Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please help me. I am caring for a friends reptiles while he is out of town. I used an unlabeled water bottle sitting next to the cages and started to mist down the cage for his adult rainbow boa. As soon as I went to close the cage, I smelled bleach. It was bleach water that I sprayed on her and in her cage! I immediately pulled her out, and rinsed her off thouroghly in the tub, pulled out all her substrate and cage decor, rinsed it, replaced the substrate and put her back in. I did notice that the scales on her eyes looked "rough". Could dilute bleach have acted on her eyes that quickly? I didn't look before, so maybe she had a bad shed previously or something. I didn't know what else to do. I have been in tears all day that I may have really harmed her, though how was I to know that I would use an unlabeled bottle and have it be bleach.

Please do not scold me. NO one could be harder on me than me. Does anyone with lots of snake experience have any input. Do you think she'll be okay?

Thank you.

If anyone "scolds" you, they're heartless.

I'm not a professional, but I'd give her a good soak, as opposed to just a rinse- just a half inch to an inch of tepid/lukewarmish water, soak her for several hours- heck, you can even change the water out a few times in the hopes of flushing any surface toxins left.

Listen for respiratory distress- if she inhaled a ton of fumes, that might be an issue. Do you have a reptile vet around?

If her eyes were harmed, it could go either way- if it didn't set too deeply, she might well just shed off any roughness you see, next time. How long do you think she was bleached before you noticed?

Sorry, just noticed two things- one, that this post is a few days old, and two, that you stated that you noticed the smell before you even walked away.

Everything I said above stands. If you hear anything weird, take her in. If her eyes swell or start sinking in, take her in. If they just stay looking 'rough', she might well shed any nastiness- they have eye scales/caps for a good reason

Good luck.