Albino BPs and eyesight?

Hello all. I apologize if this is a silly question but I'm still a bit new to BPs. :P

I was wondering if albino BPs have worse eyesight than snakes with normal/dark eyes. I know this is true of albinos of other species, but have no idea if it applies to snakes or if it even matters. I have an juvenile albino girl who doesn't seem to realize her food is there unless I pretty much get it right in her face. She doesn't seem to want to strike at it if I dangle it like I usually see people do. Most of the time I have to wiggle it or leave it right in front of her nose for her to take it. Most of the time she doesn't even bother constricting either.

I'm thrilled she has a good appetite at least. :D I was just curious if this is related at all to eyesight or if my snake is just a 'lazy' feeder. I haven't fed my new male I picked up in White Plains this weekend to compare.

My albinos never showed any issues. Maybe she has stuck eye caps?

She just shed the other day and it seemed to all come off pretty well, so I don't -think- it's eyecaps. Here are some pics I just took for reference, apologies for cellphone quality. :P

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l...127_105223.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1...127_105239.jpg

Ball pythons in general have pretty bad eyesight and they don't really need it. They wait in burrows to eat the inhabitants, no need for great eyesight

She could just be a little shy. Most of my snakes strike and coil their food within seconds. But I have one that takes at least 20-30 minutes to strike prey because they're really shy and need a few moments to become comfortable.

And ball pythons don't need sight. They can get prey blind and thrive fine. They use their heat pits and sense of smell to track prey. It could be that your food isn't hot enough either and she can't 'see' the feeders heat signature. Try hitting the head portion with a hair dryer before feeding.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Are you feeding live or pre killed? If its pre killed try moving it around more during the zombie dance. Movement helps trigger the feeding response. BPs that are born with no eyes (due to incubation error or genetic defect) usually have no problems with eating and thriving. They use their heat sensing and smelling senses more than eyesight. :)

She's eating F/T rat pups right now. I think I'll try the hairdryer thing next time and see what happens. I've been putting them under a lamp to warm them up but that'd probably be faster. So far she's never actually refused food, it's just taken her a long time to take it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xaila

She's eating F/T rat pups right now. I think I'll try the hairdryer thing next time and see what happens. I've been putting them under a lamp to warm them up but that'd probably be faster. So far she's never actually refused food, it's just taken her a long time to take it.

---

Oh and try to get the rat to a 100 degrees. Which is normal rat body temperature. My albino locks on really fast when the rat is at that temp but any cooler than that it takes a while

How do you thaw your food out?

T.A.W Snakes & Reptiles

I haven't noticed any eye slight issues with my albino. The only thing I have noticed is that she does a good job of pretending like she doesn't see the rat. She stays very calm and it seems like she doesn't even notice the live rat. I've almost got tagged twice now thinking she didn't see the rat so I was reaching in to nudge/move it closer.