Today I noticed something strange with a new female BCI I purchased. This boa at the time was just taken out of its new enclosure so that a glass lock could be placed on the glass. She was abslolutley irate and worked up to the max. She was hissing, mock striking, and just flat out viscious. Then we noticed that her eyes were fully dialated when all of the other boas in the same light had slits for pupils. I thought ohmagod this can't be good.
She was left alone for a few hours and she calmed down. Her eyes had returned to normal and she had the same tiny slits as the other boas. I tested her eyes with a flashlight and they had normal response and function.
It is proven that animals that are extremely agitiated or fearful go into a fight or flight sympathetic nervous system response and part of this repsonse is to open their pupils more to let in more light so that they can see better and be more alert. I beleive that this is why this boas eyes were different when it was agitated.
I was wondering if anyone else has ever noticed this in agitated boas?
Don't go pissing off your boas just to check it but if you happen to have an agitated boa check out its eyes to see if they are different than a calm boas.
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Jared Douglas
