"Bugged" eyes on scaleless?

I was looking at the scaleless corn on Ian's site and and was curious about the snake's "bugged" eyes. Is this a trait in all scaleless, or is it primary to amels? It would seem these guys would be more prone to retinal damage from UV rays than most amels.

frogsnake?! That's an awesome picture but it makes me think frog!

I can't speak for corns personally but I'm sure it's the same reason as with scale-less rat snakes. It's the lack of scales that makes them look bug eyed.

I don't think the eyes protrude more than a scaled snake's does, if you actually took a measurement. The scales around the eyes simply aren't there, so gives them the bug-eyed appearance. As for UV exposure, it should be avoided as much as practical in all amels.

Their eyes don't protrude any more or less than their scaled brethren. When you remove a layer of material from around any part of anatomy the remaining structure will appear to to be more prominent. Most of the brow ridge on a snake is comprised of scale. So it goes without saying that when it is missing the appearance would change.
It would be fun to see if a lack of scales around the eyes would take away that pissed off look you see in Pine snakes.

Terri

And from what I've read, the scale that actually covers the eye is still present, so the eye should still be protected.

Yes, when scale-less shed their skin, they also shed the eye scale that is still present.

Yep. Their sheds also look really neat.

Another interesting tidbit is the fact that obviously that there are two different recessive genes at work with regard to dorsal and ventral scales. Most of the scaleless corns out there still have belly scales but there are some that exist without them. I believe the Scaleless BP does not have belly or dorsal scales.
Notice too the lack of melanin in the Scaleless shed Chip posted.
Terri

Originally Posted by Chip

Yep. Their sheds also look really neat.

Oh, that is WAY cool! Thanks for the pic! My husband and I were discussing them the other night, he asked if they shed, my answer was "probably, but not as often". But the more I thought of it, that doesn't make sense, we all shed our skin when needed, and scaleless wouldn't be any different so I decided to ask.

Is the scaleless shed any more or less strong than a regular shed?

And the "bugged" eyes makes sense now too, I was thinking nature compensated for the lack of a layer on the scaleless.