THICK HEADED SNAKE! [aka possible eye injury]

[Salamander Rising]

My little problem child Fire, who, as you might recall, refuses to switch to F/T like everybody else finally met his match in a small but feisty live mouse last night.

His right eye looks dimpled, for the lack of better word and there appears to be a pinkish stripe/scrape/scratch below where I assume the mouse, not too crazy about joining the choir invisible either scratched or bit him.

[it also bit him on the butt but I can't find any signs of injuries there and it bit me several times too so I know its "bite strength" was not terribly impressive]

He is currently in pink, and his left eye is going blue so it's hard to tell what is really going on right now.

I have some Neosporin w/o pain relief and hubby's ophthalmologist had him putting it in his eye for a corneal scratch.

Should I use that on his eye or just let hm be?

The scratch below is superficial but I'm worried about that no-longer-perfectly-spherical right eye.

I am so frustrated right now.

Not only do I have to feed His Royal Highness live, I have to literally hold it by the tail and keep it immobile until he strikes it.

So much for tossing him the mouse and looking away while he kills it....

This is a twofold object lesson for me; feeding live, even if you're pinning the prey down is dangerous and if a breeder says "Yeah, he eats F/T" do not believe it unless you see it happen.

Also, my 1400+g female has gone 'off food' even though her smaller sibling is still eating like a harvest hand.

The larger girl is a proven breeder but the smaller is a virgin.

Could the larger girl be in 'breeding mode', having laid a clutch last year?

All tub specs are spot-on and I can't find any logical reason for the sudden inappetance, which started just prior to her shed.

It's been 20 days since she ate a medium rat.

Should I start my obligatory freaking-out mode now or wait a while?

With the exception of her, everybody's eating like champs.

TIA.

[purplemuffin]

Maru came to us with a huge scar right through his eye that had already healed sort of improperly into a big dented scratch. It was a large gash on him, but after nearly a year of shedding it's finally gone back to normal. I don't know if you should use ointment ON his eye, but at least keep him clean and I'm sure his eye will go back to normal!

At least the snake is shedding now, should start helping the process! A picture would help see how bad it is if you can get a clear one.

[Salamander Rising]

Maru came to us with a huge scar right through his eye that had already healed sort of improperly into a big dented scratch. It was a large gash on him, but after nearly a year of shedding it's finally gone back to normal. I don't know if you should use ointment ON his eye, but at least keep him clean and I'm sure his eye will go back to normal!

At least the snake is shedding now, should start helping the process! A picture would help see how bad it is if you can get a clear one.

I will get a photo after I make my grocery run, here shortly.

Have you ever had all of your snakes seem to "mass serial shed" in the space of two weeks?

Mine just pulled that stunt and boy, was I ever busy.....LOL

[Maixx]

Neosporin with pain reliever is toxic to snakes.

[heathers*bps]

He said above he has neosporin with out pain reliever.

I, also am not sure about putting it on the snakes eye. I hope someone else can give you some better info. And I agree, a pic would definitely help.

I also suggest ALWAYS keeping an eye on any snake feeding live.

[Salamander Rising]

He said above he has neosporin with out pain reliever.

I, also am not sure about putting it on the snakes eye. I hope someone else can give you some better info. And I agree, a pic would definitely help.

I also suggest ALWAYS keeping an eye on any snake feeding live.

I had my hands and eyes on it all and it still happened.

The mouse I was holding still for the snake went gonzo when the snake struck and struck back, with a vengeance.

Normally I hate seeing the mice get killed but I didn't have much pity for that little jerk.

I'm off to the store now and will post a pic when I get back....

[purplemuffin]

Yeah I can see how that can happen. I've seen it happen before where the rat was really defensive, it's horrifying, especially when it gets to the larger rats with stronger bites. This is why I tried (and occassionally still try) to get Maru to eat f/t. Dang wild caught ball python.

[heathers*bps]

I had my hands and eyes on it all and it still happened.

The mouse I was holding still for the snake went gonzo when the snake struck and struck back, with a vengeance.

Normally I hate seeing the mice get killed but I didn't have much pity for that little jerk.

I'm off to the store now and will post a pic when I get back....

I'm sorry, really I am, but I couldn't help but giggle reading your post. I know this is serious, but the words you used made me laugh. Guess I'm a simple person.......

Like I said, I'm not sure about using the neosporin on its eye, but I would definitely move your snake onto paper towel or newspaper substrate, if it isn't already, and keep it clean and dry for now.

[Domepiece]

My little problem child Fire, who, as you might recall, refuses to switch to F/T like everybody else finally met his match in a small but feisty live mouse last night.

His right eye looks dimpled, for the lack of better word and there appears to be a pinkish stripe/scrape/scratch below where I assume the mouse, not too crazy about joining the choir invisible either scratched or bit him.

[it also bit him on the butt but I can't find any signs of injuries there and it bit me several times too so I know its "bite strength" was not terribly impressive]

He is currently in pink, and his left eye is going blue so it's hard to tell what is really going on right now.

I have some Neosporin w/o pain relief and hubby's ophthalmologist had him putting it in his eye for a corneal scratch.

Should I use that on his eye or just let hm be?

The scratch below is superficial but I'm worried about that no-longer-perfectly-spherical right eye.

I am so frustrated right now.

Not only do I have to feed His Royal Highness live, I have to literally hold it by the tail and keep it immobile until he strikes it.

So much for tossing him the mouse and looking away while he kills it....

This is a twofold object lesson for me; feeding live, even if you're pinning the prey down is dangerous and if a breeder says "Yeah, he eats F/T" do not believe it unless you see it happen.

Also, my 1400+g female has gone 'off food' even though her smaller sibling is still eating like a harvest hand.

The larger girl is a proven breeder but the smaller is a virgin.

Could the larger girl be in 'breeding mode', having laid a clutch last year?

All tub specs are spot-on and I can't find any logical reason for the sudden inappetance, which started just prior to her shed.

It's been 20 days since she ate a medium rat.

Should I start my obligatory freaking-out mode now or wait a while?

With the exception of her, everybody's eating like champs.

TIA.

I had a kenyan sand boa years ago that had a very bad injury to his eye as well. I thought the eye was gone but I put neosporin on it every few days to keep it from getting infected. It healed over and looked like it was gone but after a few sheds his eye was pretty much back to normal. Hope all goes well for you. Good luck

[blackcrystal22]

If the breeder said he was eating f/t. I have reason to believe you may be doing something differently here.

What size cage is it in? Sometimes a jump in cage size will suppress their feeding response. What types of f/t have you tried. Mice, rats? Have you tried warming the head up with a blowdryer or hot water? Do you use tongs? (the heat of your hand can be quite distracting).
Have you tried leaving the f/t rodent in with the snake overnight?

Feeding live is not dangerous. I feel that most live feeding injuries occur either by negligence or with an inexperienced keeper (say, someone who only has 1 or 2 snakes).