blind hatchling

sajane · #1 08-02-2011, 12:39 PM

one of my new hatchlings is blind! My 1st clue is that it was standing right out in the open with the adults and not hiding. 2nd thing i noticed is that it had it's head tilted up , looking at the sky. 3rdly, when I went to grab it it did not run away and does not seem to see anything. Any ideas on what I should do?

sajane · #2 08-02-2011, 02:54 PM

I remove all babies after they hatch. The adults are in a naturalistic vivarium and bury their egg very deep in out of the way places. I have had hundreds of babies and catch them after hatching. No there is nothing over the eyes like stuck shed. Its the 1st baby iv'e had with a birth defect. I dont really want to try and hand feed it but if it cant see, it wont be able to eat on it's own.

Debbie7054 · #3 08-02-2011, 04:11 PM

Sorry I read your post wrong

MattL · #4 08-02-2011, 10:43 PM

Own any other reptiles that are predatory?
I guess if you wanted to job of hand feeding it everyday you could do so. An animal with that sort of defect should not be bred, but I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Matt

sajane · #5 08-03-2011, 03:36 PM

I tried to hand feed it but it would not open its mouth. I'm keeping the male away from the girls now. Im tired of babies! It's such a cute little thing I hate to watch it die though.

Debbie7054 · #6 08-03-2011, 05:06 PM

with my leopard geckos rubbing th food on the side of their mouths sometimes gets them to open their mouths otherwise i liquidise bugs mix them with a little calcium and use a dropper to rub the liquid along the edge of their mouths they usually lick it off.

JIGSAW818 · #7 08-03-2011, 06:52 PM

That's a keeper right there. He is special please give him an awesome life

sajane · #8 08-04-2011, 09:07 AM

this seems much more then simple blindness. has anyone seen anything like this?this gecko has his back arched all of the time and cant seem to stay upright when it is nudged into walking.it's nose points to the sky.

JimmyNightlizard · #9 08-05-2011, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sajane

this seems much more then simple blindness. has anyone seen anything like this?this gecko has his back arched all of the time and cant seem to stay upright when it is nudged into walking.it's nose points to the sky.

As far as the deformity of the spine, yes I have. I had a baby bowfinger gecko with that same birth defect with the curved spine but it died in the egg. However its clutchmate turned out perfect in everyway. It was just one of those things that can sometimes happen. Its very sad when something like this happens.....hopefully he will start accepting food from you soon. Good luck

**Riverside Reptiles** · #10 08-05-2011, 10:07 AM

There's multiple reasons that it may have hatched out like that. It could be genetic, it could be low calcium in the mother, it could be improper temps during incubation, etc. If you don't want to hand raise it as a pet, you'll need to either cull it, or find someone to adopt it that is willing to take the time to hand raise it with the understanding that it should never be used for breeding. It's one of the downsides of breeding unfortunately.