I wrote a private breeder in search of a particular leo. He emailed me pic's of an absolutely striking little girl. His offer was - 1/2 price to the perfect home due to 1 problem. She was his best looking, but she would not eat. She hatched the end of April, but only weighed 22grams. In his opinion she was absolutely normal except for lack of appetite. He was over run with leo's and did not have the time to give her what she needed. We spoke in length about her, and ended the deal on - get her up to par- or if she didn't grow to breeding size, exchange her for another. Upon receiving her on Friday, I noticed something wrong with her left eye. I emailed him about it - told him I'd watch her over the next 24hrs (hasn't been discussed though - haven't heard back from him yet). That night I hand fed her 10 waxworms - she gobbled them up. SAturday and Sunday handfed her another 5-10 daily. This morning I attempted to hand feed her from the left.. she was completely unresponsive.. until the waxie touched her face - she squealed bloody murder and high tailed it to the other end of her box. I re-offered it from the right, she ate it right up. All day today I've been testing her, and I'm pretty sure that she is blind in that eye. Her right eye is yellow with little red veins (she's albino), the left eye the more of a yellow-Grey with large purple veins - and the pupil stays dialated all of the time. HEr left eyelid seems a bit deformed also. SOOOO - I've read the net, searched the forums about blind leo's. I've read blind leo's can have shorter life spans and that some do not grow much more than the size of a hatchling. The breeder told me she was 22g... I weighed her on Friday at 14.2grams. I love her - am totally smitten, but I'm concerned. Does anyone have any personal experiences similar to this? My question is... (and yes I know time will tell..) - with tlc CAN she grow to full size (40+grams) - remember, she is already 6mo old - ? Am I getting myself into a lose lose situation? I haven't yet heard from the breeder, so I don't know if he noticed this prior, but it would definately explain her 'lack of appetite' - wouldn't you think?*Sighs*



Best Regards,

Hailey

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