New ball python, something odd in her eye

Hi, I got a brand new ball python(my first of her kind ahahah), she is a she, I don't know the age, but she's 54cm so I'm thinking it's a 1-2 month hatchling.

I was examining her yesterday or the day before, and found a little something "weird" in her eye. I don't know if it's normal "pattern", the rests of the last shed, an indication that she is shedding again(her skin looks "blueish" when looked from the sides, light effect that I've associated with shedding as it happens with my nigrita just before shedding. I would love some input on this matter, I'm worried it could be something bad that might affect my snake's health.

Do note, however, that the snake is fully reactive, usually on exploring mood, takes ball shape when taken out of the terrarium and goes into normal snake "mode" after a minute or so. She doesn't look like she can see on a single eye, has no problems navigating, etc; a healthy snake in whole. The only thing, which I thing is normal is that, for instance, when I put her in my bed, she goes to one of the edges and starts going down slowly, if I let her, her body weight will make her fall, same when she's crawling on my arm, but my nigrita did more or less the same when he was a few months old.

Oh and she is more docile than a puppy, let's me handle her any way I want, even gently touch her head and first centimeters of her neck, without going all "panic attack" on me.

Some pictures, including a closeup of the eye:

Moving towards to end of the bed:
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7129/p1020747d.jpg

Full body, partially out of focus, moving towards the end of the bed:
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1402/p1020746v.jpg

This is the best picture. Check the eye on this one and you'll see what I mean:
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5602/p1020748o.jpg

PD: I accept name suggestions:).

Thanks for your time.

I dont see anything wrong with her eye looks like a normal ball python eye to me.

Give you an example of a haze in pre-shed, http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=87359

so i dont think the blue tinge your seeing is another shed coming but rather just the light refraction off the scales them selves (gives a blue/green shimmer when looked at in the right angle) and this is normal.

Yeah the shininess on the body is called iridescence and from the pic you posted that eyes normal looking to me. Just like with any animal they is alot of variation between patterns and colors of eyes. Sometimes they have a marbled appearance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

Yeah the shininess on the body is called iridescence and from the pic you posted that eyes normal looking to me. Just like with any animal they is alot of variation between patterns and colors of eyes. Sometimes they have a marbled appearance.

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thats the word i was looking for :P i should know my Motorcycle has an iridescent blue paint job. derrrrrr its a Saturday lol

I don't think it's iridescence alone, the color is getting stronger, just like my nigrita ~1 week before shed, and the python is getting less active, pre-shedding like. There is an slight blue on right angle most the time, but I mean a much more defined color than that.

About the eyes, ones is full black, the other one as seen in the picture has those "lines", like blood vessels but not quite.

Hope you are right and it's normal.

By the way, what do you think of these names?:
Isis
Belle
Chloe
Eris
Ziva
Jynx
Kate
Eve
Zoe

I think I see the lines your talking about, but I doubt it's anything of concern. It could be a sign of too low of humidity, but that's the only I could see really.

How do you know it's a she?

if it looks liek a wrinkle on the eye cap its just a humidity issue. and or part of the eye scale has been left behind. not a huge issue unless the whole old eye cap is still there.

I'll increase humidity then, but it isn't visible "loose". And I don't want to scratch it like a piece of skin, I'll probably damage the eye ball.

blackcrystal22, to answer your question, I specifically asked for a female, and I was told it was a probed to be a female, however I'm not entirely sure how accurate this is for pretty much hatchlings. I suppose I will be changing the name if it is a he ahahahah.

As a note, I noticed she still needs to be fed small pinkies, I tried feeding on the very next day after I got her, and she indeed killed the mice(not very entusiastically though), and continued to eat him(but didn't quite like me watching so I moved to an angle he couldn't see me from). It kinda took her like 4 tries untill she managed to swallow the pinkie, too big.

As for humidity I added increased it by dispercing some water on the terrarium, which combined with the warm temperatures should suffice, well see how it goes with the eye thing in a few days, after the shed I suppose.

New name list after re selection, in order of preference:
Julie
Bella
Kate
Abby
Ginger

And if he happens to be a male it could be Q, short for The Executioner, but she's a freaking puppy, so I guess Q is out of the question :P.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thaorius

blackcrystal22, to answer your question, I specifically asked for a female, and I was told it was a probed to be a female, however I'm not entirely sure how accurate this is for pretty much hatchlings. I suppose I will be changing the name if it is a he ahahahah.

