Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some of you may have seen my post a week or so ago about my sub adult male leopard gecko.

Long story short: Diagnosis was infection due to a bad shed. He got a nasty bilateral eye infection. Treated with triple antibiotic and will now be treated with a course of gentamycin. Daily saline rinses as well as some changes in the maintenance of the tank to ensure this doesnt happen again.

Anyway, I am quite fearful that this has left the gecko blind in both eyes...but certainly in one eye.

I tried feeding him mealworms yesterday which he did not seem interested in. I always hand feed my geckos to make sure they get the best worms, gut loaded and calcium coated.

Now, I can understand if he isnt interested as he is still not feeling great from the infection. No problem.

Does anyone out there have tips or tricks to feeding a blind gecko?

I am sure he can still see light/dark as he will move towards his warm him after placing him back in the tank...but Im not sure about his acuity.

Again, hand feeding isnt a problem so I am hoping that once he is feeling better I will be able to resume a regular mealworm schedule with him.

Any advice?

Thanks
-----
1.0.0 Leopard Gecko [Normal]
1.0.0 Leopard Gecko [Blizzard]
1.0.0 Reef Aquarium

i might wait a little longer befor you assume he is blind. and i definatly wouldnt shine any bright lights on him or anything like that. i would sit down and watch him one day in his enclosure, give him a hide with a small hole and see if he can find without pumping into anything. he might not be eating because he is tramatized and stressed out. I have an african fat tail that someone gave to me that was born with a small eye. i dont think she can see out of it and i dont think she can see to well out of the regular sized one either. she kind of pumps into thing a lot. the lady said she had her for two years and she hand fed her mealies. when i got her i only offered her crickets. i leave 4-5 crickets in her cage overnight and she eats about 3-5 everynight. in the beging she wasnt able to catch anything for a while but i guess she got the hang of it. i know she can see a little bit but i think she might also be cross eyed at the same time. she is doing well now. this may work for you but with some geckos, crickets left in a cage overnight can pester and stress them out even more. when i did try a meal worm dish she never ate any.
GOOD LUCK!

If he does end up being blind, make sure you keep his viv the same all the time. Don't move things around. I was talking to someone about thier blind gecko and she was able to figure out where the meal worm dish was after learning her home.

One idea to hand feeding, is to slice open a meal worm, and rub it on the ones you feed to him. Once he licks it and realizes it's food he will get the hang of taking them from you.
-----
www.LeopardGeckoBreeder.com

www.LeopardGeckoArt.com

6.16.1 Leos
1.0 Peach Fronted Conure
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
1.0 Pembroke Corgi
0.2 Cats
8 fish

I was wondering how your gecko is doing now. I have one in the same condition that I rescued about a month ago, and it's doing well, but it's a challenge to get it fed properly every day.