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Cloudy eye

E

esreivko

New member
Hi my name is Erik
Yesterday while stopping for coffee I found a beautiful corn snake half dead in the parking lot (6am in michigan it was 27*f). Needless to say I skipped the coffee. Fast forward thru the boring part of story, I now have a new friend. I've had lizards but never a snake before so I dont know a ton about their health. One of Juju's eyes is cloudy and I was hoping for some insight. Blind? Bad shed? I'd appreciate any feedback. Should have a vet appointment soon btw. I attached a pic, hopefully it works properly
 

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Yes, I'd consult a vet. Glad you are getting an appointment. I can only guess that maybe it's an infection. It doesn't look like stuck shed to me. A vet should be able to tell you. It may not be permanent blindness, but for now at least, Juju can't really see out of that eye.

I have a corn snake with age related cataracts. She can probably only tell light from dark in one eye. We have been to the vet. There's nothing I can do for her eyes, but she does fine.

Congrats on your new friend. All my best to you both!
 
Hi DollysMom
Yea we'll be in to see the vet as soon as possible. I'm not very good at waiting for answers though hence my post. The flash really lit up the eye and made it look clear. In normal lighting its more foggy looking. I'll try to post a better pic tonight. Just hope it isn't anything serious. Thanks for weighing in
 
Do you think it could have been frozen? OMG that poor snake. Yes, he needs to get to a vet, and I'd be worried about some sort of respiratory infection or neurological damage from extreme cold. He's so lucky you found him.

Snakes can get cataracts, but it doesn't look like that. They can get bacterial injuries in the eye, causing it to bulge and look cloudy. When the snake is in shed, the eye is actually blue, not white/cloudy.

I have a caresheet down in my personal forum.

Even if he loses the eye, or sight in the eye, he will be fine. Thank you so much for stopping to pick him up.
 
Thanks Nanci
From your description it sounds like it's infected. I intend to get Juju to vet asap but I wasn't prepared for all this and spent what money I had on a terrarium, heat etc so I can't afford emergency vet. Hopefully regular vet wont be too bad I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.Tmrw 1st thing I'll be making an appointment at one of the two local vets that handle reptiles. I'm not so much worried abt him/her losing the eye as I am about it becoming more serious. Hopefully it's nothing too bad. He/she is doing well with one good eye currently. I'm just going to keep from doing anything to stress Juju out in the mean time. Thank you for your consideration/info
 
It looks like there is a layer of fluid between the spectacle and the eyeball. I have no idea why.
 
Yea I've never seen anything like it with any pet I've had. I called 6 vets this morning that all said "I'm so sorry we no longer see reptiles but call this office they do" finally found one that will take us but the herpetologist won't be in until Wednesday. The eye doesn't look any worse and Juju doesn't rly seem to be acting funny. Just wants to burrow and likes warm hands. So hopefully we are all good until our appointment Wednesday. Thanks for the help, I'll do a post-checkup update.
 
Your snake's eye looked familiar but I cant recall why but in research to jog my memory I came across this info that might help your Vet make a proper diagnosis.
Hoping for the best !

http://www.anapsid.org/eyebulge.html

Also...

A response to a question about Pop-eye on a ball python forum
"The nasolacrimal duct drains tears from the spectacle into the oral cavity. It can get blocked by substrate, hair from prey or other small items the snake ingests.

Some animals can be predisposed to infections of this duct. Either way, by infection or by blockage, the tears are unable to drain from the eye into the mouth and the eye begins to bulge.

I've had it occur from a blockage via ingestion in a black-headed python. The snake's eye ended up filling up with clear fluid and bulging. Prior to that, he showed a disinterest in food and was rubbing his face on objects in his enclosure. It was also fairly obvious that he was having issues seeing out of that eye.

The Vet diagnosed it immediately and removed the blockage - fur and a bit of aspen inside of his mouth. This was followed by a spurt of clear fluid and immediately his eye was back to normal.

As a precaution against potential secondary infections, he was put on Gentamyacin antibacterial eye drops for 14 days. He has had no recurrence."
 
Hey thanks
That sounds alot like what's going on here. Hopefully it'll clear up ok with some treatment. I've made a point to not do any feeding until after seeing vet. I'm glad I can go in there with some ideas of what it could be. I'm just nervous about waiting till Wednesday. Hopefully no other ailments from its time as a street urchin! Appreciate the research
 
I hope everything works out for this snake
I do wonder what hets this little snake has it looks normal but if I remember the location of corns naturally does not go into Michigan. So that would make me think that this is an escape or a release and with the eye issue I would lean towards release just because it seems like nowadays people are always looking for the easy way out.

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE AND HITTING THIS ONE OUT OF THE PARK.

I do think the world needs more people like you.
Thank you again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hey eddie
You are very kind to say those things but I think you are giving me too much credit.
I've seen quite a few snakes in my time outdoors fishing and hiking and none of them have been corn snakes. Copper bellies, blue racers, garters, massasauga etc. From what I've read since I found Juju they are native to South and central US. I am leaning towards release as well, there isn't any housing near where I found him/her and I don't see a snake getting very far in Temps below freezing. Humans can be quite cruel. Forest Gump was right in guess. Stupid is as stupid does.
 
Update

We saw the vet today. Juju is a little underweight but other than that and the eye everything else seems to be ok. The vet put contrast in the eye to look for mechanical injury and there was none. She also took a swab of the eye. She thinks it's infected and gave me eye drops to give every 12 hrs. The eye seems to be bulging less the last couple days so hopefully with that and the drops it will get better.
Really glad that Juju is fairly healthy overall.
I was wondering approximate age @ 3ft long. Also wondering gender
 
Great news!!!

To guess the sex, we'd need views of the tail and the adjoining couple inches of body, with the tail in a straight position, from below and from the side. As a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, males will have a longer tail, with a wider base, to store the hemipenes organ. The female tail is relatively shorter, and tapers quickly right after the vent.

To determine the sex, the snake would need to be probed by someone who knows how to do that.
 
I'm so glad that Juju is overall in good shape and that you have drops for the eye. There is no way to tell the age. If you have a follow up at the vet you can ask to have Juju probed.

As to age, there is no way to know. At three feet she could be 1 year to ? Did you get a weight at the vets? It should be in grams and is often printed on the report/invoice they give you from the appointment. She could be a smallish adult or a largish youngster.

I'm so glad you found Juju and saved her. You are the best!
 
Dragonling said:
Do eyedrops even do anything with the spectacle in the way? :shrugs:
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that, too. The spectacle must be permeable, though, don't you think? The eyeball needs oxygen??

When I had Fred who had the retained spectacle, he also had a super-inflamed vein in his roof of his mouth, and I had to give him drops in his mouth, up into the opening up in the top, to get up to I thought his eye...

But I also put ointment on the outside. But that was mostly to moisturize the spectacle.
 
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