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First vet visit= success

Leezard

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
93
Location
Minnesota
Bilbo went for a vet visit today and he is parasite free, extremely healthy, and 75 grams :) the vet brought up an interesting point about tegus eye covers not shedding properly, has anyone experienced this? He said the improper shedding on their eyes can lead to blindness.
 

dpjm

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
378
That's good. But I would like clear up any confusion about eyes and eye coverings.

Snakes and many gecko species (but not geckos of the subfamily Eublepharinae such as leopard geckos) have a scale over their eye called an eyecap, spectacle, or brille instead of having moveable eyelids. This scale is shed along with the rest of the skin but sometimes it doesn't come off and is then called a retained eyecap. This does present problems and if left untreated could cause numerous problems.

Your tegu does not have these eyecaps, their eyes are more similar to ours. The shedding problem that concerns tegu eyes is retained eyelid skin, when the skin on their eyelids does not shed properly. I have heard about this issue mostly in captive lizards that are from arid climates. For instance, people keeping animals like leopard geckos, bearded dragons, or gila monsters that naturally live in dry conditions often neglect the fact that these animals spend a lot of time in moist burrows and so don't provide these areas in their enclosures, leaving a habitat that is bone dry everywhere. These animals can develop shedding issues and common problem areas are the toes and the delicate eyelid skin. Retained skin like this can constrict blood flow or infection can set in beneath this retained skin.

Tegus don't normally have these issues because they are naturally from a humid environment and so keepers, knowing this, don't usually keep their enclosures so dry. But improper shedding is a good issue to be aware of.
 
Last edited:

Leezard

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
93
Location
Minnesota
Thanks so much for explaining! I definitely understand it better now, hopefully it won't Ben a problem since we have our humidity 60-80 with a dry cool end.
 

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