Rosy cloudy eyes, could it be something other than a shed?

[FlagonFly]

Am starting to be concerned a bit about our rosy boa. She's maybe 5 or 6mo old. Her eyes have been clouding up since about 10/7 (today is 10/20), but she still has not shed. Starting about a week ago I added a humid hide that she does spend a fair amount of time in, and have usually also kept in a water bowl that she'll tread through often, but not sat and soaked in that I have seen anyway.

She last ate a fuzzy on 10/4. I tried one on 10/9 and 10/12 and she didn't take either (this after steadily taking mice with no sign of hesitation for at least 15 times in a row). I haven't tried feeding again in the hopes she would go ahead and shed any day.

Should I be doing anything else at this point, and how often should I try offering food? I've seen many posts about rosy's in particular sometimes taking a long time to shed, but almost two weeks I wonder if the cloudy eyes are actually a different problem. Her skin doesn't really look much different and is not peeling off in any areas that I have seen. But we've had her over a month and hasn't shed yet so I'm thinking she's due.

At what point should I try other methods like mineral oil or actually putting in a shallow bowl of water, damp towel, etc?

[FlagonFly]

The hide btw is damp spagnum (sp?) moss with enough room for her to crawl in and burrow some.

[FlagonFly]

Trying for a close up of her eye. First one side looked this way, and now both are pretty clouded.

[alessia55]

What is the humidity in there? Having a humid hide and a water bowl should help. Offer food every 7 days. Offering food any more often can be stressful, and a snake in shed is sometimes unwilling to eat-- this is normal. If you want, you can wait until the snake sheds before offering food again.

[FlagonFly]

Somewhere between 30-40%, according to the average of the two cheapie gauges I have. Will try a fuzzy tonight and see what happens...

[Aaron_S]

It looks like stuck shed looking at the close up.

Check EVERYTHING to see if there's any pieces or hint of your snake trying to get the shed off.

Did you notice the eyes at all go back to normal before these cloudy eyes?

During the shed process when you first notice the blue eyes you should add more water to the enclosure. Top up the water bowl, dump some out on the hot spot, ensure the humid hide is working well. Even if it's a little more wet in there it's fine because as soon as the snake sheds you'll clean out the enclosure to make it proper again. It's how I do my tubs with my snakes.

If this IS just stuck shed then dampen a pillow case, the entire thing, put the snake in there and tie a knot at the top. Put the pillowcase in the enclosure so it doesn't get too cold too quick. Check back in 15 - 20 minutes. The snake should have done most of the work or got a really good start for you to help finish it.

If you've owned the snake a month, and it looks to be a fair size, a month isn't that long to wait for a shed. As a snake ages they shed less.

[Pareeeee]

Really looks like stuck eyecaps to me. May be going into a new shed as well but definitely looks like stuck eyecaps.

[KORBIN5895]

If the playdoh idea doesn't work try bashing it on the head with a rock.

[Pareeeee]

If the playdoh idea doesn't work try bashing it on the head with a rock.

At first I :suspicious: then I :D

[jaleely]

does look like a stuck shed. I would try the bath, and damp pillowcase.

Sand boas do have a longer shed process than some other species, so if it's not a stuck shed expect it to clear up then take a long time to actually shed off. Good luck!

[FlagonFly]

So to update: Tried a fuzzy last night, no takers. Both eyes still cloudy. Have done a damp pillowcase 3-4 times now over a week or so for a few hours each time. Can't find any sign of other parts of her skin shedding, or any signs of shed skin in the viv.

At what point should I be concerned? Have read about problems with stuck sheds, but mostly about incomplete sheds and not letting it dry out and kill off the tail tip, etc. Is it common for the entire shed to get stuck and need help getting started? Sucks for her if she's blind for several weeks at a time for each shed!

[Aaron_S]

At this point I doubt it's a stuck shed. I would take it to the vet as it could be an eye problem. If it was a shed entirely stuck then the pillowcase technique would have gotten it started already.

[shaunyboy]

At this point I doubt it's a stuck shed. I would take it to the vet as it could be an eye problem. If it was a shed entirely stuck then the pillowcase technique would have gotten it started already.

^^^^^
it may be dermatitus.....

this can be caused by,retained shed,excessive moisture in substrate,filthy tanks,abrasions,parasites,bacteria,virus,fungi,wor ms

re Dysecdysis (improper shedding)
when a snake has difficulty in shedding it may be caused by,parasites,infection,metabolic irregularitys,tumours...

that said,the most common cause for improper shedding is,humidity is too low

as Aaron said a trip to the vets is whats needed

please let us know how it goes mate

RE YOUR POLL
your next move should be a vets appiontment

cheers shaun

[FlagonFly]

Got to the vet this afternoon. My first visit; he seems to fairly well know what he's doing with reptiles, if not a specialist. He was a little concerned about the eyes and gave me some ointment (Gentamicin Sulfate Ophthalmic) to apply twice daily and see if they come off after loosening. He said the rest of the skin didn't look ready to come off, so he focused on the eyes and poked a bit with some tweezers but not very much before he decided waiting is a better option.

Having still not eaten since 10/4 he opted to force-fed him a syringe full of some pasty canned food product. No concern over body weight or condition currently, and seemed to think the appetite would come back after it could see again once we get the eyecaps off. Oh and all this time I've though it was female since I couldn't find any spurs. He showed me some small ones and did a probing and I think popping and sexed him as male actually, so now the kids are trying to think of a new name to replace "Matilda"

[Aaron_S]

Well I wouldn't go to that vet anymore.

