Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I'm new here but I've had some experience with snakes and reptiles. This is a pic of my boa, her eyes have wrinkled lately. Its not a retained shed, I checked her last shed skin and it had complete eye caps with it. I provide a high humidity and I have spoken with my vet who has not seen the snake, but is not sure what is going on if this is not retained eye caps. She continues to eat, and when this started I had her on mulch. Since then I have switched to crushed coconut, thinking maybe the bedding damaged her eyes. In this pic is ready to shed in the next day or so. She ate tonight after I took the pic (On top of her cage, I keep her in a 40 breeder). Has anyone else had anything like this? I don't know how old the snake is but I got her as an adult maybe 3-4 years ago. I know it looks like retained eye caps and I have dealt with this in other snakes but I am 100% positive this is not the case. Thanks for any help!
P.S.
Mel

I can see your problem. She's clearly dehydrated. I got in an adult several years ago that looked very similar. With proper humidity she should be fine. From your post "She ate tonight after I took the pic (On top of her cage, I keep her in a 40 breeder)" That pic clearly shows a screened top! That is not a proper cage for a BRB. The screen top will allow all the humidity to escape. The best way to retian humidity is to VERY MUCH limit ventilation. You should close most, if not all, with a non permeable cover. Like glass or plastic.

BTW, this is the female now:

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

That coconut mulch is extremely moisture absorbing. Therefore if you don't keep it hydrated, it will suck moisture out of your animals. It really dehydrates animals badly unless you mist it daily and reduce air flow to the cage as suggested in the other response.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. I used to keep a fogger in the cage with her but it stopped working several months back, and I probably don't mist her as often as i should. Thanks for the help!

Mel

Mel,
...I think Dave is right that the snake is dehydrated. The dehydration is causing the wrinkled eye caps but also may be related to the crusty looking scales further forward. The very small nostril hole through there makes me think the snake may have had a resperiatory problem and drained some messy junk from the nostrils. Snakes that are having health problems sometimes quit drinking and become dehydrated. Another possibilty is that the snake has a fungus of some sort causing the messy looking scales around the eyes and nostrils. On the other hand the problem may be related to rubbing the nose against the screen. I could be wrong on all of this and hopefully the snake will shed and have nice smooth brills and head scales and also have nice open clean looking nostrils.
Jeff

>>Hi,
>>I'm new here but I've had some experience with snakes and reptiles. This is a pic of my boa, her eyes have wrinkled lately. Its not a retained shed, I checked her last shed skin and it had complete eye caps with it. I provide a high humidity and I have spoken with my vet who has not seen the snake, but is not sure what is going on if this is not retained eye caps. She continues to eat, and when this started I had her on mulch. Since then I have switched to crushed coconut, thinking maybe the bedding damaged her eyes. In this pic is ready to shed in the next day or so. She ate tonight after I took the pic (On top of her cage, I keep her in a 40 breeder). Has anyone else had anything like this? I don't know how old the snake is but I got her as an adult maybe 3-4 years ago. I know it looks like retained eye caps and I have dealt with this in other snakes but I am 100% positive this is not the case. Thanks for any help!
>>P.S.
>>Mel
>>
>>

Thanks again for the advice. I've never noticed her rubbing her nose on the screen. I've got the lid mostly covered now and the humidity is noticeably higher. She is due to shed in a couple days so I guess I'll play it by ear and if it doesn't seem to improve a trip to the vet is due. I don't think the crusty scales are a resp. infection (I hope). After I fed her the other day she did drink water and her breathing doesn't seem wheezy at all.

Mel