be encased in a clear type lining.  Very normal, so no worries there.  It is when it is runny, smelly or mucousy is when you worry.
That is fine, to use the babyoil, just use a small bit.  How is the shed coming along now?  They will not usually eat as much preshed, as the skin is irritating for them.  You mean Lidocaine.  :-)
Also, with the weather being cold, the barometric pressure can affect animals as they know it is cold outside.  That can affect their appetites, as well.  Did you keep power through the storm?
Female water dragons can begin to lay eggs as early as 1 year.  You wont usually see them until late stage, unless you are able to feel them once they have gone through the shelling gland & are hard.  You could get an x-ray to have a look inside her to see if she may have eggs.  
Can you mix the freeze dried feeders with some water or a bit of juice & blend it until it is a slurry like mix & dropper feed her, will she eat it like that?
I am really thinking though, that the weather is a major factor in her behavior right now.  How is her eye looking now?

Tracie


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

QUESTION: I mashed up some Adult Bearded Dragon pellets since I don't have a blender. Added some water and dropped some on her nose so she could lick it off instead of prying her mouth open. I was relieved since she actually ate something.

It's very weird right now though since she is behaving strangely. I've never seen her do this before. She is sitting up curled around with her head facing her tail, leaning to the left side with her right hand on her right leg. She is supporting herself with her left arm extended and has her eyes closed most of the time with some heavy breathing at times. If this means anything to you please tell me. The only thing I can think of is that she's injured on the right side somewhere and is sitting that way for relief.

Her left eye still gets watery and I had to rub water on it this morning to help her open it since the eye was crusted shut.

ANSWER: Hello Chase,

Oh that doesn't sound real good.  Did you turn the UVB off again?  The eye crusting sounds like a repeat of UVB exposure so let's keep it off awhile, ok?
Get some saline solution & continue to wash her eye out daily.  
That is good that she ate something for you.  
Before we began talking, how long had she been under the other light & before you started using the Reptiglo 10 what type of UVB had you used prior to that?
How would she have injured her right side?
Is she breathing through her nose or mouth?
Keep a very close eye on her.  Are her eyes sunken in or not?  Can you get her to a vet?  
If you prefer, here is my home email address:  Drache613@tampabay.rr.com

Tracie


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

QUESTION: I have had the UVB off for 5 days now. She ate 5 live mealworms yeseterday.
Before I started using the Reptiglo 8, I used a Reptiglo 2.0 coil bulb for about 8 months. I did change it once in the fall since they stop emitting UVB after 6 months or so. She never has had any eye problems since I first got her when she was a baby. She had an eye infection in her right eye but we fixed that right away.
The time between me turning off the Reptiglo 2.0 and switching it was around 4 days. I haven't had it on in 5 days.
I'm not sure if she's injured but she leans all the time, she's pretty sluggish when trying to turn around and stumbles sometimes. I hand checked her ribs but there doesn't seem to be anything sticking out.
Calcium deficiency maybe?
She breaths through her nose. I know full well what you mean by breathing through the mouth and she hasn't done that for a long time.
Her eyes look normal except the liquid on the left one.
She still runs around a lot so it can't be too bad?

Answer
Hello Chase,

How is the eye doing now?  I hope it gets better soon.  I strongly feel that she needs UVB badly.  Since she only had the Reptiglo 2 for that long, her calcium levels are most likely way too low.  Give it one more week, then try the UVB light again.  
Which one did you get again, the Reptisun 10 flourescent right?
How far did you have the UVB 8 inches from her with the bright white basking light right beside the UVB?  
Can she fully support her bodyweight the entire time on all fours?  
Unfortunately, reptiles hide their illness quite well & you don't realize how sick they are until they are almost gone.  
So, we need to watch her like a hawk to get her past this.
That bad UVB light hurt her eyes, so, they need to heal.  So that complicates everything so much more.
Please keep me posted.

Tracie