Weird eyes on a lemon blast

[anneplath]

Hey all, just wanted to poke in here and drop some pictures of my 2011 lemon blast's eyes. They haven't looked normal since I bought her over the summer at the NARBC Anaheim. One looks like a retained eyecap but both look like they're bulging to me. She moves around oddly, as well. She bumps into things quite a bit and her feeding has been odd since I acquired her.

I would offer a f/t rat and she would hunt around looking for it before seemingly giving up. After three weeks of this behavior, I attempted to assist feed. As soon as the rat touched her face, she began to eat normally. No assist feeding has been needed since then and three months later, she still needs to have rats prodding her mouth to eat them or else she hunts around her tub fruitlessly. She's eaten rats off of her tub floor twice after running into them seemingly randomly.

Her eyes dilate and contract with light normally and move, though not as quick as my other snakes' do.

[Archimedes]

Maybe a head trauma? Her eyes are beautiful by the way, although I do agree that the bulging is odd.
Edit: does she strike and coil, or just start eating it?
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[anneplath]

She just starts eating. She has struck and coiled very weakly once in the entire time I've owned her. She's never showed a proper food response start to finish. Also seems to be lacking in general coordination; she moves backwards a good deal when out of her tub and either fails to hold on entirely or clings tightly. No in between.

[patientz3ro]

Her eyes look somewhat creased in both pics. That could indicate retained eyecaps, although they aren't as cloudy as I would expect. Being able to see that much of the whites of her eyes is unusual also. I'm not surprised so much by the lack of typical feeding response, but the moving backwards thing is a little odd. You're talking about backing her entire body up, not just pulling her head back, correct?

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[anneplath]

Yes, all my bps will move their heads/necks backward. This is the first one I've worked with that actually moves backwards, as in reversing. I've attempted to remove what I thought were retained eyecaps to no end, as well.

[sho220]

I've attempted to remove what I thought were retained eyecaps to no end, as well.

You're asking for trouble doing that...I'd just take her to a vet and have her checked out.

[Archimedes]

Yeah, I mean a vet is always the first recommendation, no matter what. I'm still thinking trauma or maybe a congenital anomaly. I would definitely see what your local herp vet has to say.

[anneplath]

I do fully intend to take her in for a vet visit. I was just putting these up to see if anyone had seen something like this before. I've never taken in a snake for something as simple as a retained eyecap, however. After learning how to remove them about a decade ago, I've never had a problem doing it or cause unnecessary pain or damage to an animal. Once hers did not come off easily, I refrained from forcing them to.

[sho220]

I do fully intend to take her in for a vet visit. I was just putting these up to see if anyone had seen something like this before. I've never taken in a snake for something as simple as a retained eyecap, however. After learning how to remove them about a decade ago, I've never had a problem doing it or cause unnecessary pain or damage to an animal. Once hers did not come off easily, I refrained from forcing them to.

Got it...just wanted to make sure you weren't being too aggressive. And for what it's worth...I've seen bp's with eyes that bulged a bit like yours...maybe not to that extent but close....enough to see the white around the eye...I've seen it on morphs and normals...

[satomi325]

Wait until she sheds before attempting to do anything with that eye.
If it's an eye cap, it will come off with the next shed with proper humidity.

And if it's still there after the shed, then we can conclude it's some other factor.