Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The basin center/museum that I intern at has a Smooth Greensnake and has had it for several months. Shortly after getting it to eat during it's third week in captivity it shed off a beautiful one-piece skin in near-perfect condition including solid eyecaps. It has not shed since then. About a month ago it's right eye clouded up and is now solid yellow and protrudes farther from the head than its other eye. It looks as if there is a layer of yellow or pussy fluid between the eye and the old skin. The skin on its body has been foggy for about as long and at this point is nearly black in some areas and it looks like it is about to start peeling off in chunks. It also has not been eating (It readly ate calcium-dusted crickets whenever offered before). We took it to the local vet who has very little experience with snakes and gave us some worm medicine to try. I sincerely doubt we're dealing with worms. We've soaked it in warm water a number of times with no luck -- is there anything else we can do to help get this little guy to shed? I'm hesitant to try rubbing the skin off but am not outright opposed to it if you think its a good idea.

Also, does anybody know what's up with the eye and what treatment should be applied?

Thanks!

Yes,........this is no doubt a very serious problem, and will lead to the snake's death if not addressed immediately. The "eye problem" is known as "panophthalmitis with orbital abscessation". The snake needs to be brought to a "QUALIFIED VET" as soon as possible if the snake is to survive! This is a problem usually occurring from the "eye cap"(ocular scale) not being removed from prior shed(s). The black coloration you describe sounds like a "fungus" that has developed under the old shed skin from being moist from continued soaking in hopes of helping it shed. Under normal circumstances, this would be beneficial in helping the snake to shed it's skin. However, the snake is probably in a very weakened state from the infection in the eye, and the possible fungal problem,and is now unable to shed on his own. This is a very common occurrence in snakes that retain the "eye cap(s)". I strongly recommend you bring him to a "qualified" reptile vet, as they will know how to go about cutting and flushing the pus from the "retrocorneal shield". This is a little too much for most hobyists to perform on their own. How soon you take action in this matter will dictate if the snake lives or dies, it is up to you. ..................I hope this helped you in making the correct decision. .....................let us know how the snake is doing later on..................Doug

The snake shed about half of its skin last night and the eye caps came off completely. I have its previous shed and the eye caps are intact as well. The right eye is still swollen and filled with some yellow puss-like fluid. My hope was that this fluid was between the ocular scale and eye itself but alas... The remains of the shed are peeling off bit by bit though the snake is, as you said, severely weakened. If it does not come off the rest of the way by tonight I'll probably try to ease it the rest of the way off myself. It has an apointment with a slightly more qualified vet on monday though it should be noted that there are no designated herp vets in the area (or even close) -- just vets who know alot about fuzzy animals and who learned a bit about herps out of necessity. I've not spoken with this particular one so with any luck he/she will know enough to save the snake.

Thanks for the help, you increased my understanding of what's probably going on immensely. I'll keep you posted

I'm very glad to see you are trying to take care of the problem as soon as possible. Too bad there aren't more vets around that deal with snakes,it is very typical......In any case, I hope he has the sense to make a small incision just below the ocular scale so the pus can be flushed out and irrigated with sterile solution , sometimes I've read it is reached via the oral cavity as well. With that being done, followed by a regimen of properly dosed "reptile proven" antibiotics, it has a good chance of a full recovery..........Also, go ahead and get all the old shed off the snake that you can now, this will stop further retension of moisture and fungus/bacteria. It would also be a good idea to go ahead and pour some hydrogen peroxide or betadine on the snake prior to the vet visit, as this can surely only help the situation.......again, keep in touch with the progress.....good luck !!!......................Doug

The snake was taken to the vet today -- they cut into and trained the eye. It seems to have gone well but we'll see how the recovery goes. It's on anitibiotics and forced feeding for the time being. Thanks a ton for the help.

I'm glad you decided to take swift action. There reaches a time to stop playing games and seek professional help. Because you did this,the snake has a good chance of a full recovery. Many people would have just let things go until it was too late. You should be proud of yourself for this. Although the snake is not out of the woods just yet, it certainly would have met a slow agonizing death had you not taken action...........Please keep me informed in the future on it's progress.......Also, what kind of antibiotics, and dosage did the vet put him on?...............Doug

