Baby dragon born blind,what to do?RIP Trooper:((

[HappiDragon]

Well, Punkin's second to last egg from her last clutch hatched this morning. Unfortunately I realized quickly upon inspection he has a birth defect of no eye at all on one side, its all sunken in like its supposed to be like that... His other eye seem smaller than a normal baby eye and I do think he is blind on that side too....

Has anyone ever had a blind Dragon? If so I would love to have your input, this lil guy is precious and if there's any chance to raise him well I want to, what to do, what not to do.... I know they are VERY visual eater so I have a great deal of concern there, right now he's just out of the egg so will probably not be hungry for a day or two....hopefully I'll have some ideas then. I will post pics when my camera batteries are finished charging.....You just can't help but fall in love with him.

sorry I haven't post much in the last couple months, inlaws and nephews were visiting for the last 7 weeks so I didn't get much computer time at all

 

[kawa798]

When I first started reading this I was like man, I want to take care of that little one just like you. I know someone that has a blind Dragon that has to be hand fed every day. The only thing is, he wasn't blind at birth so he learned how to eat. He knows when you stick food in his face to take it! The problem you have is that if the baby is blind he won't know how to eat. It'll be by chance that when offered food by hand, if he'll know to take it or not!?! That's about all you'll be able to do! If you are sure he is blind and he doesn't hunt and eat on his own all you can do is offer crickets with tweezers. Put the bait (crickets/veggies) up to his mouth, gently, move it around and see if he takes it. It'll be allot of work because he'll need several feedings a day to learn to eat and survive! In the wild a baby Dragon born blind would not survive one day. Please keep that in mind and good luck. Keep us posted as I find this very interesting...

 

[mikewithsfi]

Like kawa798 said, animals just not beardies will not survive well in the wild if they are blind or have birth defects. My advice if your beardie is blind, keep him seperate from other beardies. Many animals will hurt their own just because of a defect.

After awhile believe it or not he will get use to his enclosure, he will know where his food is if you keep it in the same spot. With that said I would not feed him live protein. Stick with frozen thawed crickets, beardie bites, pellets, fruits, veggies etc etc.. Things that dont move on him, dont rearrange his furniture either. Keep everything in the same spot, Imagine if you were blind and someone kept changing your living room.. and keep his living area low so he dont fall to far.

It will be a task, and it will be stressful. But if he adapts and survives, you will have yourself bundle of thanks.

 

[HappiDragon]

I was thinking much along those same lines, thank you I will do my very best to keep this lil guy going and hopefully teach him how to eat, that would be awesome, thank you so much for the advice and suggestions!! Pics yet to come.

 

[patrickmb21]

Cant wait to see it

 

[HappiDragon]

pics finally, had some issues with photobucket..

Too me there look like there might be something wrong with the top of his tail as well...its seems bent funny. The eye he does have on the right seems to be totally blind and as you can see its smaller than a normal baby beardie eye. He's a beautiful boy/or girl though...hoping to see him lapping up some water today, he's still got his umbilical so probably won't eat yet even if he could see, Gonna have to come up with a name for him too. If I can get him eating and Drinking and keep him alive and well, he'll have a forever home with us.

 

[Esther19]

He is beautiful! It does look like he has a tail kink. He is very special. Like humans, I'll bet he develops his other senses to compensate. Glad you're keeping him, though I'm sure that there are many of us who would gladly take him in!

 

[HappiDragon]

I have been keeping him hydrated with baths but cannot seem to get him to eat yet. the lil crickets just run right by him and over him and held near his nose he will not bite, yet. Hopefully he will very soon.

 

[Esther19]

If he doesn't eat soon, get some baby food turkey, squash and green beans. Mix the meat equally with the squash or beans. Get some repti-boost powder. Add it and the calcium and vitamin supplemens to the baby food mix. Thin with water, if needed, and offer it to him with a dropper or syringe. Drip it over his nose so that it runs down over his lips. Good luck! Keep us posted on how he is doing.

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from Health to ER

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

He is so precious! I agree with esther- liquid food would probably be better for his/her case. He might have to be syringe fed for life, but it's a small price to pay.

This is quite a different situation from yours, but here is a precious story about another blind dragon.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Hope.html (under LG's story. Daisy and Chako)

 

[HappiDragon]

Thank you for your advise, what a beautiful and touching story, thank you for sharing, your a wonderful beardie parent :love5:

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

Thank you for your advise, what a beautiful and touching story, thank you for sharing, your a wonderful beardie parent :love5:

Thank you. :love5: I loved that story too

 

[HappiDragon]

Well, last night we made a slurry of superworm guts, dandilions, vit and calcium powder, bout a tear drop amount and acually managed to get him to lick it off his nose!! We were all soooo excited to see him eat finally!! Such a relief!! He did not eat much but its deffinitly a start

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

You gotta start somewhere!!!! Now that he knows what it tastes like, maybe he will eat more!!

Does this precious darling have a name yet?