Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, so to give you a little background, we got this snake about 1 year ago. He is a male chinese beauty snake, and he is supposed to be roughly 8 years old. He used to be a breeder, but his mate died of a respiratory condition so the guy who had him decided to sell him. When we got him, he had a whistle and a click, and the guy we got him from promptly refunded our money when we told him the estimates on the vet bills. We fixed his husbandry and medicated him, but he never fully recovered, but he got much better (mainly due to the husbandry methinks). He has never been a big eater, but he manages to maintain a reasonable weight.

So, a couple of months ago, we went to look in on him, and his eye looks like it is about to pop out of his head, and there is white tissue bulging out around the top. It appears to have a reddish tint as well. The funny thing is that his breating is also perfect. So we went to our vet. On the way to the vet, the swelling goes down almost completely and his wheeze comes back. The vet gave us eye drops (I think it was gentocyn, but I can't rememeber for sure). The eye drops didn't work, so we went back to the vet. On the trip there, the swelling went down again, and again the wheeze came back. This time we went with .5cc injected amikacin every 3 days for 30 days. Still no improvement, so we went back to the vet. You guessed it, the swelling went down and the wheeze came back. She consulted a veterinary opthamologist who said basically that if it isn't causing any other problems we should probably leave it as any attempt to drain it or operate on it would do more harm than good.

I don't particularly want to accept their resignation to fate, as I really love this snake. Please we really want to use him for educational outreaches that we participate in, as he has an amazingly calm temperment, and he's a really unique specimen compared to the things you normally see at educational outreaches.

So, I come to you, the community, and ask if any of you have heard of this before, or have any ideas?

Pics of the anomaly can be found below (warning, high resolution images, as the vet is going to do osme researching of her own).

Front View

Side View

Top View

Upper Eye Tissue View.

The distention pictured in the photos looks typical of a lacrimal duct blockage. The lacrimal duct drains the normal fluid from between the spectacle and the cornea. The duct drains into the roof of the mouth. Blockages can occur from infection or physical trauma to the mouth. The result is a lack of drainage from behind the spectacle causing the eye to bulge out as pictured. Surgical intervention is frequently required.

T.B

Out of curiousity, are you a DVM? If so, what criteria would you use to determine if this case is a candidate for surgery?

Sometimes, if you're lucky, this situation will resolve on its own with the loss of the spectacle during the next shed. In the meantime, the sub-spectacular fluid is putting pressure on the eye. Cultures of these fluids often grow Pseudomonas/Aeromonas which can ulcerate the cornea. The physical pressure can also force this fluid into the tissues and spaces around or behind the eye. Your vet can help you assess these risk factors. The eye can be drained and flushed through a small incision in the spectacle. Good luck with your decision.

T.B

Related to this topic... aren't opthalmic oitments useless on snakes unless there is an opening? This only makes sense to me, and I have always wondered why vets sometimes recommend this type of treatment when there is no way for the medications to reach the eye. I seem to remember reading recently somewhere (probably Dr Elliott Jacobson)that a flap may need to be cut if an opthalmic treatment is needed.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes

>>Related to this topic... aren't opthalmic oitments useless on snakes unless there is an opening? This only makes sense to me, and I have always wondered why vets sometimes recommend this type of treatment when there is no way for the medications to reach the eye. I seem to remember reading recently somewhere (probably Dr Elliott Jacobson)that a flap may need to be cut if an opthalmic treatment is needed.
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>>...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
>> Aldo Leopold (1938)
>>
>>"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
>>Calvin and Hobbes
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes

I wouldn't worry about the "tissue" you see. I have had to remove debris from the space between the eye and brow from my Tiawanese Beauty. Lots of loose, white tissue in there to allow for eye movement. Its just the swelling making the seldom seen very visable.

Can't comment much about the cause of swelling. I have found that Rubber Boas sometimes suffer from a similar swelling of the eye, but it is often cloudy, and appears to affect other parts of the head with swelling. Responds well to oral application of Amakisin (with water).

Are the husbandry conditions on the way to the vet different from the home cage? Could those different conditions, applied at home, help alleviate the pressure build-up in the eye?

Those Beauties sure I neat are they not? I would like to get a mate for my male.

Good Luck
Ryan

We have tried to replicate the conditions in the car in his cage, and I even left him sitting in the car while I worked on it the other weekend to see if that helped, but with no luck. My theory is that the vibrating car loosens things up a bit and allows some drainage.

We're in the same boat of wanting to find a female, but it's hard to find non-het, non-albino chinese beauties who aren't WC! I jsut want a plain ol' chinese beauty ya know Someone gave me a pair of CH inported hatchlings but both of them had severe problems and died.

Ah well. It's been a couple of months now with no other apparent ill effects other than stretching of the skin, but it still worries me ya know