My Snake Has Cloudy Eyes

Hi,

I think my snake's eyes have gotten cloudy since I first got him. I'm not sure if this is normal or if something is happening.

Thanks,
Sam

Its getting ready to shed, make sure you raise the humidity, dont handle him/her and i wouldnt recommend feeding, i doubt he/she would eat anyways

Really? That makes a lot of sense! Two days ago was his scheduled feeding but he didn't eat. I just tried again and he STILL didn't eat. Raising the humidity is one thing, is there anything else I should do?

If he is shedding, all of his colors will dull out and will have a pink or blue cast to them. This phase is refered to as "being in the blue". You can expect him shed in anywhere from 4-7 days from the time you first see him in the blue. The best tip I can give for aa sucessful shed is to build a shed box. A shed box is basically a hide that is closed in an retains humidity. The corns will go in there, and the extra humiddity will help the corn shed. My instructions for making one are as follows:

1. Find a suitable container, with a lid. The size should be just like hide should be, not to large for your corn but not too small. Making it too large will make it feel less "safe" to a corn, and making it too small will be uncomfortable or hard for the corn to use. I would suggest using a translucent or opaque container to make the snake fell secure. Also, using any material like cardboard, paper or anything of the like that will absorb water is not too much of a good idea. I don't see paper like material being bad if you need something disposable for the week that your corn is shedding, but I like to keep the shed box and re-use it. The lid is necessary to hold in the humidity. If you find the perfect container, but don't have a lid, you can probably make one.

2. Find a suitable interior "substrate" for use in the shed box. I use cut-to-fit (not shredded) paper towels, as they are cheap, but I have heard of spaghnum moss being useful as well. using a substrate like aspen isn't going to do you any good, it will lock in the moisture you give it.

3. Cut a hole in the side of the shed box big enough to easily allow the corn to enter and exit, yet not too big, as it will let out excess humidity.

4. Fill the shedbox with your substrate of choice, and put the lid on.

Congrats, you have a shed box. I would suggest making two, placing one on the warm side and one on the cold side of you tank. The first shed I had with my corn was horrible. The shed was not anywhere near complete, and had to be manually removed in some places. The next shed I put two shed boxes in and what do you know, my corn had his first perfect shed.

what would be considered a "perfect" shed as opposed to an imperfect shed?

g124v17y said:

what would be considered a "perfect" shed as opposed to an imperfect shed?

Click to expand...

A "prefect shed" for me is a shed where every bit of skin is removed. This would include the very small pieces at the tip of the tail, the eye caps, and all oif the skin everywhere else.

An "imperfect shed" is just not a perfect shed, there could be a piece at the tail or something of the like. In my instructions, I do not guarantee a perfect shed, as it may still be an imperfect shed, but see below.

A bad shed, like the first shed I had with my corn, is one where the skin does not come off all in one piece, but rather in much smaller sperated pieces. I do guarantee you that if you provide a shed box, and maintain a high humidity in it, that you will never get a bad shed when using a shed box properly.

His eyes are no longer cloudy today..... What does that mean? There is no shed in the tank...

Mine did that too, wait another day or two and you'll see a shed, mine actually ate during this time, i dont see the harm in feeding your snake now if he/she wants to eat but if your snake refuses to eat again dont worry it will start eating again after it sheds, just dont handle it still, its annoying not being able to handle your pet for this period of time but its not like its every week or anything.

as for that "perfect shed" dont stress if its not perfect, mine was almost perfect but had a small peice half way down the tail that didnt come off, it was maybe a cm long, its really no big deal unless it looks like a whole bunch of dandruff everywhere.

So anyday now your little corn should be shedding

I highly recommend you pick up a few books on cornsnakes so that you will be able to educate yourself about their habits. The Cornsnake Manual by Kathy Love is one of the best. It can be purchased at most pet stores, or on her website... Cornutopia.com. Please take the time to read the FAQs on this site, and pick up some reading material.

I have done some reading about corn snakes. I have also seen Kathy Love's books at my local petstore and have read them in the store. I put two shed boxes in but they are terrible so I will redo them. Thanks!

Actually, it is a big deal if the snake retains part of the shed. If he doesn't completely shed his tail skin, as he grows, the retained shed will cut off circulation to his tail and the tail tip will die! Patches of shed left on the body provide a place for bacteria to grow. The things you want to check are did he shed off both his eyecaps, and do you have a complete shed of the end of the tail?

If not, it's simple to fix. Do this:

http://tinyurl.com/29hqmz

Nanci said:

Actually, it is a big deal if the snake retains part of the shed. If he doesn't completely shed his tail skin, as he grows, the retained shed will cut off circulation to his tail and the tail tip will die! Patches of shed left on the body provide a place for bacteria to grow. The things you want to check are did he shed off both his eyecaps, and do you have a complete shed of the end of the tail?

If not, it's simple to fix. Do this:

http://tinyurl.com/29hqmz

Click to expand...

I was going to mention the tail tip but decided not to, we kinda threw alot out for this guy to read at one time, i figured he'd tell us if a part didnt shed and then we'd warn him about the retained shed on the tail being dangerous but what i was saying is if very minute pieces dont come off like mid way down the snake or something its not a big deal, in the wild snakes sometimes dont have perfect sheds, it just means you need to make it more humid the next time then you did this time

I know. It seems like every few weeks a person will post about how their snake's tail shed didn't come off a couple weeks ago and now the tail is turning black, what should they do? I'd like people to have an awareness that they _do_ need to check the snake and take action immediately before any damage is done.

