Possibility of a Blind Snake

[goReptiles]

So I think my BRB is blind. She had shedding issues when I got her, which is why I adopted her, so to speak. I bumped up the humidity hoping her first shed would get rid of the eyecaps that she's never been able to shed herself. They're still there.

One eye is nearly inverted, and the other just keeps building. I need suggestions. I have no hope for the inverted eye, but what can I do to save the other? I can't get the eyecap off because there are so many shed built up on it.

 

[Kristi23]

I don't have any advice, but I hope she'll be okay. Good luck!

 

[Palor]

Take her to a vet. It is still possible both eyes can be saved.

 

[goReptiles]

Dan, that's what I was thinking. I just didn't know if there was anything that I could do before calling up my vet.

 

[Krow]

I would take her to the vet asap. Good luck with her, I hope you can save her eyes. I am blind in one eye and I know the feeling, it sucks.

 

[goReptiles]

I took her to the vet... :-( There's not much that they could do. Luckily, she's a really docile snake, and never tries to bite. I have to put the food in her mouth when it's feeding day, but she's always really gentle. She really doesn't even snap at the food when it's in her mouth; I have to put her down for her to eat the food, otherwise she just hangs out with it in her mouth if I'm holding her...

I have to decide what I'm going to do, as I don't know how safe it is to have a blind adult BRB, as they can get 5-7 feet in length. For now, I'm doing the research, and contemplating what to do.

The previous home didn't explain to me how bad the eyes were when I decided to take her, and the pictures didn't show the extent that well. The one eye was caved in when I got her, which there weren't pictures of, and the other eye was so piled on with retained skin it was ridiculous. She is otherwise very healthy. The vet said to keep the humidity up and include roughage to aid shedding so she has something to rub on. She doesn't have any problems shedding anywhere but her eyes, which I believe is caused by poor husbandry from day one of hatching (before my care).

 

[M_surinamensis]

I was hesitant to say anything prior to your vet visit, because I have known people in the past who have misidentified a wrinkled or dented brill (generally due to dehydration) or an eye infection as a stuck shed and caused more damage than they solved while trying to fix it.*

For home remedies- careful manual removal is sometimes possible. I want to stress the careful part here though, in attempting to get a stuck shed away from an area like an eye, you're working near a fairly delicate part of the snake and there's some inherent risk of you doing additional damage. This is especially true if the stuck sheds have built up to the point where they are starting to constrict the eye or push against the ocular scales.

Soak the shed. Lukewarm water will do it, using a q-tip, cotton ball, small piece of cheesecloth or your fingers. Wet it significantly, water is a solvent and it will soften snake skin if you get it thoroughly wet. You want it soaking and soft, it'll feel like a wet tissue if you get it wet enough. Then carefully and very very gently try to slough that wet skin off with your fingertip, stopping to re-soak underlying sheds if necessary as you move down through the collected layers. I'd recommend tubing the snake or having someone assist you in restraining her while you do this, just to make it a bit easier- it can be pretty stressful and some animals will not respond well to that kind of contact around their head. Additionally, make sure your fingernails are trimmed as close as possible, you do not want to risk the snake twisting and damaging its eye against the edge.

Soft tipped tweezers can also be used but they should be reserved for extreme cases when it's absolutely a question of the eyeball being a definite loss if the shed is not removed and should probably be used by an experienced individual (who has done so before) or your vet.

As to keeping her if she ends up eyeless and blind... she'll still be able to do everything she needs to do; thermoregulate and eat. Depending on how any scar tissue forms she may or may not have lifelong problems shedding, if it puckers in rather than forming smooth or scaling over, it's more likely to be an issue. They can be slightly more defensive but they aren't a species that relies that heavily on visual input to begin with, they're a lot more responsive based on scent and those heat sensitive labial pits.

You might startle her and get bitten a little more often but it is unlikely (not impossible, just improbable) that she will behave all that differently from any other BRB. They do get a decent length but they have a small head and are not that girthy, so even a seven foot snake is easily manageable by a single (healthy, normal sized) person.

*actually ended up with a ball python for a little while that a guy had pulled the eyeball half-off of with a pair of tweezers. He left it hanging out and dumped the snake with a friend of mine- who had no idea how to deal with it and passed it over to me.

 

[goReptiles]

Thanks! I'll try that. I did try soaking her and using a soaked Q-tip, but I'll try letting her soak a little longer this time. She has recently shed, of course leaving the eyecaps once again.


In regards to keeping her, my concern was her aggression and startling a medium sized snake. I trust your experience, in that the smaller head and whatnot shouldn't cause as huge of a concern. She does behave like a normal snake others, as is. She's never bitten, and feeds just fine, as described above.

