Ever think it could just have been a bad gene? I supplement with miner-al I during the week. Every feeding for hatchlings and every 3rd feeding for adults. Once a week I supplement with herptivite for vitamins. Out of about 120 eggs hatched so far, roughly 5-10 have hatched with eyelid deformities of some sort. I more or less attribute these deformities to all the inbreeding that has been done to leos. Ackies and tokays like snacks anyhow. And I'm sure I'll catch flame for that. That's the rule of thumb in my collection though. Survival of the fittest, the ability to breed and pass on "good" genes. However, in my collection I have yet to inbreed, or "line breed" as certain breeders like to put it. I also like to order from different individuals when I'm dealing with morphs. Personally, I'd rather not produce that $500-$1000 albino tangerine or blazing blizzard in 2 years. I'd rather take 3-4 years to do it and OUTCROSS with wild caught blood. But after all, this is the age of the almighty buck (and when has it not been). Produce what you can when you can and don't worry about the welfare of the animal(s). Hell, take a look at the gecko classifieds, lizard classifieds, python, colubrid, etc on kingsnake.com. All you see is leopard gecko this, bearded dragon that. It's ok though, because of one these days people will be looking through classifieds and they'll see an ad reading, "Normal (fill in commonly bred animal here), HET for Normal, that's right, het for NORMAL. Entertaining offers over $500."
Just my inside on the situation. Plus/minus some opinions. Steps off the soap box, Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beverly Erlebacher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 1:44 PM Subject: Re: [Gecko] Hatchling Problem > > Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:16:12 -0400 > > From: Audrey Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > Yep, the little critter is alive & just as feisty as any leo hatchling > > I ever saw! Still very difficult to determine exactly what the > > problem is. He's so tiny I'll probably need my magnifying glass > > to get a better look at his eyes! > > IIRC, eye deformities can be a symptom of vitamin A toxicity. It's best > to use a supplement that provides vitamin A in the form of beta carotene, > which is non-toxic, unlike the vitamin itself. The animal's body converts > the bveta carotene to vitamin A as needed. > > Can someone corroborate this, or tell me if I'm confused? I don't trust > my memory, and don't have time to do the research right now. > > ########################################################################### > THE GLOBAL GECKO ASSOCIATION LISTSERV > WebSite: www.gekkota.com Archive: [EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > The GGA takes no responsibility for the contents of these postings. > ########################################################################### > >
