Posted by:
PastelDream
at Thu Sep 21 14:42:29 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PastelDream ]
Yes, this snake was BLIND!!!
I talked to the owners after the exam. It all happened about 6 years ago. This snake ate a HUGE rat. Something happened to the snake a few days later and it regurged. It could have been the temps that caused a regurge. They did't have it on a thermostat back then. It could be it had a heat stroke. Of course, they said it was a HUGE rat for the size of the snake. They were surprised he even got it down. It could have just been too big.
Anyway, after the regurge the boa just didn't look right. They took it to a Vet back in 2000. This was a dog/cat Vet. He felt the snake had suffered a head injury. This little guy continued to refuse food after that first regurge. The owners continued offering food weekly. The "apparent" neurological disfunction got worse and worse as the weeks passed. They were new to boas as pets, but they had been doing a lot of reading. They feared that their first boa ever might have IBD, so they took it back to the same vet they had taken him to before. Now remember, this was a dog/cat vet. He examined the snake again and made a few phone calls. This "non-reptile" Vet assured the owners that their boa didn't have IBD. He told them to offer smaller food items.
They continued to offer him frozen thawed rodents until they ran out. By this time 6 months had passed and he still hadn't eaten. They were going to have him euthanized the following week, but decided to offer him food "one more time". They bought a live mouse from a pet shop. They killed it just before they offered it to him and HE TOOK IT!!!! They contunued to offer him fresh killed mice for the longest time, thinking he would only eat mice. Then someone gave them a small rat for the snake. They killed it and he took it just as quickly. Now he's not that coordinated and it does take him a while to get the rodents down, but he still does it on his own. BTW he's never regurged since that first time.
To make a long story short, about 2 years later, they took him back to the same Vet again. This Vet did a "well snake checkup" and when he checked the eyes he said, "he's blind". He wasn't sure if there's was any brain damage, since that can't be checked for. He remained their Vet until they moved. They believed that any other Vet would think he had IBD or something.
They relocated this year and decided to get their snake a "well snake check up". They just wanted to get to know the Vet and see how good he is. This snake is healthy. It's just blind. 
BTW he was the coolest "special needs" snake I've ever seen. It was so gentle and the owners really love him.
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RE: WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!! - PastelDream, Thu Sep 21 14:42:29 2006