In regards to feeding, should she feed on her own, instead of me putting the food in her mouth? Or should I just continue as is?

 

[M_surinamensis]

Thanks! I'll try that. I did try soaking her and using a soaked Q-tip, but I'll try letting her soak a little longer this time. She has recently shed, of course leaving the eyecaps once again.

It takes a while to get it wet enough and soft enough to work with, especially with a species like the rainbow boas that have thick scales that have evolved to be moisture retardant. The dead skin which failed to slough off is still resistant to becoming soaked and the process of wetting dead cells from the outside in can take some time. A wet cotton ball or piece of gauze can be applied with a little bit of the white soft tape sold next to band-aids, it's not a strong enough adhesive to be an issue when it comes time to remove it. Soaking it for a few hours like that (if the snake doesn't respond badly and try to scrape it off) can sometimes do the trick if just wetting it immediately prior to trying to rub it away was not sufficient.

Again, this comes with a massive caution- if there are open wounds or scabs, if the dead skin has built up to the point where it is pushing against the surrounding tissue, you're taking a calculated and measured risk by soaking it (which can help along bacteria blooms and infections) and then trying to work around the area. Use your best judgment and as much care as possible- if the animal responds badly or if you feel uncomfortable, if the texture feels off while you're working with it- stop and go back to trying to convince your vet or an experienced keeper to help you out. Instructions aren't the same as direct experience and it is possible to do more harm than good.

In regards to keeping her, my concern was her aggression and startling a medium sized snake.

Judgment call really.

Rainbow boas are sort of prone to this issue, it's preventable with adequate humidity and access to water but there are enough people who end up owning them who find themselves unable to meet those requirements, so stuck sheds (especially around the eyes and vent) and shed buildup aren't as rare as they are with many other species. Most of them, even the ones that end up eyeless or blind as a result of the injury, behave pretty the same way as any other rainbow boa. Slightly more prone to being a bit on the twitchy side if unexpected contact occurs but on the whole the brazilians aren't really all that prone to defensive biting. As with any other animal, it can happen, they have a mouth and it has teeth... but the majority of them aren't real snappy.

That said though, you'd best know your own limitations and draw your own line on how much of a problem is too much of a problem. I can tell you that they have a smaller head relative to their length and that seven feet is the high end of average for the size and that their bites aren't a big deal... but I don't necessarily respond to pain the same way you do or have the same perspective on how much trouble is too much when it comes to handling the animal for maintenance. I keep some things that I can pretty much guarantee will bite when they're handled and I have been bitten by things a lot bigger or a lot nastier (due to the length or shape of the teeth or behaviors associated with the bite, like twisting or constricting) than rainbow boas. So I wouldn't consider the occasional nip from a BRB to be anything worth noting but my hands and forearms are pretty much just a collection of horse-shoe shaped scars. You might feel differently. A rainbow boa is never going to be big enough to provide a significant danger to you... it can't kill you or bite your thumb clean off... but you'd have to judge your own response to a simple bite, if the animal ends up being one of the rare members of the species that is inclined to do so on a regular basis.

In regards to feeding, should she feed on her own, instead of me putting the food in her mouth? Or should I just continue as is?

Ideally she would feed on her own and it is something that should be looked into. Did the vet perform a fecal? Does she produce normal feces on a regular basis, no blood or strange consistencies or long periods of constipation?

You should probably have the vet check out some of the possible causes of slow feeding behaviors and anorexic tendencies that you can't diagnose yourself, to be on the safe side. The most common reason is stress though, which would be easily explained by the discomfort of the stuck sheds around the eyes. Once the vet has ruled out any of the reasons why she might be hesitant to readily feed that could have negative repercussions when food is given anyway and once the shed issue is fixed one way or the other (ideally removed, but if she does lose the eyes, once they have started healing up), it's something you probably want to examine and address. Weak feeding behaviors are a symptom of some other underlying problem- you already know the snake has at least one issue that is ongoing though, so there's at least one likely reason for the behavior.

 

[rickmoss95]

you can also put triple antibiotic ointment on it and leave it for an hour or so. this will let the animal chill and the eyecaps soften up without prodding. not that anything seamus said was wrong...but i have used this method on a friends ball that had like five layers of eyecaps. i used really fine medical tweesers and after ten minutes i had them all off. you may try to get a friend to help hold the animal, as even a very docile animal may squirm and fight a little bit, and four hands are better in an instance like this. if i didnt live in ohio, i would do it for you.

 

[rickmoss95]

another response to an ancient post...duh!

 

[Russ S]

another response to an ancient post...duh!

Rick wins the necroposter of the day award.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Eh- it was still a good post