Blind Leo

I think my albino giant leo is blind. If I was my fingers right in front of his face he doesn't even flinch. I thought at first he just had poor aim when catching crickets but then i realized he was following the sound of them on the shelf liner. Has anyone else ever had to raise a blind gecko? Is there anything that I should be doing differently for him?

Poor little guy!! You could possibly feed him by hand if he will take it from your hand? We just did that with our Gexie the other night. You should also take him to a Vet. It could be fixable? My Fiancee rubbed the antenna of the cricket against his mouth, and he should take it. Otherwise I have no clue? I've never raised anything blind.

Are you feeding him in the dark? They are sensitive to light so that may help.

I've noticed that leopard geckos don't really have a flinch reaction, at least not tame ones. I tried to check my albino leo's vision using that method until he didn't flinch even after the paper towel accidentally hit his eye.

The albino leos I have tend to have poorer vision than the normals but make up for their bad aim with a crazy, mouth open, snapping frenzy. Your leo may not be blind, just a little impaired. If he's having trouble catching crickets then you can either feed him by hand or pinch the back legs of the crickets off to make them slower.

Thanks. Yeah my breeder said that Albinos have really bad vision in the light but will grow out of it as they mature. I started feeding him by hand last night. I guess my concern was that he would not be able to find his moist hide, waterbowl and calcium bowl if he was blind. I feed him at night but with the overhead lights on. Should I try using a night glow light instead?

Cool avatar photo you have there. Is that a black light photo?

I would feed him at night. Yes some albinos will not be as sensitive to light as the mature but that depends on the morph. Bells seem to hold on the the sensitivity, while Las Vegas don't and the Trempers are in the middle.

If it does turn out that your leo is blind I wouldn't worry about him finding his hide as long as you don't move it's location, he should learn where it is. Worms in an escape proof dish will allow him to feed when he wants, again if it is left in the same location he will find them. You can still feed him crickets or other feeders by hand if you wish.

Good advice there, Felicia. I agree. Didn't know that about the Bells. I'll keep that in mind if I ever end up buying one of those crazy hypos that Kelly at Hisss.net produces.

Hehe, Tracie, my avatar was just me having fun in photoshop. I played with the curves function until the gecko came out looking all weird. It's not my photo either, I found it online somewhere. Made it before I had a decent digital camera that took macro shots.

That is totaly cool!!! Thakns again for all the really usefull info. It really helped. I left some silkies in an escape proof dish right outside his hide last night and there were only two left this morning.

Thanks again
Tracie