PSA: Don't Get Coconut Fiber In Your Eye!

[Justin H]

Hey guys!

I just got back from the hospital due to multiple abrasions on my left eye. I feel like an idiot, and I want to make sure nobody makes the same mistake I did.

Yesterday while preparing an enclosure, I attempted to blow loose substrate off some fake leaves. I ended up blowing a bunch of coconut fiber dust into my eyes! Despite immediately flushing and applying eye drops, the coconut fibers tore up the white part of my left eyeball before I could get it out.

I've had similar injuries due to flakes of metal getting in my eyes while using angle grinders/cutters. Getting coconut fiber in my eye was ten times worse.

Basically, never blow into an enclosure. It should be obvious, right? I really wish I could go back and not do it. I hope that this post prevents somebody else from doing it!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Basically, never blow into an enclosure. It should be obvious, right?

Weeeell, technically, it should be a bit (but just a bit, eh, nothing transcendental) slightly obvious

Joking aside, hope you are ok man.

I don't know what could happen if I should blow inside my M.robustum enclosure, ah ah. I don't have anymore substrate there, but, before the burrow, a 'perimeter' of setae <-- Eek!

 

[Greasylake]

Well, there go my plans for the weekend.

 

[jrh3]

Hey guys!

I just got back from the hospital due to multiple abrasions on my left eye. I feel like an idiot, and I want to make sure nobody makes the same mistake I did.

Yesterday while preparing an enclosure, I attempted to blow loose substrate off some fake leaves. I ended up blowing a bunch of coconut fiber dust into my eyes! Despite immediately flushing and applying eye drops, the coconut fibers tore up the white part of my left eyeball before I could get it out.

I've had similar injuries due to flakes of metal getting in my eyes while using angle grinders/cutters. Getting coconut fiber in my eye was ten times worse.

Basically, never blow into an enclosure. It should be obvious, right? I really wish I could go back and not do it. I hope that this post prevents somebody else from doing it!

I learned this long ago from wood working, always close your eyes right before you blow.

 

[Paul1126]

I learned this long ago from wood working, always close your eyes right before you blow.

Or just wear safety glasses????

 

[jrh3]

Or just wear safety glasses????

Goggles would be better, glasses will help but I have got metal shavings in my eye once while wearing them.

 

[Vanisher]

You are a bunch of crybabies! A frind of mine was out fishing for pike in a boat with his girlfriend. The girlfriend wasnt such an avid fisherman. To make a long story short. In a cast, she wasnt observant and manage to hit his eye with a crankbait and pulled part of his eye out!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

You are a bunch of crybabies! A frind of mine was out fishing for pike in a boat with his girlfriend. The girlfriend wasnt such an avid fisherman. To make a long story short. In a cast, she wasnt observant and manage to hit his eye with a crankbait and pulled part of his eye out!

And what happened, after? He purchased a naval Cutlass and, like the pirate he turned to be, punished his girlfriend?

 

[FrDoc]

...and don’t run with scissors.

 

[Vanisher]

And what happened, after? He purchased a naval Cutlass and, like the pirate he turned to be, punished his girlfriend?

Not exactly. He got blind and depressed!

 

[darkness975]

I see an awful lot of joking, snickering, and disgusting eye related storytelling in this thread.

Coco fiber is definitely very abrasive, and if it is used substrate with urticating setae in it it is far worse.

 

[CJJon]

I see an awful lot of joking, snickering, and disgusting eye related storytelling in this thread.

Coco fiber is definitely very abrasive, and if it is used substrate with urticating setae in it it is far worse.

^This

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Not exactly. He got blind and depressed!

And maybe his girlfriend leaved him, claiming that one-eyed mans aren't cool enough?

 

[Vanisher]

Maybe, havnt talked to him for years. I knew him when i lived in Blekinge in southern Sweden and went to campus there!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Maybe, havnt talked to him for years. I knew him when i lived in Blekinge in southern Sweden and went to campus there!

Well, so you don't know if today he's still depressed: maybe he joined some 'soldiers of fortune' company for become the Swedish Moshe Dayan.

<-- Moshe Dayan

 

[Liquifin]

I hope you guys are okay after all those "accidents". Coco fiber tends to be quite different depending on what brand of coco fiber you buy. I notice that when I buy a 11lbs gardening brick of coco fiber it tends to have more sand in the mix for some reason. Making it a bit more dusty/abrasive than Zoomed or other exotic pet brand cocofiber. What I mean is that it still works great for my T.'s, but there is a small difference in cocofiber brands.

 

[FrDoc]

A simple solution: USE DIRT!

Warning - still do not blow on it with your face in close proximity after housing tarantulas with urticating setae.

 

[viper69]

Hey guys!

I just got back from the hospital due to multiple abrasions on my left eye. I feel like an idiot, and I want to make sure nobody makes the same mistake I did.

Yesterday while preparing an enclosure, I attempted to blow loose substrate off some fake leaves. I ended up blowing a bunch of coconut fiber dust into my eyes! Despite immediately flushing and applying eye drops, the coconut fibers tore up the white part of my left eyeball before I could get it out.

I've had similar injuries due to flakes of metal getting in my eyes while using angle grinders/cutters. Getting coconut fiber in my eye was ten times worse.

Basically, never blow into an enclosure. It should be obvious, right? I really wish I could go back and not do it. I hope that this post prevents somebody else from doing it!

It sounds like your blink reflexes are a little slow, this should be tested immediately with a flicky NW T right in front of your face. Trust me, this is the right choice..I read that on the internet so it must be true.

Seriously, it sounds like you need protective eyeware.

Did they give you protein drops for your eyes?

 

[Teal]

PSA: WEAR PPE.

I'm sorry to come here and state the obvious, but... close your eyes? wear goggles? Especially since you have had this problem before...

I use a Dremel with a sandpaper bit to trim my dogs' nails... And I 100% always wear goggles/wrap around safety glasses because I have seen what happens when people don't take safety seriously.

 

[draconisj4]

I've actually had this happen to me when dumping some very dry coconut fiber out of a bag into a bucket to moisten it. I got it in both eyes but didn't have any lasting effects from it, guess I was just lucky or I have really tough eyeballs, lol.