trouble seeing and/or not very smart

[khartley]

Tiny Tim is one of two babies I rescued that were severely dehydrated, malnourished, and starved. He bounced back fairly quick and has been doing good ever since, although he was always kind of slow, like he was not very intelligent. He is probably about 8 months old now. A month ago I noticed that he was starting to have a little trouble with his aim when catching bugs. It has slowly gotten worse. Now sometimes he doesn't even come close, like several inches from actually getting a bug. When I put my hand in the enclosure I can tell that its hard for him to tell if my fingers are food or not. I use the no escape dishes for his worms, and it seems like he doesn't aim at all, he is just blindly sticking his tongue out hoping he gets something. Sometimes he tries to eat the clear ring around the dish. He has tried to eat my tongs also. I started putting his crickets in the frig, because he can't get them otherwise. Even then I sometimes have to dangle each one in front of his face for him to be able to see it and get his aim right. I noticed with his salad, that if I just put it in his bowl and leave, he won't eat it because he doesn't see it. I have to actually hold it in front of his face. Anytime I pick him up he closes his eyes. I've noticed that it looks like one eye sticks out further than the other, but it could just be me. Pics included.

About his "slowness", I don't know what to say. Like today giving him a bath, he started drinking but stuck his whole mouth and nose in the water, so I had to hold his chin up to keep his nostrils above water. He will sit on his rock totally blank, sometimes have his head inside his food dish, or propped up on his rock with his front legs behind him, just in the weirdest positions.

His appetite has always been really good and he gets a good variety of bugs and greens every day. He's in a 55 gallon tank on carpet, with a power sun mvb. Temps are good. If I can, I'll get a short video of him trying to eat tomorrow to better see what I'm talking about. Curious if anyone has any ideas of what might be wrong or what I could do to help him.

 

[CooperDragon]

When I finally got Dundee to eat a few bugs on his own he had the same problem and would often miss them by quite a bit and after a few tries get frustrated and give up. I'm not certain but my thought is that after neglect and malnutrition they can suffer problems with the cognitive and motor skills. That's just based on limited observation though. I think the best thing you can do for him is continue to provide a healthy environment with good food and lighting etc. Give him time to roam and explore and get his mind working. Be patient with him and continue to hand feed and help him get his food however you can. You may need to do that for the rest of his life but he may improve.

 

[khartley]

Well it's reassuring that someone else has had a similar experience. The other one that was also starved seems to have suffered some brain damage also, but she is just the opposite. Flighty and paranoid. I was just concerned with the fact that it seems to get worse. I try to at least give him the chance to eat on his own daily so that I'm not just making the problem worse by allowing him to be lazy. I let him out to roam on my bed usually once a day, but he almost always just creeps over to my legs or stomach and cuddles up and goes to sleep. I don't think he knows how to move quickly, or even capable of it. I have no problems spending the extra time to feed him, just was concerned for his health.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

If it helps, my Hyphen has similar issues. My herp-vet politely described him as "developmentally challenged" - he's partially sighted and not very bright to go with it

We've got a routine to help manage his issues - his food bowl has a corner on it, so it stays wedged into the same corner of his vivarium, where he knows where it is, and it can't slide away from him. He also sits and stares into his bowl in the morning, so I fill it with greens for him, and he tucks in.

Bearing in mind he doesn't eat a lot of bugs due to difficultly catching them, he's still managed to get fat! We give him Nature Zone Beardie Bites, lots of greens, blueberries and vitamin supplemented "tasty paste" - and he occasionally catches tastybugs

 

[khartley]

That's comforting to know that others have the same characteristics. I just feel so bad for him, he seems depressed even tho he probably isn't at all. His tank is in the living room and he intently tries to "watch" my kids play video games. I interact with him as much as possibly and try to stimulate his mind.

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Hyphen really, really likes to climb. He's got no self-preservation/danger instincts, so keeping close care is essential - his favourite thing is my net curtains!
We built a mesh "shelf", a swing, a hammock, a climbing log and a suspended parallel branch for him to play on - though most of the time, he likes to sit at the very top back of the mesh shelf.
He's generally a very happy little guy - though he's prone to being lazy.