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I had a litter this morning I wasnt even really expecting. 15 live 2 slugs and 3 stillborn.
The stillborn had no eyes, it is weird... it was a het to het breeding for albino. there were 4 albinos. 2 were perfect and the other 2 have bulged out eyes. one is so bad its almost falling out. I dont know what to do with these 2 little ones?? any advise... If I do have to do what I think i might... how should it be done? they seem healthy except for the eyes.[IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/motorcycleguyr1/DSC01621.jpg[/IMG

what was most likely the cause of this? the pairing was a het albino male and a het albino female. Un related. has anyone else had issues like this before? Here is one of the other stilborns with no eyes... Could it be genetics or temps during development?

I'm sorry to hear about the eye problems. It's hard to say what caused it.

As for what to do with the babies..... You have a few choices.

You can give them time to see how they do. Sometimes they don't survive when they're born this way. The survival rate seems to be lower in the Albinos that are born....impared. You might even have to take them to a vet to have the eyes removed. At least, you might have to do that with the ones that look like the eyes are falling out. If they survive, then you can try to find them homes. Hopefully to someone that won't breed them.

You could keep them as pets if they survive.

Or you could.......... well you know. Hopefully, someone will have and idea of the best way to do this.

As to what caused it... Some people believe that Albinos are genetically pron to eye problems. Of course, you have a Het Albino stillborn that had the same problem. So... Mabye temps "partially" caused it as well.

The "theory" is that Het to Het breedings "should" make for stronger Albinos, but that's not always the case. Since it's "impossible" to have unrelated Kahl Hets/Albinos, the best you can do is try to keep the bloodlines diversified.

How were the temps during gestation?? Since this was an unexpected litter, maybe it was the temps.

I really don't know what causes the eye problems. I've seen a couple of "normal" boas that have had the eye problem. They didn't have the Albino gene as a factor. So... It's anyones guess as to what went wrong with your litter.

Hopefully you won't see this problem again.

Sorry to hear about the eye problems. Several years ago there was a discussion of this sort of thing on another web site, f-a-u-n-a-c-l-a-s-s-i-f-i-e-d-s dot com (remove the dashes). There was no concensus about the cause.

One possible cause of the bulging eyes is a mild vitamin A deficiency in the mother. The theory is that the mother could not pass quite enough of the vitamin to the egg, so the baby is also deficient. Albinos may also be slightly less efficient at using the available vitamin A in the yolk than normal babies. The dificiency causes the tears to be thicker than in a normal snake, the ducts that drain fluid from around the eye become blocked, and the fluid pressure causes the bulging eyes.

Obvious treatment to try is to add a drop of a good pet vitamin to the babies' food, if they will eat. But I would guess that the bulge-eyed snakes' vision will be impaired. How much is anybody's guess.

By the way, if you-know-what is necessary, here is a URL with helpful information.

http://www.anapsid.org/euth.html

Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian. This post is not a substitute for a consultation with a licensed veterinarian. Any actions taken as a result of this post are strictly your own responsibility.

Paul Hollander