Coral Glow Cinnamon Eye Problem - Need some Advice!

I have a 3 month old CGC male that got from a breeder about a month ago.. One of his eyes is much larger than the other. One eye looks completely normal, and the other eye is tiny, almost like it's sunken into his head. He recently shed out perfectly - and the eye remains the same.. The tiny eye does not look dented or dehydrated or anything like I've seen online.. it's just a tiny little eye, shrunken into his head..

do you think this is simply a defect or something that could fix itself in time? Unfortunately I'm new on here, and it will not allow me to add an attachment yet.

Any advise is much appreciated! Thanks!!

Welcome to the forum! :) Unfortunately, without a picture there isn't much we can do but speculate blind. You cannot "attach" a picture to a post, you will need to post it inside the body of your comment.

How to post pictures, the short version.

How to post pictures, the in-depth version.

Hope these help! :)

Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated! Here is link to pic of my coral glow w/ the tiny eye!

Normal Eye - http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...Render%201.jpg
Tiny Eye - http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...s/IMG_9304.png

The pics;

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...Render%201.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...s/IMG_9304.png

( hopefully )

Nothing you can do. Just a defect he was born with. Lesser Pieds suffer from that, and Super Lesser's suffer from the opposite (bug eyes).

That looks congenital to me. Nothing to worry about.

Would u suggest not breeding this guy in the future? I've had several ppl tell me not to breed him due to his defect... What do u guys think..? Something to worry about.. Or is he simply a pet moving forward...

Nah you can breed him. Just because something is congenital doesn't mean that it is heritable. Could have been some kind of random morphological error during development. Just be prepared that there is a possibility of having some offspring with the issue. If the eye morphology does prove out to be heritable, at that point you probably wouldn't want to breed him.

My philosophy is there are too many physically perfect examples of a morph to willingly breed an animal with physical abnormalities. You don't breed dogs, cats, horse etc with micropthalmia so why is it OK in ball pythons?

Sorry for the genetic defect. Maybe try to reach out to who you purchased him from? See if anything can be done to replace him. Good luck!

I wouldn't breed him. It could be nothing to worry about, but it could be heritable. I would be hesitant to breed an animal if there's an additional concern that it may not produce healthy babies. If this defect is heritable, what if it's a recessive gene? You wouldn't even realize that the defect had passed down to the offspring, and might unintentionally spread the defect through your breeding efforts. Worst case scenario, people buy the carrier babies and breed them. All of a sudden this is common in local ball pythons. Best case scenario, it's not heritable and it might have been caused by an incubation issue. I think it's important to ask yourself whether the risk is worth it. Remember, there are more coral glow cinnamons out there. It would be a bit of a blow to your wallet, but it might help you produce healthier babies. He's a beautiful snake. Even if you decide to never breed him, I'm sure he would make a wonderful pet.

Advice to everyone here, newbies or veterans of this forum is to always research breeders and see/view photos of the parents. Do you feel like a reputable breeder who will get recommendations if a parent has such a defect?

Its a pretty snake and will likely be a good pet but unless a parent is at least without defects, it shouldn't be bred.

I asked the breeder if he could send me pics of parents of the CGC and both parents are w/out the defect. The breeder also said that none of the siblings had a similar issue. The breeder was really cool about it and offered to swap out the snake for another one.. but I really like him regardless of his "tiny eye" and look forward to raising this handsome little fella! I am 99.9% certain I will not chose to breed him however.. better safe than sorry!

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Originally Posted by groovok

I asked the breeder if he could send me pics of parents of the CGC and both parents are w/out the defect. The breeder also said that none of the siblings had a similar issue. The breeder was really cool about it and offered to swap out the snake for another one.. but I really like him regardless of his "tiny eye" and look forward to raising this handsome little fella! I am 99.9% certain I will not chose to breed him however.. better safe than sorry!

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Way to stick with him despite his small issue! :gj: He is a beautiful snake.

I have had micropthalmia show up in clutches that became too dehydrated early on, especially if there is an egg stuck on the top of the clutch.

I've never seen that before, it's very interesting. Either way he is very pretty, regardless of his eyes. Good luck and best wishes with him

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Anyone else find it odd that the breeder sent you the snake without telling you about the defect? They had to have noticed.

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Originally Posted by nightwolfsnow

Anyone else find it odd that the breeder sent you the snake without telling you about the defect? They had to have noticed.

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This. I hope the price was discounted to compensate for the defect.

A wise lady friend told me many years ago her philosophy when breeding horses was: Breed the best to the best, and hope for the best.

This critter isn't "the best" for breeding, so enjoy him as a lovely pet.

As mentioned definitely not something that can be corrected as for the origin of the birth defect who knows, can be the pairing can be the temps.

As for breeding well it will be up to you, we all have different sets of standards when it comes to our animals and breeding, I am one that does not believe in breeding anything that is not flawless, again flawless based on my standards.

If you haven't named him yet I vote for Popeye. Props to you for sticking with him.

Yes, the breeder offered a full refund for him actually or to swap him out w/ another animal if i wanted to ship him back - but I really like him regardless of his eye and didn't want him to have to go thru the entire shipping process a 2nd time. The breeder said his employee was the one who made the error in shipping the wrong snake entirely - but, it's not an issue. Since I decided to keep him and didn't make a stink about a partial refund or anything like that.. the breeder hooked me up with a very generous discount on my next addition!

He really is a cool looking little guy, despite his eye defect - and his temperament is fantastic - I'll post some additional pics of him when I have a chance!