Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just noticed that one eye in my adult female Atheris squamigera is cloudy, while the other is clear. There is no retained eye cap. I am assuming that this is an eye infection. The female should be in the early stages of being gravid.

The questions are, should I wait this out, or begin treatment? What treatment options are available? Is Baytril useful in this situation? Any other thoughts/information on eye problems in snakes are appreciated.

Is the eye/head swollen?
Because it sounds like my A.squamigera female might got the same symptoms and it should also be gravid (I withnessed many copulations in September - October). Earlier I thought that the male had bitten it on the head or something, but now I'm not so sure about it.
Symptoms of the eye problem started in early December and after couple of weeks the eye get bigger and bigger, also the other side of the head. I only clean the eye with some antiseptics and it started to heal in month or so. At the moment the eye is still quite nasty (blur and cloudy) but the snake has eaten many times and so. It should shed it's skin soon and I'll hope to see some changes on the eye after that..

Heres some photos.
About a week after I noticed something isn't right.


January 11

I'll try to take some new photos soon.
Sami
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-- www.nothingtosay.tk --

Get this guy to a vet. I realize it's a hot, but that's no excuse. You should have some access to proper treatment for the animals you keep. Let the forum know if you're having a difficult time finding one.

There are several factors at play here. First, whatever is happening to the eye will likely impair sight permanently. The above example of the animal living in pain for several months but eventually healing with vision impairment would be the best case scenerio without treatment. There is also a risk of the eye rupturing, a risk of the animal becoming septic, a risk of death, and as already mentioned, it's likely painfull. Certainly so if swelling begins. The other major factor at play here is the fact that she's gravid. Any treatment regime needs to take this into consideration, although it's impossible to go risk free to the babies.

Ian

Your snake definitely has a worse problem than mine at the moment. My girl's eye is uniformly cloudy (like it would look when the snake goes into shed), with no swelling in the eye or head. This just started, so I assume that it could progress in the same manner as your snake.

Anyone have any experience successfully treating this condition?

Scroll down to the Jan 26 posts about a similar problem with other snakes. You'll probably find some good info there.

Doug T

OK here we go.. the bastard shed it's skin sometime at last night or this morning and surprise surprise the eye is much brighter.
There is still some swelling but still..

And the pics

Sami
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-- www.nothingtosay.tk --

Hi,

I had a similar problem about 10 years ago, in a T. albolabris (or at least that's what it was being called...). It was a youngster, maybe 1.5-2 yrs old, female. I'd suffered the usual hassles to get the thing feeding like a champ and well beyond bits of mice, so was rather attached to her.

The problem manifested as a very sudden "popeye" that was cloudy and grossly swollen - looked just like yours. I farted around a couple days hoping it would resolve itself - it didn't, naturally...

BTW, I'm seriously anal about checking every single shed for 2 spectacles - if one's missing I get right after it before it dries on hard. This was not the case with this animal.

I lived in a very small town but was lucky to have a "sporty" vet who agreed to have a look (my first trip to a vet with a "hot". He isofluoraned the animal down and I held her while he inspected her very closely (in the mouth, vent, and all over the outside). He then hit the books with me looking over his shoulder and answering questions.

He settled on plugged lachrymal duct as the problem (you can see evidence of these ducts in sheds). He elected to remove a little window from the spectacle (which was safely up off the eyeball due to the swelling) - used a scalpel to cut a little isosceles triangle (small side on the bottom) from the spectacle. He irrigated the gook from the subspectacular void - just used a needle & syringe, carefully - it was a lot of gook, basically pus from a bacterial infection).

I then took the animal home and gave her a couple weeks of Baytril injections. She recovered fine, kept the eye, kept her sight, resumed feeding just fine. Great outcome.

I think the whole ordeal cost me about $250 (vet time, anesthesia, drugs, misc expenses). The snake had cost $40. That's how it goes.

I've only had 2 other occasions to take snakes to a vet - for respiratory diseases they had upon delivery (grr). An adult male Vipera l. gaditana, and an adult male C. r. ravus. These also involved anesthesia, exams, labwork, and then Baytril injections for a couple weeks, and also had 100% satisfactory outcomes. Both went to the same vet, but a different one from the first (different side of the country, in fact).

Get the animal to a vet, pronto. Nothing is gained by delay.

Best luck,
Jimi