1st deformity

[Kristi23]

I noticed last night that the baby with the kinked tail is also missing most of the eyelid on one eye. He/she can only close it halfway. The other eye is fine and has a full eyelid. I'm so upset. What will happen? Will it lose that eye? Luckily the 2 that hatched yesterday (same parents) seem to be ok so far. This little one is growing and eating about 5-6 mealworms a day. He/she is definitely a pet only, but will it be ok?

 

[Kristi23]

When I touch the babys eye area, he/she can blink, but they eye is really watery. I don't think it can keep it closed all the way. Is there anything I should be doing to help it?

 

[Mel&Keith]

Call your vet and ask if they will sell you a tube of Neo-Poly-Bac. It's an eye ointment that will keep the eye from drying out. Sometimes the deformity is bad enough when they are hatchlings that the eye ball will dry out but once they grow a little they can start blinking fully.

 

[Kristi23]

Thanks! I will call the vet and see if they have it. If they don't, is there anything else I should be doing? The hatchling is a couple weeks old now. I don't know how I missed it before. I just thought it had a smaller eye. I'll see if I can get any pics of it. So far it is able to keep it really moist on it's own, almost like it's watery. Nothing yucky is coming out or anything like that.

 

[DoubleZ]

I hope your little guy does ok.

 

[Kristi23]

Someone newer at the vet just gave us a number for an exotic animal vet a hour away.:main_rolleyes: I'm not thrilled with having to take a 7 gram gecko on a long car ride. We'll be calling them Monday to see if we can just e-mail a picture, but I doubt it. Our regular vet (who we take our dogs to) didn't seem to know anything about geckos.:main_angry: Luckily it hasn't seemed to bother him/her at all. I just want to make sure the eye will be ok.

 

[Mel&Keith]

I would call back and ask to speak to the vet or someone else. It's commonly used for dogs and cats so every vet should have it. Maybe if you just explain that you're trying to take a precautionary measure and that you know what's wrong they'll just sell you a tube. It seems silly that they'd make you drive hours for a $5 tube of eye ointment. If the eye looks fine and it's eating and shedding you may not need it anyway but it's a good medication to have on hand.

 

[Kristi23]

Maybe someone else will answer Monday. They leave early on Fridays, so I'm not even sure the regular vet was there.

This poor baby has multiple things wrong. First is the eye. We did see it today with it closed most of the way. I have no idea how with the weird missing eyelid, but it can close most of it. It also has some weird overbite that my husband says looks like a beak.:main_rolleyes: And then the kinked tail. I wish I knew why this all happened. But since he's eating and shedding fine, I think he'll be ok. He's just going to stay here with us permanetly.

Here are some pics I got. The flash sort of washed him out, but you can see the eyelid issue and the overbite thing.

Good eye:

Bad eye:

Top view:

It's almost like he has part of an eyelid, but not the whole thing. He can open it further than in the pics and close it more than that, too. He's eating about 5 worms at night on his own (finds them himself). He was only about 2 grams when he hatched and is up to 6-7 grams now.

Anyone have a gecko like this that was ok? I'm so glad the other 2 from these parents are ok, but I wish this one was, too. I'm such a worrier by nature, so this sucks.

 

[fallen_angel]

I am so terribly sorry to hear about this Kristi!! I haven't had a gecko like this, but I have seen eye deformities much worse where the gecko turned out just fine. Best wishes to you and your little one, and hopefully you can get that eye ointment without too much of a hassle. :heart:

 

[Kristi23]

Thanks Jess.

 

[FelanMoira]

If you have a Tractor Supply Store or other Feed store, you can probably pick up Terramycin Eye Ointment - the Exotic Formulary I have doesn't have any contraindications in it unless someone like Marcia knows of any.

 

[Crazygecko]

Despite all his deformaties. He is a very pretty gecko. And I wish you the best of luck with that little guy.

 

[Kristi23]

Thank you! I actually saw him with that eye closed this morning! I don't know how, but I was happy. He/she also ate 7 worms last night. So I think he'll be ok.

 

[scintillatingstar]

does he have an underbite? lol sorry if he doesnt, it just looks like it in the pics. His eye will hopefully be ok, we had a similair problem but the eyelid only has a 'nick' in it where its missing, not the whole thing

 

[fallen_angel]

Glad to hear that he is eating well and can cloze that eye!!! Best wishes to you and the little one staying well :heart:

 

[cwazy]

thats awesome... i like em!!! nice looking gecko dispite the issues... best of luck with em!

 

[Kristi23]

Thank you! Yes, the mouth is a bit messed up, but it doesn't seem to bother him with eating.

 

[ElapidSVT]

umm.
that's a cull. euthanize the poor thing.

there's absolutely no point in keeping a deformed amimal alive as it's not good for breeding stock and really indicates poor husbandry with the parents as well as being cruel to the individual. euthanasia is a necessary fact of life when breeding any animals. if you can't handle that, don't breed animals.

my 2¢
ymmv

 

[Halley]

I hope he starts to do better.

It seems that he is getting better from your descriptions. :main_thumbsup:

 

[Kristi23]

Why put to sleep a baby who can eat, shed and go to the bathroom by itself? I said that he can even close the eye right now. He will not be bred. Not all my geckos are. If it was causing problems, I would have put him down. But just because he's not "pretty" doesn't mean he should die.:main_rolleyes: