Tiger Salamandar eyes always closed

D

don

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Hello

I have had 2 tiger salamandars for about a year now. My problem is with one of them, Lucille. Over the past couple of months she has been gradually closing one of her eyes, and now both of them are closed for alot of the time. When we first got her, we noticed that one of her pupils were much smaller than the other. We're not sure she sees very well, maybe blind in one of her eyes. Ralph, the other one, developed a serious bacterial infection when we first got them, he was on his death bed and the vet didnt think he would make it, but he pulled through (HURRAY!) and now very active and greedy! Totally adorable! The vet also treated Lucille in case she developed it. Since then her behaviour changed. She became less responsive, stopped following us with her eyes, stopped begging for food and generally less active than Ralph. We thought maybe she was traumatised and stressed, otherwise she ate fine and seemed healthy. Most recently she hasnt eaten as much as Ralph, been harder to feed, she is much skinnier and her eyes are closed alot. Does anyone know anything about this? I am worried she is getting sick, but dont want the trauma of taking her to the vet again.

I keep them both in a 30 gallon tank, with Bed-a-beast (from petsmart) as the substrate (changed 2-3months), some rocks, gravel and plastic plants with a bowl of dechlorinated water for them. I only feed them red worms or nightcrawlers from Walmart, occasionally dusted with vitamins, which I think they hate. Lucille might have stopped eating the worms because I dusted the last worm she put in her mouth then spat out.

If you know anything about her condition, please post. I hope its just nothing. Many thanks.
 
Try some gut loaded crickets. Its instinct to grab for a small darting/hopping object. If she doesn't see it, of course she won't grab for it.

If she was treated nearly a year ago, she should have recouperated by now.

Head to petsmart, buy a $1 worth of crickets, some gut load (I prefer the green cube stuff) they have small packages for around $2 -$3, feed the crickets in a deep jar, then pour a few into their tank.

I know one of my critters is in REAL trouble when they won't jump for hopping cricket.

Good luck,
Sharon
 
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    Katia Del Rio-Tsonis: sorry I am having a hard time trying to upload the pictures- I have them saved on my hard... +1
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