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Whoda' thunk it? My big male indigo, who is no "Spring Chicken", has gone totally blind from cateracts. He's got 2 totally clouded eyes. It took about 6 months from when I saw the first eye cloud up to when they both clouded up.

In the wild this would be totally a death blow. Seems the toughest part about it now is that he's much more likely to bite himself when there's food in the cage.

He actually seems much more mellow now since there is no visual stimulus to cause a feeding response. He only bites when he smells lunch in the cage.

Anybody else out there ever have a snake go blind?

Doug T

I had a male eastern indigo given to me that was all but blind with cateracts. I kept him several years and gave him to a couple who did public presentations with "exotic'animals.
Surprisingly he was not any problem feeding. He was not any wilder at feeding time than the sighted indigos.

How old exactly is 'No Spring Chicken'?
Are we talking 10 or 15 years old, or more?

Mark

11'ish

>>How old exactly is 'No Spring Chicken'?
>>Are we talking 10 or 15 years old, or more?
>>
>>Mark

Dear Doug,

""CADILLAC" went blind about 4 months before he passed away. His eyes were COMPLETELY cloudy and a milky white.He seemed to navigate well despite this obvious handicap. The eyes went white in stages and the whole process took about 4 months total. I MISS that snake, he was definetly the Patriarch of my breeding group and more a pet than anything else, (Despite producing so many offspring)

Hope this helps. Caddy was REALLY old when he died. But he had a good life. And was spoiled and catered to.

Sincerely,

Fred Albury

hey doug,

sorry to hear about your indigo. do you keep any UV lamps in his enclosure? i believe UV lamps caused a similar problem at one of the eastern US zoos -- can't remember which one.

matt

He looks really healthy. Just blind. It could have been UV, but I suspect the lamp in his cage wasn't nearly as intense as real sunlight.

Anyway, Hopefully he sticks around a few more years.

Doug T

Sorry to hear about your snake's new dibilitation. It's great to hear he still appears happy and healthy though.

Always thinking from a vet med point of view, may I suggest that it might be a good idea to get your snake worked up to verify the problem? You're probably right that it is cataracts ( how old to indigo's generally live?), but, it is still possible that the spectacle clouding is from another source.

Infection, glaucoma, blocked nasal-lacrimal ducts, trauma, parasitism and tumours are all things that come to mind that may also cause clouding of the eyes; in no particular order of course.

In any case, I hope your snake still has a few good years in him as well

Ian

Doug T,

I would have that checked. Cataracts do not appear over one or two days. I had to have Adolf out to the house last year to check one of my young male indigos. One of his eyes clouded up (white) looked just like a cataract. Adolf examined the nasal-lacrimal ducts and discovered an infection. I gave the little bugger shots for a week. His eye cleared up after three or four days. Adolf showed me the nasal-lacrimal ducts so that in the future I could make a determination or evaluate this area for infection.

That male indigo is doing fine now.

Good luck Doug……

Thanks all,

If others have had snakes do this and clear up with anti-biotics, I'll give that a whirl.

DT

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