Right Eye Bulging?

[WarriorPrincess90]

So, my problem child normal male BP, the mouser who I tricked into eating a rat once and have not had any success doing again, now has an eye bulging slightly.

It looks a little shiny in the light as though there is a retained eye cap, yet I know that can't be the case because both of his eye caps came off with the last shed. Albeit not easily. Despite misting multiple times a day to keep his humidity around 70%, he had stuck shed on his head when he shed about two months ago. I soaked him in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes twice and he successfully got it off, save for a tiny piece on the back of his head. All seemed well though, so I was generally pleased.

However, I took him out tonight to search around for urates or any other goodies while I coddled him a bit, and noticed that something looked off about his eyes. Upon further inspection under the bathroom light, I determined that his right eye is bulging. Not to the extent that I can see any fluid or discoloration, but it is bulging. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I had to go back to school to study and didn't want to stress him further.

Is this an eye infection or something else? I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and set up an appointment to get it checked out, but as she's new and I've never been to her before, I don't trust that she's a terribly competent reptile vet. I have a friend that recommended her, but that friend is also very inexperienced in the reptile department. So if I could just get an idea as to what it might be I would feel a little bit better about taking him to the new vet. :/

Thanks in advance.

[angllady2]

I would not panic just yet. There are many things that could cause a bit of swelling. Maybe he bumped it, maybe he rubbed it, it's possible he has an infection, and it's also possible it is nothing.

Wait and see what the vet says, and get pictures if you can. A word of caution, do NOT let the vet poke or prod at the eye or attempt to remove an eye cap. Someone here had a vet blind his snake because of fiddling with it's eye without knowing what they were doing.

Gale

[WarriorPrincess90]

Thank you Gale. I will not let her poke or prod him. He's very sensitive. I'm just concerned that I may not be able to get him an appointment until next week or something. If that were the case, would he likely still be okay? I don't want this to get any worse...

Eye problems are an area I am unfamiliar with. :/

[Mike41793]

Pics would be the best thing for people on here to offer advice and help. I hope hes ok :/

[WarriorPrincess90]

Pics would be the best thing for people on here to offer advice and help. I hope hes ok :/

I know. I will try to get pics tomorrow. It really doesn't look that bad compared to many of the threads posted lately on this topic. In fact, it took a few hard looks to confirm that it was, in fact, noticeably larger than the other. I just don't want it to get worse. And thank you, me too.

[WarriorPrincess90]

Hey again! Just wanted to update everyone on my little guy. I took him to the new vet today and was pleasantly surprised to find that he ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING! Lol. Rare in herp vets around here. Anyway, he looked at his eye and said he most likely scratched the spectacle. He said it really didn't look that bad but gave me some antibiotic eye drops for him to use twice a day, and then scheduled another appointment two weeks from now to check in and make sure it was improving. He was a really nice guy. I was pleased and so was Faron. While we were there, I had him check my little guy out for any other abnormalities since he is my 2 year old, 450g mouser snake that squeaks while out of his tank. He's on the small side, but aside from the eye the doc said he seems healthy. He doesn't appear malnourished nor does he have any signs of an RI. I am SO relieved. My problem child will be okay. I'll keep you all updated.

[Mike41793]

2 years old and 450g
That is a problem child lol. My 4 month old cinny is over 300g already lol!

[SlitherinSisters]

Hmm, I'd like to see a picture too. I had a female with buldging eyes, but that's pretty normal for a snake that is severely underweight. Her eyes are just about back to normal now that she's eating.

And I hear your pain. My problem child is a mouser as well. He's 3 years old and just now hit 600 grams. My other 3 year old male is 1,500 and I'm feeding him smaller meals to stabilize his weight.

[WarriorPrincess90]

So here's another update on my baby...

He has been on the antibiotic drops for about a month. He had a second vet appointment a week and a half ago to check back on the eye. No progress. So the vet who I thought knew what he was doing, prescribed him an anti-fungal to be given in addition to the antibiotic "just in case". Another hundred bucks. But no biggy. I would have paid any necessary cost. However, he then proceeded to tell me that the anti-fungal was for dogs and cats since they didn't make any for snakes. Not completely unbelievable, but I was skeptical at that point. He also informed me that I absolutely needed UVA/UVB bulbs and a day/night cycle. Pfft. What a joke. I'm not sure what to make of him now.

Anyway, I decided to hold off on the anti-fungal since even the vet seemed unsure about it. Faron (my problem child) went into the blue two days later. So, as he was shedding, I decided to stop treatments and leave him be, thinking maybe the shed would solve the problem since it was only minorly swollen to begin with (and because I wasn't so sure about this Vet's advice anymore...though he thought the shed might solve the problem too).

Back to the main point of this post...he shed yesterday. He had a complete shed this time with no issues. It was whole! (I love those.) At any rate, his eye has completely returned to normal size and he seems much happier. I think I made a good decision in not applying the anti-fungal.

Just wanted to let you all know that he seems to be all better and will hopefully eat tomorrow night when I offer. He ate before he shed, so hopefully he keeps it up.

Glad to hear that a low weight is common in mousers. I knew it, but hearing another's example still makes me feel better. Either way, I'd rather he eat mice than nothing at all. I'll try to get some pics of him later this week now that he shed and is all handsome.