Ambystoma opacum Eye Issues Please Help

I acquired a small Ambystoma opacum this week. I struck a deal with someone and picked up two tiger salamanders and got the little guy thrown into the equation. I was super excited and eager to get the little guys home from the breeder, but I did quickly look over all of the animals. I checked for infections and even looked for cloudiness in the eyes. Somehow I completely missed the fact that the Ambystoma opacum I got is either missing or has a severe issue with his eye!

I cannot really take a picture it is not clear enough and I can't get a good shot so I will try and describe this as best as I can...

From the front his eye is shut nearly all of the way save for a very small slit that has black behind it which may be an eyeball. If I look very very close there is a white film above and below the black contained in the small slit. For this reason I thought the eye might be infected.

Upon closer inspection I noticed that if you look from behind or atop the Ambystoma opacum his healthy eye protrudes out from his head much further then the other eye. That is to say the actual eye socket of the healthy eye is much larger then the eye socket of the unhealthy eye. For this reason I thought that the closed eye may be the result of a birth defect.

PLEASE! Any insight is hugely appreciated!

I am not good with this stuff...maybe The Caudate Illness articles can shine some light on the subject.

~ Go in top right corner where it says Caudata.org sits and go to Caudata Culture~

For starters, I would recommend keeping the sal in a simple setup with paper towels and a hide. Digging into substrate could make the problem worse.

How aggressively are you willing to treat it? Obviously, a veterinarian could make a much better assessment than anyone on a forum can. There may be treatment options in the form of antibiotic drops if there is an infection. If it's an old injury, the sal may be just fine living this way. I care for a tiger sal that is missing one eye, and he does just fine with hand-feeding.

I picked up a shipment of 12 - 15 Blotched tigers a few years ago, and one had only one eye. I did not even notice it for a couple of weeks. It did not seem to impede him at all. It may be hard to tell if yours is due to trauma or a birth defect. If it is a defect, he has already adjusted to it.

The more I look at it the more obvious it is that this is a birth defect, there is just no way that the eye socket of the good eye could be that much larger then the eye socket of the bad eye.

I would like a second opinion though in case there is a larger issue at hand...would the average vet know anything about an Ambystoma opacum with an eye issue???

NathanF said:

I would like a second opinion though in case there is a larger issue at hand...would the average vet know anything about an Ambystoma opacum with an eye issue???

Click to expand...

Look for a vet that specializes in exotics/herps.