I think I'm taking Nergal to the vet. Bitten eye

[coldblooded]

I rescued a snake that had a severe eye injury (among other things). It was from a rat attack.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

When I first took her in:


After removing the stuck shed (notice the eye):


After about a month of healing (the brown thing on her eye had been a scab of some sort. Notice how there is a dent in her eye where it had been pierce by the rat's teeth.)


And this is her the other day (that's her bad eye!):


The day after I took her in, I took her to the vet. He couldn't do anything for her eye or for the wounds on her head. All he could do was prescribe antibiotics for her respiratory infection (she was a mess).

So they can bounce back from an eye injury, even a severe one. I would say it took Manasa's eye five months to heal completely.

Good luck.

[shelliebear]

Great. There's only ONE vet in all of Spokane and Spokane valley that sees snakes (Despite the 3 websites that listed "reptiles" on their website...when I called they informed me they DON'T see pythons). The reptile doc is only in on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I guess I'll keep an eye on him since it's not like I can do anything, and if he gets worse make an appointment? ....I hate Spokane.

[angllady2]

Aww, poor baby and poor you!

I know you feel just awful about this, but as the above pictures show, they can heal from some pretty severe damage.

I would keep a very close eye on him, but I don't think it's necessary to make an emergency visit. Make a standard appointment, but it's possible by then he may not even look like he needs the vet.

Gale

[Skiploder]

You already know this, but you need to get her to a vet.

If the living spectacle has not been breached and there is no trauma to the conjunctiva of the eye. she probably stands a decent chance. Getting antibiotic eye drops and artificial tears from the vet would probably be a good precaution at the very least.

However, if the conjunctiva becomes infected, or if the living spectacle has been punctured, emergency veterinary attention is required.

Either way, a vet visit is in order to properly assess the situation and decide on a course of treatment.

[KingPythons]

Nergal is a OG Ganster all the way!

[shelliebear]

i think I will call tomorrow and make him a standard appointment then.
is there anything I can look for, like, signs of infection of the conjunctiva?
I know so much about human infections but not much about animals. I'd love to learn.
Skip: advice?

[kitedemon]

Skip is right a vet trip is likely a great idea I don't know for sure but a trip in the morning will likely do no more harm, (guess here) keep it clean (if you have a particle substrate) replace it and use paper in case, adding dust and junk into it will not help at all.

coldblooded wow that is amazing and scary and well good job on the rescue. I have 3 rescued balls with me at the moment but they are in way better shape that your one! Interesting one has a missing eye (birth defect) and she is doing just fine with out it.

shelliebear good luck it will work out don't worry too much!

[shelliebear]

Nergal is a OG Ganster all the way!

what's an OG gangster?

[Skiploder]

i think I will call tomorrow and make him a standard appointment then.
is there anything I can look for, like, signs of infection of the conjunctiva?
I know so much about human infections but not much about animals. I'd love to learn.
Skip: advice?

Last year, one of my thrasops had a retained spectacle. She's old and I figured she would be okay until the next shed.

Here's the thing - thrasops have huge eyes, are smart and are very visually oriented. We were in Disneyland and our pet sitter called to inform me she was rubbing the heck on everything in her cage trying to get the spectacle off.

The sitter calls us the next day to tell us she rubbed her eye and apparently got the spectacle off on a branch in her enclosure. Problem was she punctured the living spectacle beneath it and lacerated the conjunctiva of her eye.

Our vet was out at the house less than two hours later and by then the eye was swelling up. They did emergency surgery and fenestrated the eye. $650.00 later I have a 13 year old snake with one eye.

This was with her eye packed with antibiotic ocular ointment, and almost around the clock changing of her dressings - the whole nine yards.

Point is you don't mess around with the eyes. Any trauma to them needs to be dealt with immediately and by a professional - none of this home spun "just turn up the heat and put her on paper towels" BS.

My snake was treated almost immediately after trauma and still lost her eye. While your snake may have not had a breach on the spectacle, it's a rodent bite and highly susceptible to infection. Get her to a vet, get her properly diagnosed and get her professionally treated.

[shelliebear]

Thanks skip.
Will do.