Mystery illness and one eyed snakes

Hi
My snake doesn't have a problem, but she did and is now recovering.
It was a problem that managed to stump 5 experts and 3 vets. No one I have spoken to had ever seen the problem before.
Sorry if this ends up being a long post, but there are pictures, and ever one of forums likes pictures !!

I got cherry as a hatchling last August, she was fine until January when where eye started to swell up. It happened slowly and gradually, I took her to 2 specialist who had never seen anything like it. Then to a vet, who drained the fluid from the eye and ran tests on it, and kept her in to monitor.
There was nothing to trigger the problem, nothing about her situation, viv or eating had changed. She was even still on pinkys.

All tests came back negative for any bacteria, infection, abnormality, unknown substances or damage. All that was there was, basically, tears.

once i brought her home nothing happened for over a month, then it started again. Since then i was going back and forth between different specialist and vets getting the fluid drained, and looking for a solution. Spending a fortune on vets bills and finding nothing while it got progressively worse.
In the end it got so bad that last month i decided to make the choice to have her eye removed, and the vet instantly agreed it was the best thing to do to stop it continuing to worsen. This is an photo of her soon before the removal, She shed immediately after i took these, surprisingly she has always shed both eye caps easily, even with this problem.





There has never been any change in her behavior, never refused feeding or regurgitated, pooping fine, never bitten, no sensitivity around the eye, continued to do Perfect full sheds with eye caps every time.

since the operation she has shed once, the stitches came out with not problem. She is eating fine, and in fact striking better then before the operation. She is doing amazing well which is more then i can say for my bank account right now haha
I feel very luck to have such a docile snake, she never bit me even when i was having to open her mouth to give her meds every day.
This is the best pic i have got of her since the op (the camera revered the picture which is why it looks like the other eye sorry)




So. The big Question. What was wrong with Cherry ?
If anyone has ever seen this before then i would love to hear about it. as although she is healing well and the problem is over, no one ever knew what was wrong.

My first thought would be a blocked duct for the exit of the fluid under the eyecap. Either that or an abnormality in the rate of production of said fluid.

Shiari said:

My first thought would be a blocked duct for the exit of the fluid under the eyecap. Either that or an abnormality in the rate of production of said fluid.

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Thats one of the things that the vets looked into a blocked duct, but they said there didn't appear to be a blockage, they put some green die in her eye and it disappeared after about a week.
I thought it might be a genetic abnormality, told they where common in pythons and took her to a python expert. Who said that it looked like it could be, but if it was the problem would have started when she was young.

I had one that was lacking the duct in one eye cap, meaning that fluid gradually built up behind it, pushing the cap into a bubble. When she shed, the eyecap went back to a normal flat profile, but then started building up again after a few days. Doesn't sound like it's the same as yours, as it obviously has the duct and the eye seems to be draining.

I have no clue, but it looks like it couldn't have been comfortable for her. She's probably breathing a big sigh of relief to have that problem eye no longer there to give her heck!

bitsy said:

I had one that was lacking the duct in one eye cap, meaning that fluid gradually built up behind it, pushing the cap into a bubble. When she shed, the eyecap went back to a normal flat profile, but then started building up again after a few days. Doesn't sound like it's the same as yours, as it obviously has the duct and the eye seems to be draining.

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Sounds very similar to what i was getting, but even thought the fluid was building up the die the vet put in vanished.
Did your snake have that problem from hatching or did it appear after a few months like mine ?
Perhaps it was like Shiari said, she was producing too much fluid too fast. which i guess could be a problem in her genetics ? maby haha

My first thought after bacterial infection/other problem was abnormal fluid production. Seems the most likely to me.

this is first time i saw corn has eye problem..learn a new things today..before this im only deal with one eye blood python..a few of them,but quite common..
even without eye,your corn still look stunning to me..

Cherry is a very lucky cornsnake! She has an owner who was willing to go to all sorts of specialists to take care of her. Since one-eyed animals usually do just fine, I am sure she will thrive & grow under your care now that she has had her eye problem solved. I admit it's pretty drastic but she probably feels more comfortable. The swollen eye must have hurt, I know it would have in a person.

Anyway, welcome! I'd say it in Welsh if I knew how.

Did your snake have that problem from hatching or did it appear after a few months like mine ?

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It first came up a couple of days after hatching, so I've always considered it a developmental fault that the duct was missing. Never had another hatch like it before or since, so I suspect just a one-off freak problem rather than anything genetic.

The vet did operate on her when she was six months old (she needed to be large enough) to remove the entire bed of the eyecap scale to see if it grew back with the duct. However, it grew back the same.

bitsy said:

The vet did operate on her when she was six months old (she needed to be large enough) to remove the entire bed of the eyecap scale to see if it grew back with the duct. However, it grew back the same.

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What happened in the end ? did you get it sorted or is she still having the problem ?

wstphal said:

. I admit it's pretty drastic but she probably feels more comfortable. The swollen eye must have hurt, I know it would have in a person.

Anyway, welcome! I'd say it in Welsh if I knew how.

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Yeah i felt really guilty doing it, especially since the eye ball itself was healthy. I actually cried i felt that mean.
But the day i took her to have it done she had started to bleed along the top of her eye, vet took one look at her and said they would operate within the hour. So i guess these things need to be done sometimes.

Croeso is Welsh for welcome. and ddiolch (thanks haha)

What happened in the end ? did you get it sorted or is she still having the problem ?

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My vet's decision was to leave the eye in place. As long as she behaved/ate nomally and the "bubble" subsided with each shed, then he was happy that she was able to live a good life.

Unfortunately the fluid in the eye became infected when she was six years old. Even though I caught it quite early (she was fine two days before I found it), the vet said that the infection had advanced very fast and was too near the brain for her to fight off and it would be kindest to let her go. I decided to euthanise her.