Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HAS ANYBODY EVER HAD ANY EXPERIANCE WITH BLIND TORTOISES? I HAVE A T ALBINO SULCATA THAT I AM ALMOST 0 POSITIVE THAT IT IS BLIND AS CAN BE. WHEN PERSENTED WITH FOOD IT BITES AT THE AIR ALOT AND CANNOT SEEM TO FIND THE FOOD. IT DOES NOT GRAZE LIKE IT SHOULD EITHER. THE TORT. HAS BEEN HOUSED OUTSIDE FOR TWO YEARS. IT WAS TO MY UNDERSTANDING THAT SUNLIGHT WOULD NOT AFFECT THIS TYPE OF GENE. AT ANY RATE WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT? CAN IT LIVE A "NORMAL" LIFE LIKE THIS?

THATS T PLUS AND ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. IDK WHY IT POSTED LIKE THAT

I have a four year old Mt.Tortoise that was born with no eyes at all.It did better with other tortoises than alone.It bites at the air like you stated yours is doing. Its smaller than its sibling's,but not much. It stayes in a small area of a rather large enclosure,but does change locations from time to time.As far as albino's eyes in open Sun,I dont know for a tortoise but I have kept albino Bullfrogs outside in florida for 15 yrs and they do fine.I'm sure they have poor eye site but they have a way of detecting movement when they go after prey. There may be some tortoise eye experts out there that could tell you about albinism or just Google it and see what comes up.Good luck and let us know what you find out. Vic

A friend of mine hatched a redfoot without eyes many years ago. He initially thought that this tortoise wouldn't be able to survive, but the wife of one of his friends fell in love with the hatchling and decided to give it a chance.
I don't know details about this tortoise's growth rate, but I know that it grew up and is living a 'normal' redfoot life.

Good luck with your tortoise,
Gaby

EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER READ ABOUT THE T ALBINO SULCATA HAS SAID THAT THEY CAN TAKE FULL SUNLIGHT, WITH THE RUBY EYE COLOR AND ALL. WHICH IS THE REASON I DECIDED ON THAT GENE OVER THE RED EYED GENE. AFTER ALL WHO WANTS A BIG OL SULCATA IN THERE HOUSE 24/7? WHEN YOU SAY IT DOES BETTER WITH OTHER TORTOISES CAN I ASK WHAT YOU MEAN? I AM HAVING REAL TROUBLE FEEDING IT AND HAVE TO TAKE AN OLD PANCURE SYRINGE AND INJECT LIQUIFYED OPTUNA/HAY/ECT.. INTO ITS MOUTH BC IT CANNOT FIND THE FOOD UNLESS IT IS STRONG SMELLING LIKE MAZURI. IT IS VERY TIME CONSUMING. ANY TIPS ANYBODY HAS ON GETTING THIS LIL GUY BEING SELF SUFFICIANT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP TO US BOTH. ITS HOUSED WITH ONE OTHER SULCATA HIS OWN SIZE ALREADY.

The no eyed tortoise I said did better with others seemed to stay with the hurd buy sound/sent. Can you show us the tortoise? Is the other tortoise T albino. What does the seller of the tortoise say.What does your Vet.say? What did google say? It could be something else. Unless you have a hundred other tortoises, you have time. I'll try to get an answer at the Daytona Expo.There will be a lot,we'll say the best vets in the US their. You might want to get a hold of Dr.Mader that is in Reptile Mag.all the time. What State are you in,I'll try to find one close to where you live. I'll be around the Fife bros.this week. I'll run it by them. Dont give up,be its seeing eye person. Vic

no experience with vision-impaired pets, myself, but a little info about albinism:

genetically albinism is tied in with various eye problems, such as crossed or lazy eyes, vision issues like near- or far-sightedness, underdevelopment of the optic nerve, etc. etc. etc. so if your tort is either blind or otherwise visually impaired, it may have nothing at all to do with its having been in the sunlight, and it may well have been that way since birth.

I dont think he was born this way he (it) used to be way more mobile even as soon as a few months ago. He also would be able to bite at grass and actually get it into his mouth. I went to: http://www.riparianfarms.com/ Here is what I got: The Ivory Tortoises are a dark eyed form of albino African Spurred Tortoise called a Tyrosine Positive albino. It was first produced by Richard Fife in 2000. They are identical in size and care as other African Spurred Tortoises and because they have dark pigment in their eyes they can safely be put outside in the sun without worry of damaging their eyes. This is a fantastically beautiful tortoise.
I do not know the Fifes personally nor am i trying to ruin their reputation this is just what has happened. I cannot get ahold of my vet as he is in Daytona with every other lucky person. (so jealouse!lol) So if you get a chance to run this by anybody that can help i would be much appreciated. Here are some pics and the penmate is a just a het.

I'm new to the Tortoise forums having just gotten our first Star Tortoise at Daytona but have been keeping boas for over 30 years including the Nicaraguan T Positive boas. While doing the research in the late 90's on T Positive albinism, I was pointed to the University of Minnesota which has been doing research on T Positive albinism in humans since the early 70's! Of course there are differences between humans, snakes and Tortoises but the general ideas are there and can be modified for our reptiles. If you wander around this link, you'll find that there are many eye related problems connected to forms of albinism varying from very simple to quite extreme. This is not to imply that is the problem you're experiencing but the website is very informative. Here it is: http://albinism.med.umn.edu/ I do want to add that these problems can be connected to albinism but only in a small percentage of cases. Good luck and I hope this helps.
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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com

Sorry I should have made it easier to just click on the link.
Univ of Minn Link for Albinism Research

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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com