Albino society finch - at risk of going blind eventually?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 2:42 am
Is there any truth that pink-eyed white and/or albino society finches tend to lose their eyesight after a few years?
I have a crested albino female, Claire, who is about a year old. I can tell already she doesn't have very good eyesight, and I noticed that right away, and I think it may be a bit worse than it was when I first got her this summer. She has to circle around anywhere she wants to perch and does everything in the air very carefully and sometimes overshoots her mark and misses her landing. When the society finches all fly from the well-lit bird room down the hall into the dimmer bedrooms, as they sometimes like to do (they get run of the apartment sometimes these days), she struggles to follow her companions and to land and often ends up fluttering to the floor and looking up with a puzzled expression, as if she can't see where everyone else is, but can hear them, even if they're just a few feet away. In a brightly lit room she does okay and is able to stick her landings and get around and keep up with the group, but she is still a cautious and slow flyer compared to everyone else and never just flies for the joy of it; it's always a beeline from one spot to another, like she has to plan out every flight ahead of time.
I don't see any cataracts in her eyes, just that they're pink and entirely un-pigmented.
I have a crested albino female, Claire, who is about a year old. I can tell already she doesn't have very good eyesight, and I noticed that right away, and I think it may be a bit worse than it was when I first got her this summer. She has to circle around anywhere she wants to perch and does everything in the air very carefully and sometimes overshoots her mark and misses her landing. When the society finches all fly from the well-lit bird room down the hall into the dimmer bedrooms, as they sometimes like to do (they get run of the apartment sometimes these days), she struggles to follow her companions and to land and often ends up fluttering to the floor and looking up with a puzzled expression, as if she can't see where everyone else is, but can hear them, even if they're just a few feet away. In a brightly lit room she does okay and is able to stick her landings and get around and keep up with the group, but she is still a cautious and slow flyer compared to everyone else and never just flies for the joy of it; it's always a beeline from one spot to another, like she has to plan out every flight ahead of time.
I don't see any cataracts in her eyes, just that they're pink and entirely un-pigmented.