No luck with the Super Snows...

[rhac]

Oh no. I really have bad luck with my Super Snows.
One Super Snow died in egg. Now I hatched out my first Super Snow but it has some problems with its eyes. It always keeps its eyes closed and the eyes look a bit deformed.

I tried to get a macro shot of the eye. Sorry for the poor quality of the macro shot but I do not have a macro lens so I had to use an old photographers trick to get a shot (the brown stuff in the eye is probably a bit of the hatching substrate):

looks like the eyelid is not fully developed at the end of the eye.

This is how the eye looks opened, after I put some water on the eyelid:

Its sibling died in the egg and never tried to hatch. It had some deformed eyes as well. One of the eyes seemed to be a lot smaller than normal.

So what the hell is going on with the Supers? Seems like there are some more peole having problems with them. It's really painful to find this "genetic trash" in the incubator next to two very strong and healthy hatchlings from my wild caught pair. I don't know if I will do the Mack Snow pairings again next year. Let's wait for the other eggs that are still in the incubator.

Regards,
Johannes

 

[Stitch]

Eye deformities can be caused by temp spikes, so it might not be caused from thin bloodlinnes. Some also think it may be caused from the female not getting enough vitamins in her diet.

In any case it's always sad to something like this happen. Hopefully the eyelid deformity isn't bad enough to cause harm to the eye itslef and it can lead a normal life.

 

[rhac]

Eye deformities can be caused by temp spikes, so it might not be caused from thin bloodlinnes. Some also think it may be caused from the female not getting enough vitamins in her diet.

yes I know. But the interesting thing is: the Mack Snow siblings from the Supers that are from the same mother are completely healthy. So it seems to appear in hatchlings that have both mack alleles - the Super Snows.

I hope the poor litttle one will make it. If it would only open its eyes...But with closed eyes it cannot start eating.

Thx for your answer,
Johannes

 

[elphani]

I'm so sorry to hear that!

I know that Vitamin and changing Temp can cause things like that...but honestly I do not believe anymore that this is the problem!

I incubated 2 years with a very bad incubator, temperatur changed quite a bit but the normals I was incubating were very strong, healthy and showed no signs of deformities...
This year I have a lot of eggs from different colour morphs (APTOR, Sunglow, Hypo...) and I have a lot more ''problems''! The problems are not that bad... but I have kinked tails, one small eylid deformity (barely to see) and an overbite (not to see anymore). And all this from my special geckos, the normals or ''almost normals'' are perfect!

I think the more ''we'' make inbreeding, the more we will get such deformities... why should it be temp? Wouldn't inbreeding the best explanation for that? And all these morphs are full of inbreeding...

I hope so much that the rest of your SS is perfectly healthy, Johannes, *daumendrück*! And good luck for that little baby!!!

 

[Stitch]

Temp spikes can cause deformities, it is pretty much a fact.

But I do agree that inbreeding leeds to deformities as well. Maybe because some bloodlines are "thin" temps spikes tend do more harm to the incubating babies. It is an interesting theory. :main_robin:

 

[eyelids]

Man that's too bad...

 

[rhac]

Temp spikes can cause deformities, it is pretty much a fact.

Yes I know. Didn't mean to say that it's not a fact. But in my case it cannot be the problem. Or the chance that it could be the problem is low.
All the eggs in the female incubator are incubated between 78-79 Fahrenheit and the eggs need the normal time to hatch. And all the other hatchlings are perfectly healthy so I think this is not a temperature problem.

Like I said: even the Mack Snows are healthy, even from the same mother. And that's a bit strange. Because the genotype on these Macks should be more or less the same. Only difference is that the Super Mack got one more Mack Snow allele.
Maybe this is all a bad coincidence. But I never had hatchlings with deformities and I've hatched manny hundred of leopardgeckos. And the Super Snow baby that was dead in the egg had an eye deformity as well...
All I can do is waiting for the next Super Snow to hatch and see if it is deformed as well...

Regards,
Johannes

 

[lil_katiedan]

I had the same eye problem once and came up with a simple remedy. I put Terramicin (over the counter eye cream made for animals) on it each day and kept it clean with non-allergy eye drops. The hatchling grew and thrived just as well as her siblings. No clue why it would be just the Super Snows but good luck!

 

[Kotsay1414]

Do you know if the parents were from the same lines?

 

[rhac]

I had the same eye problem once and came up with a simple remedy. I put Terramicin (over the counter eye cream made for animals) on it each day and kept it clean with non-allergy eye drops.

Thank you for that tip. Maybe I'll try that as well. But isn't Terramicin an antibiotic? The eye on my Super Snow hatchling seems not angry (is that the right word?), so I think I do not need an antibiotic. Hmm...I'll think about it, for now I use physiological salt solution.

Do you know if the parents were from the same lines?

Father is a Super Snow from Alex Hue and mother is a Mack Snow from Shelly (lizardlair). But I guess nearly everyone got his first Macks from Alex because he was the first one who got them from John Mack.
So all Macks are more or less the same line. I do not know how much outcrossing Shelly did with her Macks.

Regards,
Johannes