As a note, I noticed she still needs to be fed small pinkies, I tried feeding on the very next day after I got her, and she indeed killed the mice(not very entusiastically though), and continued to eat him(but didn't quite like me watching so I moved to an angle he couldn't see me from). It kinda took her like 4 tries untill she managed to swallow the pinkie, too big.

As for humidity I added increased it by dispercing some water on the terrarium, which combined with the warm temperatures should suffice, well see how it goes with the eye thing in a few days, after the shed I suppose.

New name list after re selection, in order of preference:
Julie
Bella
Kate
Abby
Ginger

And if he happens to be a male it could be Q, short for The Executioner, but she's a freaking puppy, so I guess Q is out of the question :P.

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Hold on a second.. Mice Pinkies!? Those are WAY too small. In fact, even rat pinkies are much too small for a hatchling.
Get some rat pups or small adult mice to feed to her, feeding pinkies can actually be dangerous because the meal item is too small.

Most likely, if she was probed by a good breeder, she's probably a girl.

P.S. I always liked the name Ginger.. Hm. Female snake names that end in OEY I like, like Zoey and Chloe.

She looks like she can definitely take more than pinkies. Remember, a good rule of thumb is to feed a prey size that is as big around as the widest part of the snakes body... They can stretch, their jaws can detach, they are very adept at eating prey that looks really big!

To illustrate my point... While this was on the large end of the scale of what we usually feed in proportion, it barely made a bump in his belly when he was done. (not the best angle to see from, but take my word for it) It just looks amazing when they are little babies with wee slender necks. :P

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ythons/1-1.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ythons/2-1.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ythons/3-1.jpg


He survived that meal :P (total shamelessness coming)

http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/bl...-lock-2009.jpg

It wasn't as small as it seems. It was 2 times the largest part of the head. It probably was a rat, I didn't really pay much attention.

Nevertheless, I know it's better to feed 2 medium sized preys than a large one, because the snake can draw more nutrients from the 2 smaller ones than from the large one. That's how I keep my nigrita, I feem him 2 medium sized rodents; there for, I don't want to give him a monster rodent ahahah.

I will, however, make some tests on the size, as I can't really make many decisions based on the first time feed, I will give him another one, similar size in 3 days according to the schedule, and I'll take some pictures and post them so you can see.


Speaking of humidity, I just checked, she was all wet, not inside the water bowl, but all wet, so I'm guessing she soaked at some point last night.

I see in the pictures you are using paper towels littleindiangirl, looks cleaner than newspaper to be honest. Initially, I had prepared the ball's terrarium with newspaper, like I did with the nigrita, because he is a very skilled hider ahaha, so he managed to hide pretty damn well between the layers of the newspaper. And I was expecting the ball python to be much thinner.

I'll give it a try with paper towels when I clean the terrarium in a few days.

PD: Love the pattern on your ball :P.

I found a vet willing to treat my snake lol. He looked at the eye, put some drops on them, and lighted them up with a pretty awesome light. They lines are 9/10 scar tissue, probably happened while hatching or similar, but it's fully healed and the snake has no vision problems so...

Well, I don't really mind about a little eye scar as long as she is healthy :).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/bl...-lock-2009.jpg

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LOL you should be ashamed!

Update!

She finished shedding a few days ago, color is much nicer, the eye "thing" is gone, and you can now see the pattern in the bottom of the eye much better. I'm so happy with my ball ahahaha.

So much for that vet knowing what he was talking about when he said it was scar tissue. :rolleyes: A lot of eye problems go away with a bump up in humidity, and the next shed, because usually they are either the eye is dented in due to too little humidity, or a stuck eyecap, due to too little humidity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ythons/2-1.jpg

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Is it just me, or can you see the black hood of the rat through his skin? Pretty cool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/bl...-lock-2009.jpg

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I love how he's checking out what is going on! "Hmmm, how does this work?" Was this his first time? LOL!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kc261

I love how he's checking out what is going on! "Hmmm, how does this work?" Was this his first time? LOL!

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I think this is right,hmm...!:D