Eye parts of the shed don't come off separately from the rest.

You also don't need to feed a snake like that ANYTHING with a syringe. All it did was make the snake more stressed out. If there's no sign of weight loss and since it ate this month, it's fine. It could go an easy, other month or two without issue.

Seek new help.

[Gungirl]

Wow.. that vet is clueless. He poked at the eyes with tweezers? I would have chewed the vet out. Why did he force feed it canned crap if weight wasn't a worry? Hell even if weight was a worry I still would have never force fed it canned food.

[rmfsnakes32]

Thats actually not suprising my big boa refuses to eat and told us to ground up a small rat with a little water and is going to give us a tube to insert in her throat and get the food it her

[KORBIN5895]

Thats actually not suprising my big boa refuses to eat and told us to ground up a small rat with a little water and is going to give us a tube to insert in her throat and get the food it her

I thought you guys were force feeding her?

[rmfsnakes32]

We were but the last pup she spit back out so vet said to grind up a small rat and feed it thru a tube I have to go pick it up today needless to say that blender will never be used for people again

[FlagonFly]

Yeah I was confused about trying to treat the eyecaps alone. I think he was assuming the rest of the skin had already come off, although I told him I haven't found a sign of any other skin on the snake or in the viv. I was also not 100% onboard with the force-feeding, but hey $130 later I'm wiser now than before.

Unfortunately I think this is the only vet with any mention of reptiles in the area, but I will take another look around more closely. In the meantime I am going to try and keep the humidity levels higher and maybe try some mineral oil. I will say the ointment has helped clear up his eyes so if anything maybe will help lower stress levels until I can find better options. Thanks for the feedback!

[Pareeeee]

Yeah don't go back to that vet again...sounds like a weird treatment, and like everyone else said, don't give him that force-feeding slop.

My rosy had a retained eye cap once after a shed (even though I was soaking him during shed). I took a tissue, soaked it in water and gently wiped at his eye. DO NOT apply any pressure as it can damage the eye. Anyway, it peeled off onto the tissue by itself after a couple minutes and he was good as new! I would NEVER attempt tweezers - that sounds like an accident waiting to happen. I think your best bet is to give him an hour-long soak every day in a separate tub - rinse and wring out a towel a few times (to get rid of any fabric softeners, etc), leave it soaking-wet and place it in the bottom of said tub. I would be careful how much you raise the humidity in his actual enclosure, as Rosies are desert snakes and do not tolerate high humidity over extended periods of time. You don't want him getting a respiratory infection as well!

[jarich]

I think its a little hard to definitively state what the vet was doing here. Eye caps are often retained without the rest of the skin, Aaron, so that seems pretty normal for the vet to assess. He may simply have been using the tweezers to see if that was the case, ie seeing if he could find an 'edge' of a retained cap. Admittedly, it seems a little risky but also a cheap way of finding out if it could be that or some other issue. Im not saying the vet is a star, just that there are ways of explaining what he could have been doing. Since we werent there and dont know his rationale, it might be a little premature to conclusively state he is an idiot.

[FlagonFly]

So, happy to report this morning when putting on the eye ointment that his skin is now looking milky. FINALLY after nearly a month of opaque eyes and it looks like the rest is about to catch up. I've soaked him in about 1/2" of water for 20-30mins a few times, but he really does not like it and so I'm doing the tupperware spagum moss thing this morning. Thanks for all the feedback on this issue!

Oh, for anyone else reading this thread with a similar problem: I had read about using a light coat of mineral oil to help with shedding, but before trying that I researched around some more and found several recommendations NOT to use mineral oil on reptiles. Apparently it can help in the very short term for mites/shedding but longer term causes other problems that aren't worth it.

[Pareeeee]

Hopefully he sheds well for you! Don't forget to give him a daily soak since he's been having problems, it will help the shed come off better.

I like how "Freak out and roll her like a playdough snake until she submits." got the most votes.

[FlagonFly]

Happy to report he FINALLY shed. Yesterday he came out of hiding to show his skin rolled back a few inches past his head, so gave him some moist hide time and today the kids helped him crawl through a damp washcloth until done. Wow, that took almost a month to the day from when his eyes first went cloudy.

Is due for a feeding tonight so we'll see how that goes, but now that he can see I hope we're back to normal!

[KORBIN5895]

Well that's news.... It took over 24 hours for it to shed? I have never heard of that before. Something doesn't seem right.

[FlagonFly]

Yeah, seemed like the old skin got rolled back in on itself. Probably would have worked his way out of it but once we helped with the washcloth it came off fairly quickly.

Ate a pinkie w/o any issues tonight.

[shaunyboy]

Wow.. that vet is clueless. He poked at the eyes with tweezers? I would have chewed the vet out. Why did he force feed it canned crap if weight wasn't a worry? Hell even if weight was a worry I still would have never force fed it canned food.

i'n NOT being cheeky pal

re feeding dog/cat food
if he fed it high protien cat/dog food made into a paste,then imo its NOT canned crap Kat

i learned to use that method from,the head vet and the vet under him at Edinburh Zoo ( Romain Pizzi,one of thee most qualified reptile vets in the UK)

the cat/dog food is designed to get sick animals back to health quicker

imo this method DOES have a place in the hobby

all you do is wiegh out the same wieght in the dog/cat food,as the wieght of the prey,your snake has been taking,that way your snake gets the correct amount

that said.....

the op's snake did NOT require this method imo

cheers shaun