Question About My Beardie's Eyes

[Karoo2024]

Hello all! A little while back, I noticed that Karoo's eyes looked a bit odd. The very tops of both his pupils are open, and it looks like the black of the pupil is spilling out (that's the best way I can describe it, anyway). He seems to be able to see fine, so I didn't think much of it until I started really looking at other beardies and saw that none of them had this. Is this something to be concerned about?

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello all! A little while back, I noticed that Karoo's eyes looked a bit odd. The very tops of both his pupils are open, and it looks like the black of the pupil is spilling out (that's the best way I can describe it, anyway). He seems to be able to see fine, so I didn't think much of it until I started really looking at other beardies and saw that none of them had this. Is this something to be concerned about?
View attachment 93788 View attachment 93789

Looks like hes going to shed around the eye

 

[xp29]

Hello all! A little while back, I noticed that Karoo's eyes looked a bit odd. The very tops of both his pupils are open, and it looks like the black of the pupil is spilling out (that's the best way I can describe it, anyway). He seems to be able to see fine, so I didn't think much of it until I started really looking at other beardies and saw that none of them had this. Is this something to be concerned about?
View attachment 93788 View attachment 93789

That's something I've started seeing lately, some breeders have taken to calling it cat eye.
I don't know it to be true but I suspect it's a side-effect of breeding for the translucent gene. As far as I know it isn't causing any issues thus far.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I would have to agree with xp29 on this. I personally can't vouch from experience but have seen more
cases like this crop up here. I have never been a fan of breeding anomalies due to reasons such as this.
I think breeding normal morphs with natural colors is the way nature intended. When you start breeding
specialized morphs is when genetics start to cause odd effects.
As long as he can see & doesn't seem to have any trouble with his eyes, I would say it should be just fine.

Tracie

 

[Karoo2024]

Thank you all for the replies (@KarrieRee @xp29 @Drache613 ) ! Fortunately he does seem to see quite well so I’m glad that he should be okay then. If it’s a side effect does that mean he must not just be a normal morph? I really don’t know much of anything about morphs but when I got him I was told he was just a normal bearded dragon.

 

[xp29]

Can you post a few pictures of him. Try to show his nails, his belly, his tail from above and a general picture from above.
Some morphs like leatherback or dunner are dominant if he has them they will be displayed. If the dominant genes aren't displayed they do not carry them. Others like hypo, trans, zero, witblits ect are recessive and will only be displayed if he got a copy of the gene from both parents. Those may or may not be displayed. If he gets a copy from one parent and not the other that is called being het (heterozygous) if thats the case the only way to know if he has those genes is to breed him with another that is known to carry it. It's called proving them out. We can't tell you any hets he may carry but with pictures we can tell you any morph that is displayed.
Colors are not morphs.
Morphs can be reproduced reliability.
Color is more like melting some crayons and swirling them together, you kinda have an idea but can not accurately predict or reproduce them.

 

[Karoo2024]

Can you post a few pictures of him. Try to show his nails, his belly, his tail from above and a general picture from above.
Some morphs like leatherback or dunner are dominant if he has them they will be displayed. If the dominant genes aren't displayed they do not carry them. Others like hypo, trans, zero, witblits ect are recessive and will only be displayed if he got a copy of the gene from both parents. Those may or may not be displayed. If he gets a copy from one parent and not the other that is called being het (heterozygous) if thats the case the only way to know if he has those genes is to breed him with another that is known to carry it. It's called proving them out. We can't tell you any hets he may carry but with pictures we can tell you any morph that is displayed.
Colors are not morphs.
Morphs can be reproduced reliability.
Color is more like melting some crayons and swirling them together, you kinda have an idea but can not accurately predict or reproduce them.

Here’s some pics. The little guy was not very happy (as I’m sure you can tell lol) he’s in the process of shedding and had to get a bath today. Thank you for the info on morphs !

 

[Karoo2024]

 

[xp29]

Ok he looks like he might be a genetic strip. It look like his stripes continue down his tail which is an indicator for that. O see his nails have the black line so he isn't hypo. His belly isn't see through so also not translucent. His scales are arranged evenly and the chevrons on his tail aren't broke so not a Dunner. It's hard to tell in the pictures but it looks like he may be a leatherback. If so he'll have much smaller scales and be more pleasant to handle. He is for sure gorgeous
As far as any hets the only way to know is through breeding ir tracking down the breeder to ask.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Wow, that is a very interesting marking & scaling of your dragon. It's hard to tell
exactly what he is, possibly a leatherback as it does look like he has some reduced scalings, etc. He is definitely very handsome!

Tracie

 

[Karoo2024]

Ok he looks like he might be a genetic strip. It look like his stripes continue down his tail which is an indicator for that. O see his nails have the black line so he isn't hypo. His belly isn't see through so also not translucent. His scales are arranged evenly and the chevrons on his tail aren't broke so not a Dunner. It's hard to tell in the pictures but it looks like he may be a leatherback. If so he'll have much smaller scales and be more pleasant to handle. He is for sure gorgeous
As far as any hets the only way to know is through breeding ir tracking downbthe breeder to ask.

Him being a leatherback would actually make a lot of sense as I recently got to handle another beardie and one of my first thoughts was that the beardie seemed to feel a lot more spikey than Karoo. Thank you ! I think he's a handsome little fellow, but I am a little biased haha .

 

[Karoo2024]

Hello,

Wow, that is a very interesting marking & scaling of your dragon. It's hard to tell
exactly what he is, possibly a leatherback as it does look like he has some reduced scalings, etc. He is definitely very handsome!

Tracie

Thank you !

 

[xp29]

Him being a leatherback would actually make a lot of sense as I recently got to handle another beardie and one of my first thoughts was that the beardie seemed to feel a lot more spikey than Karoo. Thank you ! I think he's a handsome little fellow, but I am a little biased haha .

Leatherback is my second favorite morph. Dunner is my favorite. It's kind of an oxymoron because they are opposite ends of gentic scale mutations. Leatherbacks for sure are much more pleasant to handle. Also if you have a lot of color Leatherbacks tend to display them a bit brighter.

 

[Karoo2024]

Leatherback is my second favorite morph. Dunner is my favorite. It's kind of an oxymoron because they are opposite ends of gentic scale mutations. Leatherbacks for sure are much more pleasant to handle. Also if you have a lot of color Leatherbacks tend to display them a bit brighter.

Nice! The Dunner sounds pretty neat. Thank you for all the info on different morphs !

 

[xp29]

Nice! The Dunner sounds pretty neat. Thank you for all the info on different morphs !

Your welcome