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What the... did I miss something here?

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

Resident Boa Fanatic
Hey everyone.

I was going through my normal routine, cleaning and putting water when I noticed something odd about Willow. Well, Willow has a lovely lovely silvery hue to her eyes... when I suddenly noticed that something was a bit off.

On this side, everything looked okay-

IMG_3280.jpg


but then I looked at the other,

IMG_3281.jpg


huh?!

Well, I tried to see if there's an eyecap there... nada, and the pupil seems to be moving... the eye being very much alive. I can't say it's totally not appealing but... Gosh, this is confusing.


I took some other photos too- hope you enjoy:

IMG_3300.jpg


IMG_3297.jpg


IMG_3284.jpg


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Thanks for peeking!

Oren
 
Hmm, odd...this is a new development, I'm assuming?

Why must you torture us with photos of those ugly boas? ;)
 
What is up with Willow's eye? They are, of course, beautiful, and I love her coloring, but the eye is kinda worrisome.
 
Beats me, the thing is that the eye seems perfectly fine.. functioning and all... and Willow is very active and lively.
Never seen anything like it.
 
Do eyes change color like the skin does? According to the snake's mood, or conditions, or whatever? Are the eyes always different, or just now? If just now, was one side of the snake in different conditions (warmth, darkness, whatever) than the other side?
 
Nanci said:
Do eyes change color like the skin does? According to the snake's mood, or conditions, or whatever? Are the eyes always different, or just now? If just now, was one side of the snake in different conditions (warmth, darkness, whatever) than the other side?
Click to expand...

the eye color may change as boas mature- but not quite like this. The snake is is entirely exposed to the same conditions.
The eyes were always the same- and now... the difference is quite obvious.

I checked her out again, the eye is fully alert and responsive. This is really bizarre... it just looks like a sudden development of melanin. There's nothing on the eye itself- no cap whatsoever.
 
Eye color in other animals can change and be different colors, so I don't see why it can't be normal for snakes' eyes to do the same. My aussie shepherd started out with 1 brown 1 blue, now has 1.5 brown .5 blue. Could just be a result of captive breeding.
 
This is about human eye color:

According to the experts at Scientific American.com, it was once believed that eye color was controlled by a single gene and inherited in a straightforward fashion (remember Mendel from high-school biology?). These days it's not quite that simple. We now believe that eye color is a polygenic trait.

Eye color is determined by the amount of melanin, a dark brown pigment, present in your irises. Blue eyes are due to a lack of melanin, while brown eyes indicate melanin-rich irises. Thus, people with darker hair and skin have higher levels of melanin and tend to have brown eyes, while people with lighter hair and skin have lower levels of melanin and usually have lighter colored eyes. This is also why many babies are born with blue eyes. Their eyes change color later as they begin to produce more melanin.

When an individual has different amounts of melanin in each of their irises, their eyes are different colors. Heterochromia iridium (the scientific name for two different color eyes in the same individual) is relatively rare in humans but common in some animals, such as horses, cats, and certain species of dogs. A variation on the condition is heterochromia iridis, in which an individual has a variety of colors within one iris.

Heterochromia iridium is thought to result from an alteration to one of the genes that controls eye color. This can be an inherited trait, although trauma and certain medications may result in increased or decreased pigmentation in one of the irises. Certain medical syndromes, such as Waardenburg syndrome, may also cause someone to have two different colored eyes
 
Nanci said:
This is about human eye color:

According to the experts at Scientific American.com, it was once believed that eye color was controlled by a single gene and inherited in a straightforward fashion (remember Mendel from high-school biology?). These days it's not quite that simple. We now believe that eye color is a polygenic trait.

Eye color is determined by the amount of melanin, a dark brown pigment, present in your irises. Blue eyes are due to a lack of melanin, while brown eyes indicate melanin-rich irises. Thus, people with darker hair and skin have higher levels of melanin and tend to have brown eyes, while people with lighter hair and skin have lower levels of melanin and usually have lighter colored eyes. This is also why many babies are born with blue eyes. Their eyes change color later as they begin to produce more melanin.

When an individual has different amounts of melanin in each of their irises, their eyes are different colors. Heterochromia iridium (the scientific name for two different color eyes in the same individual) is relatively rare in humans but common in some animals, such as horses, cats, and certain species of dogs. A variation on the condition is heterochromia iridis, in which an individual has a variety of colors within one iris.

Heterochromia iridium is thought to result from an alteration to one of the genes that controls eye color. This can be an inherited trait, although trauma and certain medications may result in increased or decreased pigmentation in one of the irises. Certain medical syndromes, such as Waardenburg syndrome, may also cause someone to have two different colored eyes
Click to expand...

Go Chimera Syndrome!! So what does all this mean? lol
 
It means we can say "Look at Willow! What a stunning example of heterochromia iridis in a snake!"
 
That's fine... but she wasn't like this to begin with. Both of her eyes were solid silvers... and now one of them is very dark- and you can see that the pupil is not dilated...
I am looking into seeing if this can be a symptom for a disease... currently no one seems to think so- it looks like a sudden change in pigmentation... and it is uncommon in Boas... to be frank, no one I tried to ask said he ever saw anything quite like it
 
When I asked if boas eyes changed colors, I meant from hour to hour, or day to day, like the skin color. Is there a typical color for her morph? Like a snow corn has pink eyes. A topaz has that olive green. A lavender can have blue eyes.
 
Nanci said:
When I asked if boas eyes changed colors, I meant from hour to hour, or day to day, like the skin color. Is there a typical color for her morph? Like a snow corn has pink eyes. A topaz has that olive green. A lavender can have blue eyes.
Click to expand...

It is uncommon... as far as I know, eye color doesn't change much... it can become less intense when reaching adulthood... but only slightly... it is never so drastic. Eye color is usually consistent with the pattern and color around the eye- so it's partially morph dependent... but no change occurs in such a drastic way, in such a short period of time, that anyone I spoke to knows of.
 
I really don't have anyone to bring her to. The vets here are really... of no help.
To me this looks like a change in pigmentation... triggered by the process of maturing. I will keep an eye out on her... nothing I can do besides that. The literature has no advice to dispense...
 
Oren, I think a regular vet could help with this one if they were so inclined & not afraid of boids. Vertebrate eyes are similar enough that anyone who is familiar with the eye exam for a dog could look into Willow's eyes if they were not afraid & Willow would let them.

However, if her other eye does this sometime soon, then I would think it is a maturational thing.
 
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