1. Eye Infection

When leopard geckos suffer from eye infections, they might get an irritating feeling that will make them shut their eyes. Leopard gecko eyes are prone to fungal, viral, or bacterial infections.

These infections can cause significant damage and even lead to blindness if left without being treated. Conjunctivitis is an infection that causes inflammation, redness, and tearing of the gecko’s eye. Luckily, most eye infections can be treated using antibiotics.

Therefore, if you see your leopard gecko with its eyes closed, it might have an eye infection.

2. Poor Lighting

Unfavorable lighting is another reason your reptile friend might close its eye(s). Although light is integral to growth and development, bright lights can force your leopard gecko to close one or both eyes.

Since leopard geckos sleep during the day, their eyes are often highly sensitive to too much light. Therefore, if you see your leopard geckos closing and opening their eyes, especially during the day when they’re not sleeping, the discomfort and distress might result from poor lighting in the enclosure.

You need to provide your geckos with optimal lighting and create hideouts where they can seek refuge if the light in the terrarium becomes too much.

3. Retained Skin

Like other reptiles, leopard geckos must shed their skin to grow. And since leopard geckos have eyelids covered with skin that needs to be shed, the process doesn’t always go as expected. Sometimes, these lizard experience problematic shedding where the skin around the eyelids refuses to detach.

This causes an accumulation of skin tissues that block the eyes, leading to extensive eye damage. When a gecko retains skin around the eyes after shedding, it becomes tough to open the eyes. Over time, the shed around the eyes may cause irritation and even damage the cornea and other eye parts.

The best part is that leopard gecko keepers can prevent problematic shedding and retained skin by providing optimal humidity during shedding and adding humid hides in the lizards’ terrarium.

4. Foreign Objects in the Eye

Have you ever had debris stuck in your eye? It’s the worst feeling ever. Like you, leopard geckos also get foreign objects in their eyes, especially since they spend most of their time on the ground.

When substrates with loose particles such as grit, wood chippings, and sand are used in the lizard’s cage, they can get into the lizard’s eyes and get lodged under its eyelids. This can cause them much pain and discomfort, making them shut their eyes, blink repeatedly, and even tear.

Although leopard geckos usually dislodge foreign materials from their eyes by blinking and tearing, sometimes it doesn’t happen. In that case, pet owners have to step in and offer a helping hand.

5. Vitamin A Deficiency

Vitamin A deficiency also leads to various eye ailments in leopard geckos. It usually manifests through inflammation and redness in the eyes. If one of your lizard’s eyes is suffering from hypovitaminosis A (vitamin A deficiency), they might keep it closed to try and minimize the distress and the pain.

The condition is similar to conjunctivitis and can be corrected by gut-loading feeder insects before feeding them to your lizard.

6. Parasites

Captive-bred leopard geckos are ideal candidates for internal and external parasite infestation. External parasites can damage the area around the eye, causing discomfort and pain that will force the lizards to keep the eye(s) closed.   

Conversely, internal parasites can move to the eye and cause eye problems that may lead to the gecko shutting its eyes. Experts warn that when there is a heavy parasitic infestation, worms can be seen moving around the leopard gecko’s eyeball.

7. Congenital Issues

Regarding leopard geckos’ eye problems, other eye defects may result from gene abnormalities. Usually, these issues arise because of inbreeding and are well elaborate, even in the lizard’s early stages of development. Therefore, your leopard gecko may have trouble keeping its eyes open because of congenital eye defects.

8. Trauma

In its day-to-day life, your leopard gecko can pick up injuries through falls, bruising, or scratches. If your lizard gets injured inside or near the eye region, it can cause trauma, making the lizard keep its eyes shut.

9. Neoplasia

This condition causes uncontrolled growth of the cells in the eye or near the eye, making it impossible for the leopard gecko to open its eyes. The growth cells can be benign or cancerous and can only be identified through biopsy.

10. Sleeping

Another possible reason for your leopard gecko to have its eye(s) closed is when sleeping. Although leopard geckos are supposed to sleep with their eyes closed, some have a peculiar habit of sleeping with one eye open when disturbed by noise or other things.

Because the lizards are inherently from the wild, where they have to evade predators, they often open one eye when sleeping if they feel or hear something nearby. Therefore, if you see your leopard gecko lying still with one eye open, it might be sleeping while staying alert. 

Final Verdict

If you have seen your leopard gecko close its eye(s) and wondered why it behaved this way, we hope this guide has provided answers. These creatures have eyes that are highly prone to infections and sensitive to light.

Therefore, if your lizard is regularly closing its eye(s), it might be due to the following:

• Too much lighting
• Injury and trauma
• Other eye defects
• Retained skin
• Vitamin deficiency
• Congenital issues
• Parasites
• Foreign objects in the eye
• Sleeping.