# Blind gecko?



## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

Hi there, we got a pair of gecko´s last friday. The female is ok, eating well, but the male is not eating and we have a feeling that he might be blind, or spot blind. he seems to react on big movements (like sticking your hand in the viv with food) but when you actually try to give him food, he seems to not see it (sort of doubt that he wouldn´t care about food after at least one starving week). Any ideas what to do? How to test his eyesight or how to feed him?


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## bw89 (Jan 11, 2010)

Hi

Im assuming its a leo, if so what are you feeding the Gecko? If you are feeding crickets i would get some mealworms in a dish, seperate the Geckos in order to monitor the male feeding and give him the bowl of mealworms and leave for 24-48 hours, obviously still cleaning the viv and water. If your mealworm bowl is escape proof and you count the mealworms you put in you can easily determine weather the gecko is eating, and if he is blind as he would hunt by sight. 

I doubt he is completely blind, as he can obviously see shadows if he reacts when your hand goes in, but in order to feed he would have to see enough detail to notice the mealworms moving.

Another thing is, are you 100% sure you have a male and female. 2 males will fight, resulting in one of the Geckos to stop feeding, and fighting may result in one Geckos eyesight being compromised.

If you notice swelling, secretions, or other disorders with the eyes, a good reptile vet is needed and the Geckos must be seperated anyway.

Hope this helps:2thumb:


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

what kind of gecko is he?


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

he is leo gecko, he is separated now anyway as we got him and his mrs from canada, so for about a month we will have them separated and then the females will go in big viv and he will have the smaller one just for himself. 

We tried both, crickets and mealworms and we did try to put the worms in an escape proof bowl, but we put there 4 and about 30hrs later there were still 4 :/ Hard to say really, his eyes are black as night (the females have snakey eyes so you can see their pupils getting thin or wider).

Only thing he´s doing is hiding for most of the day or lying in the vermiculite bed (he kicked most of the vermiculite out anyway).


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## andy1234 (Feb 19, 2009)

My leo is partialy blind and i feed him useing tweezers and put it right in front of him, as soon as it touches his nose he figures out what it is and grabs it. Might be worth trying that locust are easyer to hold in tweezers.


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

andy1234 said:


> My leo is partialy blind and i feed him useing tweezers and put it right in front of him, as soon as it touches his nose he figures out what it is and grabs it. Might be worth trying that locust are easyer to hold in tweezers.


Will try that in the evening. The thing is, that he´s about 1year old, a little bit small for a male, but still, you can see he was growing, so I wonder how they fed him before.


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

Mine is like this too, i got him 3 or so weeks ago, and he has black eyes too, he will only eat things i wave in front of his face with a tweezer  and even then, his aim is terrible xD


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

I´m sort of glad that we are not the only ones with such eye troubles  he was on the move about half an hour ago, so I cleaned his viv and tried wormie, but he didn´t even try to lick it. Now he´s about to shed so he won´t be in the mood for muchies anyway. For how long can be gecko without food? I just don´t want him to die, I want him to be happy as the girls are.


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

depends on how thick his tail is, thicker tail is good....you may want to get him checked over by a rep vet


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

well he is munching his skin just now, so will try to feed him over the weekend and if not, will have to go to see the vet I guess. 

Is he gonna be useful for breeding? You know, partially blind...will he find his way in?  Cause Orange Face (the one on my avatar picture) saw him today through the glass and I would say she was well excited, waved her tale like saying "oh, who´s is this sexy neighbour!" )


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

they prolly use scent more then anything, but if he is really partially blind it may be genetic, and so i dont think thats good ;-; maybe ask int he lizard/breeding section?


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## Big Red One (Oct 17, 2007)

Hiya,

I have a 100 percent blind Leo and have had him over 2 years.

I realised he was blind over time, his breeder hadn't noticed but I got him fairly young. He wasn't feeding and I noticed his eyes were almost always open and a bit cloudy. I think he had some sort of infection in his eyes early on I his life but either way 'blind Billy' is what he is.
If yours is reacting then I wouldn't have thought he's blind, some Leos just don't show a great hunting reaction. Some of mine won't bat an eyelid when something walks past them a lot of the time.
I'd suggest leaving a bowl of mealies in for him (count them - say 20) and see if he takes them. Even if he is blind he may find them by scent.
Billy doesn't and he has to be hand fed. He gets mealies and roaches off tongs, I have to touch them on his snout, he then snaps at them and takes them no problem then. In fact he feeds better than some none blind ones !

As for breeding him, basically if there's ANYTHING that is suspect about him then he shouldn't be bred. Certainly if it's blindness it could well be genetic, so that would be a big no no....


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## colicabcadam (Jun 5, 2011)

Munching his skin?

That to me means he has moulted, which would be why he wouldn't eat....

If he was blind, he'd be walking into things. You say his eyes are black, is this in a light or dark room, shine a touch at him and see if they dilate.

I doubt he's blind though, their eye sight is not like a humans (we see front), from my experience they see more sideways, so putting food directly in front of them doesn't help (IMO)....


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## Redneck Herps (Jun 1, 2011)

They don't tend to feed while shedding. Seems to me . He is fine. It should start eating on it's on in the next day or so. They are normally used to feeding in the dark . So if it is a lot of light in the room. I feel that is the reason their aim is off at times. If he has a good thick tail. He should come a long in a day or so.


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

Thanks guys, will keep you posted  I know they don´t tend to eat while they shed, but the Orange Face seems to eat all the time, you just notice that instead of 7-10 worms per day she will eat about 4ish. Will do the eye check if he´s reacting to the light in the evening and may try another feeding. Yesterday my OH tried, waved it in front of him, he licked it, but that was it, so maybe during the weekend he will get better.


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## jogobellka (Jun 12, 2011)

Just letting you know that he finally started to eat  he didnt find the bowl, but when i placed the worm on the floor in front of him, he ate them (5 of them)


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