Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last Saturday I sold a year old female blizzard lizard to a customer. Today I get this email:

"I also wanted you to know that the female that we bought has only half iris' in both eyes and can not see very well at all. the pupils do not dilate nor constrict especially in the daytime. we took her to the vet on saturday and she said that it is probably hereditary and not a good idea to mate her."

I haven't heard back on my reply yet but I was wondering if anyone else has ever heard of a half iris.

Steve Schindler

...and should not be bred and if it were mine, it would not have even left my door. I wouldn't even sell it for the pet trade as many people have started breedering with pet store geckos. Since they have asked their vet about breeding, you should make sure you get it back as soon as possible. They may get attached to it and decide to keep it and eventually breed it.
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Rick-Geckoland USA

what does this look like, and how would I tell if one of mine is affected?
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1.0 Blizzard Bill
1.0 Hypo stripe, Het Rainwater from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino (Cloud)
0.2 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Pepper, Goldie-now w/SD)
0.1 Normal (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.1 Tremper Albino (Leucy)
2 screamers born 3/15/05
RIP Peaches, Ghost
6 babies
12 eggs a-cookin'

How do you know it is a "defect" or "trait"???? Do you know that it is pretty common to have a leo with black eyes???? Does this mean it has no iris at all???? Ofcorse not.... It is not uncommon to see a blizzard with what appears to be a half of an iris.... The fact is, it is not a half of an iris.... It is just a half of an iris that is jet black..... There is nothing wrong with that blizzards eye....

I love when people just talk like they know what they are talking about but in actuality, they have no clue.....

Hmmm, I have never heard of that before, how interesting. I wonder how this will play out....keep us posted!
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

I would love to see photos. You don't have any, by chance, do you?

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

I love when people just talk like they know what they are talking about but in actuality, they have no clue.....

The customer wrote;
"I also wanted you to know that the female that we bought has only half iris' in both eyes and can not see very well at all. the pupils do not dilate nor constrict especially in the daytime. we took her to the vet on saturday and she said that it is probably hereditary and not a good idea to mate her."

Their vet saw the leo, did you? Or do you just assume a woman can't be much of a vet? Looks like you just talk like you know what you are talking about but in actuality, you have no clue!
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Rick-Geckoland USA

It's really common for blizzards to have black or partailly black irises. They can see fine, the black color just masks the pupil. There is nothing wrong with these leos!

Here's some shots, the first is of my one of my female's eyes, and the second is of one of my male's eyes. Both his eyes are almost completely black. Both have normal vision.

-Alice

Well there you go Rick.... Alice just posted proof for me.... Thank you Alice..... So Rick, do you want to restate anything????? There is also another part to the story.... The vet they took it to was not a reptile vet.... Not all vets are created equal..... If a vet is not specialized in reptiles, they are not worth anything when you bring your reptile to them..... The fact is the iris is intact..... It is just black or "marbled".... It is very common and it does not cause any vision problems..... I have seen this many times in blizzards..... And so has alot of other people.... Anything else I can enlighten you with there Rick????

I will say it again.....

I love when people talk like the know something, but in actuality, they know nothing....

>>The vet they took it to was not a reptile vet.... Not all vets are created equal..... If a vet is not specialized in reptiles, they are not worth anything when you bring your reptile to them.....

I completely agree to this point! I've heard vets tell people that sand is perfect for leos, that leos need as much UVB as my bearded dragons, and I heard one say that it was OK to give my iguana crickets.... One was giving advice at a pet store and argued with me when I corrected her... and another one was my own vet when i started caring for reptiles...needless to say I found a new vet!
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

If we didn't breed animals with "genetic traits" all we would have is normal looking animals, and even they have "genetic traits". In fact I am pretty sure that every living thing on the face of the earth has "genetic traits" does that mean we must stop breeding everything, including ourselves? I am making light obviously but my point is that just because it is a genetic trait what does that have to do with not breeding it. Do you have evidence that it is a harmful trait and that it in some way has a negative impact on the animals well being. If not, what would be the harm in breeding it.

Steve Schindler

Not everything is genetic...there is also congentital. The congenital defect have nothing to do with genes and won't be passed on. An example would be the poor geckos with incubation problems that come out missing eyelids.

Very true, but I was refering to Ricks post where he said it was a genetic trait and should not be bred. I was simply pointing out that every living thing has genetic traits and not all of them are bad or have negative effects. Going on your post though, suppose a trait is congenital, would it be OK to breed this animal since whatever trait is not genetic in nature it could not be passed on. Of course this assumes that you know the trait is congenital which without actually breeding the animal I don't know if it is possible.

Steve

Yup, that's the one problem. You really won't know if it's genetic or not until you breed...and it can take a couple generations to show itself again. I don't think it's worth finding out if it's genetic or not when it comes to obvious defects like kink-tail (jury is STILL out on that one), turnip-tail, and others.