'Need help treating snake with buggy eyes'

John Placyk (71.51.53.106) -

I am a biology professor that studies reptiles and amphibians and one of my colleagues has been breeding snakes for over 30 years. Unfortunately, he likes breeding corn snakes and gartersnakes to get unusual color morphs, which often requires a lot of inbreeding. When he has a snake that is born with defects he tends to sacrifice them rather than deal with what he has created. My wife and I decided to start caring for two of these defects. They are albino checkered gartersnakes and they both have buggy eyes. Their eyes appear swollen and bulge out of their heads. Actually, I think it is just the scale covering the eye. The eye is in place, but the scale seems to be bulged out and this gives the appearance of these buggy eyes. I believe the area is filled with fluid, as one ruptured an eye and you can see her eye just fine, but the scale above it seems to be enlarged and has now healed, so it is filling with fluid again. We are trying to figure out how to help them with they eye problems, but in all my years of keeping and studying snakes, I've never seen anything like this. I'm not used to dealing with such inbred animals. Do any of the breeders out there have any suggestions to help with this problem? Any comments or suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks!

-John

Comment #1 Tyf from United States (Contact Member) -

Take the snake to a vet, thast all that can help it.

Comment #2 John Placyk (71.51.53.106) -

I know many herp vets and so far, they are clueless. Most suggestions so far have been to aspirate and drain the fluid and then follow-up with antibiotics. My wife is a certified vet tech and I'm a herpetologist. I was also a hobbyist for close to 20 years and managed a pet store for over five years. I have worked with thousands of snakes in my life and have never seen anything like this. I really think this is a result of inbreeding and that's why I'm trying to reach out to the breeder community to see if they have any ideas. There are no herp vets in east TX that have the ability to work with these animals. They'll provide supportive care and that's about it. We know how to do that and have the abilities and supplies to do all of the treatments at home. I just need to have some clue as to what others may have done to treat such problems in the past. I appreciate the suggestion, but I've met a lot of vets in my days and many are not as smart as you think. I wish we were still in Knoxville, though, as the University of TN vet school did have some herp vets that were worth a damn. Not so much in east TX.

Anyone else have constructive suggestions?

Thanks!

-John

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