Outstanding eyes!

[lucia]

Please help, have you ever heard of outstanding eyes on juveniles??

A friend of mine just bought a cornsnake and the little baby was looking normal.
She was hatched in summer of 2005, when my friend got the cornsnake in october she was also looking normal, even then she was tough and dull.
She is also very calm, she didn´t ate for 8 weeks and now 10 days ago she ate, shedded her skin today.

What can it be? some kind of disease?

[princess]

Eww, that doesn't look good.

Did the eye caps come off wih the last shed? It looks like too much pressure from inside if anything and also, I might be wrong but it looks like the mouth doesn't close too cleanly...could this be a sign of something else wrong?

[Preita]

God! I didn't expect that. I would say that it's time for the vet asap!

Best of luck!!!

[lucia]

the snake looks normal in her mouth and also on the outside.
I have never seen something like this before, and I would like to have more opinions. :)

[D&LCornSnakes]

was there a large change in elevation from where you got the snake to where you live? Just a possibility...

[Preita]

Is the snake acting normally? You really might have to wait until some of the senior members swing by the forum because that looks painful.

[Mary-Beth]

Aside from whatever else is wrong, it looks like she has retained the eye caps from her shed today. Can you check her shed and see if the eye caps are in it?

[babbaloo99]

Just did a quick search on here and found a couple of links using "bulging eyes" Here's one that popped up: Link 1 (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2338&highlight=bulging)

If you have a reptile vet you can take the snake too, I would recommend it since it was having some eating problems prior. There's a few other links I found but hopefully one of the vet techs on here will chime in with some of their experience.

[SnakeAround]

I do remember reading something on the net about a disease or infection or something that causes this.... I'll try to find it!

[SnakeAround]

Couldn't find it, but it seems that it could be related to remaining eye caps indeed...

[lucia]

Her skin has always looked fine, normal. She is also acting normal, and now she is eating too. But the bulging eyes looks terrible to me. :(

I have never seen that before.

[mcarabian]

Lucia,
Found an article online that might be of help. Here's a link:
http://www.anapsid.org/eyebulge.html

Also, here's part of the article that's relevant to your question (in case the link doesn't work, sorry if it's spammy). Looks like you may need to take the snake to a herp vet as soon as possible:

Swollen/Distended Eyeball
In all reptiles, bilateral or unilateral swelling may be associated with an infection inside the eye itself, or behind the eye in or behind the socket; left untreated, it can lead to retinal detachment, blindness or enucleation (removal of the eyeball). Or, it may due to an increase in intraocular pressure, often a sign of infection, injury or some other health problem; left untreated, it can lead to retinal detachment and blindness. Since the cause cannot be determined by the herp keeper, nor are appropriate treatments available over-the-counter, these reptiles need to be seen by a reptile vet.

In chelonians, swollen eyes may also be associated with infected eustachian tubes. Since chelonians fed a proper diet rarely get vitamin A deficiencies, such swellings are rarely resolved by increasing vitamin A orally or by injections. If your vet immediately diagnoses a vitamin A deficiency without doing anything to check for infection, or doesn't appear to be up on proper diet, it would be best to get a second opinion from another reptile vet.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[lucia]

It´s not my cornsnake. :)

My friend will take it to the vet. tomorrow!
I will keep you updated!

[JTGoff69]

It´s not my cornsnake. :)

My friend will take it to the vet. tomorrow!
I will keep you updated!

Please do. We recently had a hamster with this condition, and it's eyeball actually ruptured. We took it to the vet, who removed the eyeball and now we're waiting for it to scar over. Fortunately our grooming manager adopted "Winky". I'm really curious to see what the impact on a corn is in this situation.

[Taceas]

Wow...and I thought the bulging eye on my Pewter Dec. 04 due to an abcess was bad. Definitely a trip to the vet for that one. Hopefully no damage to the optical nerves due to pressure has been caused. But my goodness that has to be painful.

However, one thing strikes me odd that no one else noticed. I don't know if its the angle of the picture or what, but the snake's head doesn't look "normal". The whole head looks small and truncated to me. Yes, I know its a hatchling and some may have short/squat heads...but the head doesn't look right to me for some reason. I don't have any idea if that may be an underlying issue to the eye-bulging condition or not. Maybe the malformation of the cranium prevents the draining of spinal fluid properly.

And yes, the mouth does look like it isn't closing properly due to the pressure. I would personally hold off on feeding it whole meals until the condition improves. Feeding with a higher risk of regurging and the troubles associated with that worry me.

Let us know what they find out from the vet when you can, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

[lucia]

My friend has been to the vet today with her little cornsnake, they told her that there was NO pressure, the vet measured it.
The vet thought it was a problem from birth. And gave her a cortison injection. They will come back next week.

They didn´t thought it was an infection eather.

We will se how the snake are feeling with the cortison. The eyes was obviously smaller today. Not as bulging.

[Preita]

Did your friend buy the snake from a breeder? If so I would have her call the breeder with her questions also. I feel so bad for that little snake, thta does really looik painful. Did the vet say anything about the mouth>?

[lucia]

The breeder to that snake is one of the best in Sweden, and she was fine at his place. And the others from the same "litter"!? (spell?) is also fine.

According to the vet the snake was NOT in pain.
The mouth was fine.

[Preita]

I would take the snake back to the breeder & see if she can't pick out a different one. If this breeder is the best in Sweden then they should let you do that. No one wants to know they gave someone a defective or sick animal. Which is what this animal is. I don't know how you wouldn't have pain, if your eye balls blew up to the size of tennis balls I think you would feel some discomfort :(

[lucia]

Yes of course he already have offer her a new snake, but she said no. She bought this one last summer. She don´t want a new one. We´re hoping the snake will survive.

She will get some discount this summer instead.

[MegF.]

I would think if it was really painful that the snake would not be interested in food or acting in a normal fashion. It's very odd that it should suddenly show up like this. Let us know how the little thing does. I'm very interested in hearing the long-term follow-up.

[marty.warwick]

Yes, Me too, I haven't posted on this thread yet but have kept up to date with it, I would also be interested to hear how things turn out.

[lucia]

The little corn snake is eating very well, the bulging eyes are normal, but she´s a little bit "swollen" on the head.


Here is some new pictures!

[Preita]

That's so weird. Is she acting normal?

[marty.warwick]

I was wondering about the outcome of this thread. What a good recovery :) I never realised how pretty she looked too!

[mcarabian]

That's good to hear! I've been wondering about what happened to the poor snake as well. Thanks for the update, and the pics :)

[lucia]

Yes she is acting VERY normally. :)
It´s weird!

I hope it will not come back. The bulging eyes, but the vet did not know that.

I´m glad she is fine now and my friend is delighted! :crazy02: