I can’t tell if he’s actually blind or if it’s something else?

Salem.boi · Mar 9, 2023

So I have a rescue bearded dragon, he came to me in a 35x17x17 tank with a single heat bulb, with red sand substrate (is now in a 48x18x18 with safe substrate and proper lighting) super underweight, with a kink in his tail (like 90° angle right at the tip), and assumed blind in one eye, and only being fed insects. getting him to consistently eat greens has been a 2 year project. He still doesn’t eat on his own, I have to tong feed him but I’m okay with that!

I recently was holding him and noticed his bad eye move and react to something I did, so I’ve been doing a couple tests to see if he can see anything, and he does seem to be reactive to light, I also noticed, upon much closer inspection that it really looks like there’s just a film that’s stuck over his eye covering it, and it looks kind of like a nictitating membrane.

Is it possible that the nictitating membrane on that eye is stuck? It’s only on one eye, hence why I am unsure. He’s between 6-8 yrs old I believe.

Regardless his eye doesn’t seem to cause him any pain or discomfort from what I can tell, he just has trouble balancing and no depth perception, but otherwise it doesn’t seem to bother him.

Any guidance or suggestions are much appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Pancake151 · Mar 9, 2023

I don’t think I’ll be able to help too much, but I’d suggest getting a picture of his eye, both the bad eye and the good eye (for comparison) and sending them here, @AHBD might be able to give you a hand.

AHBD · Mar 10, 2023

Pictures are always helpful but with an unknown injury or problem to the eye a visit to an experienced reptile vet is a good idea. If it's nothing treatable he will still be fine, most animals adjust easily to losing sight .

Salem.boi · Mar 23, 2023

AHBD said:
Pictures are always helpful but with an unknown injury or problem to the eye a visit to an experienced reptile vet is a good idea. If it's nothing treatable he will still be fine, most animals adjust easily to losing sight .

I genuinely forgot to post the photos, and was wondering why I wasn’t getting any responses

Here are the best photos I could get.
It doesn’t seem to bother him I just want to make sure it’s not something super urgent while I try to find a proper vet and save up some funds for it.