(My uncle is famous in the family for putting a rubber band on his dog's tail and forgetting about it, as a boy. Yup- fell off...)

I haven't been on these forums long enough to realize the tail shed is really that big of a problem, i just dont see whats so hard about getting the whole shed to come off. My buddies dad said his ball python has only had a complete shed once.... the ball is about 5 feet long now so that a long time of its life to not get a complete shed but he doesnt know what else to do because the 11ft red tail in the same tank has complete sheds

g124v17y said:

His eyes are no longer cloudy today..... What does that mean? There is no shed in the tank...

Click to expand...

It means that the snake is out of the blue. For the first time you see your corn in the blue (assuming you check up on him often) you can expect a shed in around, but not always, 7 days. A corn will spend about the first four in the blue, then he will clear up (though I find that sometimes the colors are still a little dull), and will shed around 3 days or less after he gets out of the blue. I do think that if you provide him the right shedding conditions (ie. humidity) then he may shed more quickly once he is out of the blue, but I may be wrong.

xchris said:

Mine did that too, wait another day or two and you'll see a shed, mine actually ate during this time, i dont see the harm in feeding your snake now if he/she wants to eat but if your snake refuses to eat again dont worry it will start eating again after it sheds, just dont handle it still, its annoying not being able to handle your pet for this period of time but its not like its every week or anything.

Click to expand...

I fed once during my snake was in the blue, and the shed was fine, but I still do not recommend feeding during the blue. It has been said to cause bad or incomplete sheds and other complications, so I would just wait until the next feeding day after he has shed.

xchris said:

as for that "perfect shed" dont stress if its not perfect, mine was almost perfect but had a small peice half way down the tail that didnt come off, it was maybe a cm long, its really no big deal unless it looks like a whole bunch of dandruff everywhere.

Click to expand...

Ummm..... No, a perfect shed is always good, but after each shed the snake should be thoroughly checked for extra skin. First, a little patch of skin left can attract infection. Second, a ring of skin around the end of the tail of a snake will expand and contract repeatedly due to temperature changes and can cut off the blood flow to the end of the tail. Why is this bad? it's bad because the snake can lose the tip of it's tail because of this. Third, the eye caps. I haven't ever had problems with eye caps, so i can't offer much advice, though you should always make sure that they are shed. They can be found on the shed skin. These are the caps that cover the snake's eyes. If the caps are not shed, there can be problems.

dionythicus said:

I highly recommend you pick up a few books on cornsnakes so that you will be able to educate yourself about their habits. The Cornsnake Manual by Kathy Love is one of the best. It can be purchased at most pet stores, or on her website... Cornutopia.com. Please take the time to read the FAQs on this site, and pick up some reading material.

Click to expand...

Yes, the two most referred to is probably (like said above) is Kathy Love's "Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide" The second is Don Soderburg's "Corn Snakes In Captivity". Both are wonderful, and though you can read them cover to cover, they can be great reference books.

g124v17y said:

I have done some reading about corn snakes. I have also seen Kathy Love's books at my local petstore and have read them in the store. I put two shed boxes in but they are terrible so I will redo them. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Great. I think your corn will have a nice shed. Don't forget to replace the interior substrate of the shed boxes at least once throughout the course of a week as it can get soiled and whatnot.

Nanci said:

Actually, it is a big deal if the snake retains part of the shed. If he doesn't completely shed his tail skin, as he grows, the retained shed will cut off circulation to his tail and the tail tip will die! Patches of shed left on the body provide a place for bacteria to grow. The things you want to check are did he shed off both his eyecaps, and do you have a complete shed of the end of the tail?

If not, it's simple to fix. Do this:

http://tinyurl.com/29hqmz

Click to expand...

Wow, now I feel like in my last post I regurged, but I hadn't seen your post Nanci! This is almost exactly like what I said. :shrugs:

Yeah i'd totally post and give you advice but everyone beat me too it.... Darn:headbang:

mine has just started with the cloudy eyes,quiet and wont entertain food, this morning she was next to her water bowl, felf really cold too,
she warmed up now tho thank god, reading this was VERY helpful, thank you

xcx,

Our first corn snake just shed two days ago; his second since owning him.

We normally feed him on Wed. nights; and last week Mon/Tues he stayed in hiding and didn't move much at all those days (almost zero activity); which, told me he was about to shed again. Within the next two days following, as I did before with his first shed, I simply took our little portable humidifier and set in on a table next to his tank and turned it on low. I just let it run for about 30 min.; then shut it off; then did so again 2-3 other times throughout the day; and repeated this for the next couple of days until he was out of his shed. Works perfectly and both his sheds were in one piece.

Oh, as mentioned before, I never handle him when he is going through a shed (you shouldn't) and I don't bother with attempting to feed him until after his shed is complete; in this last case, it was last night and he quickly ate his two pinkies.

Newbie, lol. Don't worry, we've all been there. Except me, all I have is leopard geckos and they're usually done shedding before I notice anything. They eat the shed too, no clean up.