It's no secret I am a very outspoken proponent for culling defective animals. So, when Hestia dropped her litter and I got two Albinos and a Sunglow with bad eyes, I immediately thought I was going to need to cull them.
However ... several of my very close friends that are non-breeders and keep different varieties of herps offered to give homes to the Albinos, so I held off from culling them. Still, I was not sure what to do with the Sunglow. She had massive eyes, so massive I thought her head was deformed and she was displaying minor nuerological issues (slow tongue flicking, head tilting, etc. etc.). I called a friend of mine and he informed me that the baby was likely producing excessive amounts of ocular fluid and that I would probably need to drain the eyes myself or have them drained if she stood a chance. In the end, we decided to wait and see if she would even eat before seriously contemplating that.
So, I waited. One of the Albinos passed away a day after being born and the other (over a month later) has still not shed and the outlook for it is not appearing that great.
Which left me with this bug eyed Sunglow who I have dubbed "Oracle".
About ten days after she was born, she shed and, a few days later, one of her eyes returned to normal. A few days after that I attempted to feed her, she refused. I was thinking at this point that she was probably not going to thrive and contemplating culling again, but with further assurance from my friend, I still waited. Some days later I attempted food again and much to my surprise and delight, she took it.
Fastforward another two meals and we come to a couple nights ago. I was checking on the babies and I had notices that Oracle's remaining swollen eye was far more massive than it had been and it concerned me. I called my friend and told him I would need him to walk me through draining her eye because I was afraid it was going to rupture or cause damaging pressure against her brain. He told me I needed to go out and find the smallest gauge needle I could (which I did).
Today, I opened Oracle's bin and I was shocked to see that her other eye had also gone down and aside from some saggy skin around it (this happened with the other eye too, but eventually rebounded back in place) the eye appears largely normal - it responds to movement and light changes.
So, for now, provided she continues to thrive, I will not be culling Oracle and I am happy to not have to. However, I do not feel Oracle should ever be bred so either she is going to remain here with me or I will find a non-breeding home for her (which, admittedly, the difficulty in finding such a home is one of the main reasons I advocate culling genetically defective animals) but, in all honesty, I do not know how genetic this particular condition is. It has not only been observed in albinos and sometimes even with draining, the condition returns, but hopefully since it corrected on its own without my intervention, it will not come back.
Time will tell.
Here are some before and after photos of Oracle.
When she was born:
After her first shed:
A few days ago:
Today:
Linear Mode
