Genetic deformity?

[Hairlessdog]

I recently acquired a Male blue tegu. He eats, sleeps, and poops fine. I was told before taking him home that he has an eyelid deformity that made it so he cant open his eyes completely. It's not like I got him from someone's backyard breeding project. I got him from a known breeder around my area who had plans to breed him but thought better of it due to the eyelid deformity. Now after having him for a while I'm somewhat convinced he may be totally blind. He does try to open his eyes sometimes, like when he goes outside to soak up the hot Florida sun, but he never opens them fully. I've only ever seen the top of his eye, never his pupil or anything. So, what I'm wondering is if this is known to happen with blue tegus? His vet said he's 100% healthy. He eats like a champ, never misses a meal.

 

[Walter1]

If the lizard doesn't care (= doesn't visibly suffer from it), I wouldn't care.

Who knows if something strange happened in the egg associated with environment or genetic. However. bear in mind that a lot of inbreeding takes place by some breeders to rush a morph in type and volume.

 

[Hairlessdog]

He is a special guy. I'm sure he knows how spoiled he is
I know blues are known to be inbred. I got him whe he was about 18in long so theres a good part of his life I don't know about but he is a sweet boy. Loves attention, loves exploring, and absolutely loves to eat. I thought I was going to have to tegu proof my house lol but I had to blind tegu proof my house.

 

[Griffin]

If the lizard doesn't care (= doesn't visibly suffer from it), I wouldn't care.

Who knows if something strange happened in the egg associated with environment or genetic. However. bear in mind that a lot of inbreeding takes place by some breeders to rush a morph in type and volume.

Bit of a shame that people are willing to risk the animals life/healfh for an interesting color combination that appears aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. I knew it was very common in BP breeding , to the point where some of them bobble their heads up and down like a damn boomerang! Interesting. . . I wonder if their will ever be regulations, I assume not as the reptile industry has little to none regulations and obviously animals don’t have constitutional rights.

Either way, I must say that tegu is beautiful, hopefully one day the eye thing fixes itself!

 

[Walter1]

Bit of a shame that people are willing to risk the animals life/healfh for an interesting color combination that appears aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. I knew it was very common in BP breeding , to the point where some of them bobble their heads up and down like a damn boomerang! Interesting. . . I wonder if their will ever be regulations, I assume not as the reptile industry has little to none regulations and obviously animals don’t have constitutional rights.

Either way, I must say that tegu is beautiful, hopefully one day the eye thing fixes itself!

Been done to all sorts of animals. Money first!

Another reason why care is important in choosing a vendor, breeder, or sometimes even a breed like thise stargazing ball pythons or bug-eyed leucistic black rats.

 

[Hairlessdog]

I understand completely. I've been doing research on tegus for years before deciding to get one. A blue wasn't my first choice but you've seen his face. Can you really say no to a blind baby like that? I will never breed him. So he will live the rest of his days being spoiled and loved unconditionally. To be honest I've never had a blind animal let alone a blind lizard. Lol so I just talk to him. I let him know when he's coming out of the enclosure, when he is going to eat, and when he is going to take a nice warm bath. He pretty much on a schedule otherwise he seems to get uneasy. I don't have children but I feel like it may be similar to having a blind child.

 

[Walter1]

I understand completely. I've been doing research on tegus for years before deciding to get one. A blue wasn't my first choice but you've seen his face. Can you really say no to a blind baby like that? I will never breed him. So he will live the rest of his days being spoiled and loved unconditionally. To be honest I've never had a blind animal let alone a blind lizard. Lol so I just talk to him. I let him know when he's coming out of the enclosure, when he is going to eat, and when he is going to take a nice warm bath. He pretty much on a schedule otherwise he seems to get uneasy. I don't have children but I feel like it may be similar to having a blind child.

You have a pal.

 

[rats]

I have a blue tegu but he sees just fine -- his eyes open fully and he definitely can see me bringing his food!!! So you just have a very special tegu. Kudos to you for taking on this fella; I'm sure he will bring you as much joy as my Foley does to me. If he doesn't mind not seeing, then don't worry about it. He's already been seen by a vet and pronounced 100% healthy -- that's all that counts. I can't imagine the blind-lizard-proofing, though! (I can't let Foley run loose, we have 2 cats, one of which already traumatized one of my snakes that escaped its cage, so I wouldn't trust Foley around them.) Love to both of you

 

[Zyn]

Head wabble in the spider gene in ball pythons isn’t from breeding for a paint job. The original spider ball from Africa had it and if and was passed down. My killer bee female has a slight head wobble but it doesn’t effect her unless you’re holding her upside down, which I’d ask why are you holding her upside down lol.

Ron st Pierre brought the first blues in from Brazil, and most of our current lines are from those lines. The reason the bw aren’t as inbreed is because how easy they are to import new blood. The only true moph we have right now are albinos and Anerys. The rest are just crosses/hybrids.

Even the best breedings will have their issues, incubation issues, eggs rolling, to much or too little humidity in the incubator. He looks like a happy little guy to me.

Now there are certain genetics in the ball python world that produce life threatening diformities like kinking, bug eyes, no eyes, which are things like cinnamon to cinnamon and the desert gence which are seen as a big no no, once these combination are figured out.