Caring for Blind BP (DU Warning)

[aaajohnson]

Hi all,


I picked up a BP rescue today, and he/she is blind. The store where I sometimes get rats took the snake in and was going to give it to a local reptile rescue. I had been in and seen it a couple of times, and I thought maybe we could give it a better chance. The rescue does great work, but I am not convinced they give the absolute best conditions for each species.

Anyway, the story was that the snake had a bad shed, and they tried removing the eyecaps. When I look at the snake it almost looks like they put something on the eye to help, and it wound up burning the eyes.


The store had been unable to get the snake to eat for a couple weeks, so does anyone have suggestions for caring for a blind BP? How should I approach trying to get it to eat? Also does anyone else on here have a blind BP?

Pics ....






Neil

[itzazoo]

Oh my gosh! How awfull. Not sure what you could. Maybe someone more experienced could help you.

[JLC]

Oh my goodness! The poor baby!!!


Being as how I'm not the least bit experienced in rescues, the best I could offer is to give her a lengthy and very quiet acclimation period. Of course, I'm sure your husbandry would be spot-on. And then, if it were me, I would try offering a large fuzzy rat...or equally harmless aged critter. Get a good feel for her feeding response before offering anything more potentially aggressive. Or of course, go right for f/t...but I'm thinking live prey might tempt the appetite better.

I'm sure there'll be better advice along the way as well. Good luck with her...and huge kudos to you for being willing to take in something that others would consider flawed or "broken."

[recycling goddess]

ah poor thing. good lesson for anyone who wants to remove eyecaps - it's so important to do it safely.

i have no suggestions of feeding... but i bet someone can help. i would start off letting it get used to it's surroundings and definitely never moving stuff around in it's enclosure... so it is allowed to create a 'known' place of safety.

sad - very sad.

[rmune0750]

omg...i feel sooo bad for it...thats so sad ...u HAVE TO force feed it in this case obviously..

[JLC]

...u HAVE TO force feed it in this case obviously..

No you don't. Sight is the last sense a snake relies on to hunt. Using its senses of smell and heat, and even taste....it'll be just fine.

[Tybalt]

That is so upsetting but interests me at the same time. I feel for the poor kid but how in the you know what did they do that? I can not imaging the pain this little guy/girl went through to get to you today. You understand me? I can't imagine the things people dream up and do to their animals. It disgusts me, but also makes me feel/want to be just that much better of a keeper. I wish you luck and he/she will be in my prayers from now on.

Congrats on the new addition.

-Danny

[lillyorchid]

OH MY GOSH! That poor baby! How in the world could someone let that happen? What did they do try to get the eye caps off with acid?! *SHOCKED* I hope it will take a small prey item!

Also Ryan, force feeding a snake is the very last thing you ever want to do, unless it really really needs it! Snakes rely on their sense of smell and heat to hunt, not their eye sight since it really isn't all that good to begin with.

[Nate]

geez that's just horrible. who told these people acid was OK to use ?

good luck with your little one. I wish i could help

[frankykeno]

omg...i feel sooo bad for it...thats so sad ...u HAVE TO force feed it in this case obviously..

Ryan why in the world would you give that advice? Is it based on your personal experience dealing with the day to day husbandry of a blind ball python?

Poor snake and I'm sorry a human being did that out of ignorance and it's had to suffer for that. Recently I did watch a program about snakes on PBS. In this case it was another species but one that utilizes the same labial heat pits BP's do. In this case when the snake was temporarily rendered unable to see there was no appreciable difference in it's hunting skill level or ability to find and efficiently deal with prey. When it's heat pits were temporarily rendered useless, the same snake missed on 80% of it's attempts to strike prey.

You may have to adjust some feeding methods until you find what works best for this snake. I think it's great you've offered it a permanent home. Good for you!