Unfortunately I was not the one who took it into the vet so I'll report back to you on the antibiotic and its dosage after I see the snake in a couple days and have a chance to take a look at its med forms. Just curious -- what might have caused this? It's nothing we've had trouble with in the past -- we keep and take care of 8 species of snake most of which were either wild caught years ago or confiscated from poachers in the state and donated to us by Fish & Wildlife. All animals are in quarentine away from others for at least a month before joining the rest in the animal care room. All setups have weekly or bi-weekly soil changes with every other soil change also involving tank and "furnature" sterilization. Shed skins and fecal matter are removed as soon as they are detected and water is changed at least daily. Temperatures are close to optimal for each species and humidity seems ok (though I can't give you an exact percent). I say all this because I'm led to believe it was not a matter of unsanitary living conditions and prior to the puss in the eye showing up the snake displayed no behavioral abnormalities. I believe it may be something it was predestined to get prior to being captured mid-summer. When I found the snake it was in near-perfect condition except for a constriction about 1 cm from the tip of the tail. It did not look as though the snake had any control or mobility in the last cm -- it almost looked like it had been pinched or cut but then healed over. The damaged tip fell off shortly after its first shed in captivity and the resulting wound healed very nicely and is now barely noticeable. Despite this, I'm left to wonder if this was a vector through which a pathogen entered the body before eventually being noticed in the eye a couple months later... I really don't know what I'm talking about here but that's the full story. If it's someting we should watch for in other snakes and can prevent then I'd like to know.

Thanks again!

It's hard to say exactly what and when the snake started to have this problem without ever seeing it. But the cleanliness you tell me of is a definite "plus" on your behalf, so we can safely say the conditions it was kept in didn't cause this. Sometimes,a snake will get bitten by a prey item(mouse/rat)on the eye or head and it will cause this condition also.This is not the case with your snake as it doesn't eat combative prey though. Again, this problem is usually caused from a prior shed that didn't completely come off (especially the eye-cap(s)). This allows moisture to harbor under the shedskin and can lead to fungal/bacterial issues,of which you are experiencing now. Also, the tip of it's tail you referred to as falling off with next shed was caused by(believe it or not) a little piece of old shed that didn't come off. This piece of old skin tightens up over time as it dries, and cuts off the blood supply,leaving the tip to soon die. This is actually much more common than people would think!, even in the wild........For the next while, it is going to be VERY important that you stay very aware of what is going on in regards to the snake. A few good words of advice would be to,.....under no circumstances leave the water bowl in the cage with him. This will prevent him from soaking,tipping over, dipping his head in,and so on. You can put a bowl of water in with him every couple days for a little while when he can be supervised, then take it back out until the eye clears up. You don't want to "re-moisturize" the problem you've tried so hard to get rid of!. Another VERY important thing you could do to help is, on it's next shed, just before the eyes clear of the "blue/opaque look, give him and the cage a few quick "mist shots" from a spray bottle. This will raise the humidity enough for the snake to hopefully shed without any problems.......Dry cage, antibiotics, hydrogen peroxide/betadine on eye, are all "key things" you can do to better the snake's odds for a complete recovery!!!...................hope these few things will help out just that much more... good luck............Doug

The snake, which is about 17 inches long, is being given .05 mL TriMeth Sulfa once daily mixed in with food. The food is a combination of nightcrawler and dusted cricket ground in mortar and pestle and diluted with water. While the snake is being force fed at the moment, we are offering it a cricket daily to see if it has any interest in eating -- no luck yet and I suspect it will be a while before it feeds on its own. Prior to the infection it was eating small to medium size dusted crickets and would usually refuse anything else but the occasional meal worm. The vet made the insision on monday and drained they eye of most of the puss and then got some more out the next day (but did NOT make another insision). The eye is looking a lot better -- it still has some stuff in there and may need to be drained again but we'll give the antibiotics a little more time before making that call. Thanks again for the help.

What antibiotic would you have suggested?

Glad to hear you're seeing some progress with the eye,....by the way, how is the snakes body looking in regards to the brown/black spots you referred to being under the old shed ?.......if it's still there, don't be hesitant to put some "peroxide/betadine on it................I can't say exactly which antibiotic is the absolute best for the given bacteria, since a sensitivity test from a bacteria culture taken by a vet is optimum for this. There are many different types of antibiotic that are suitable for snakes as you probably know, But I have always had excellent results with "AMIKACIN"(Amikin).This is one that has been used by many other snake keepers in the past with good results, but again, there are many others that work fine as well...............hope things continue to heal a little more every day.............buy for now....................Doug PS, I forgot to mention that I'm not personally familiar with the drug it is on, but that's not to say it is not an excellent drug for the situation.