How to help a potentially blind snake?

Hi everyone, I have some questions as this is my first snake. While I don't feel he is totally a "rescue" I did get "him" (gender unknown) for free from where I work because we think he's either partly or totally blind.

Here's a basic rundown of what happened:
The ball python came in from the vendor with unshed eyecaps. After about a week or so the animal manager brought him into the vet, who removed them somehow and told us to give the snake eyedrops for two weeks. After reading around this forum a bit I'm not sure this vet knew exactly what he was doing. One of the snake's eyes seems almost sunken in, the other looks dried out and cloudy. After a vet recheck it was determined that he's blind and while I haven't owned a snake before, I have handled and helped to feed them before so my boss wanted him to go to someone who at least sort of knew what they were doing.

He ate well on Saturday, coiled right around a f/t fuzzy. He's got a hide, though I need to go out tomorrow and get him a smaller one, and he seems to prefer to coil around the base of his plant right now. Does anyone here have experience with blind snakes, and how to keep them healthy/happy beyond their basic needs? And how long should I give him to settle in before taking him to get checked out by my exotics vet?

Ball pythons can also "see" with their labial pits, the little dimples around the top jaw. As long as his f/t prey is well warmed up, he can have no eyes and still find it. A friend had one who had no eyes thanks to her former owner "helping" her shed retained eyecaps. It was a weird looking but chunky female who also bred successfully for her.

Great to hear hes in your care now. Dont really have any advice but wish you the best of luck! Also welcome to bpnet :D

I have a rescue snake that is blind in at least one eye, possibly both and she manages just fine. I wouldn't worry too much about it. They are more resilient than we give them credit for.

Regards,

B

Thanks everyone! He/it seems comfortable in his 10 gallon right now, tried to lay it out similarly to the way it was set up in the store. Good to hear he should function fairly normally. He's quite tame too, what with all the being dragged to and from the vet's and having to give him eye drops and all.

Oh, is there a limit to how long your snake can be safely out if its cage? I'd assume if I'm holding him that he'd keep warm enough, but should there be set time limits?

The pits should be good enough for the snake to take care of its dietary needs as long as its meals are warm enough. As far as its eyes go, as long as the eyes aren't showing any signs of infection and yes on going to the vet. I would say the sooner the better. There could be a chance of saving partial sight in the one eye. But the major concern is infection.

Good luck with this one. Keep us posted.

You should talk to angellady (I tink that's her name!) on here. She has a pretty little girl who was born with no eyes :)

They can live totally healthy normal lives being blind, they have many other senses to help them see! I'm almost certain she'll chime in, and hopefully post another picture of that gorgeous girl! :love:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...eyed-spider.-(

A thread about blind snakes that do just fine.

I have a very old Jackson's Tree snake that is completely blind. As the name indicates she is arboreal.

She manages around her cage just fine. She finds her water bowl and hide with no problem and is able to thermoregulate.

The only advice I can give you is to not change around the decor to much. After you clean things, make sure you put everything back exactly the way it was before.

Blind is no problem for an animal who sees in heat mainly.

And just to be obliging, here is my beloved Athena, who indeed was born with no eyes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...kes/Athena.jpg

This is an older photo, she's in blue right now, so I hope to get updated pictures when she sheds. People are fascinated by her.

Gale