Kenyan sand boa eye problem?

[Tig]

Hello all. I have a four year old female Kenyan sand boa, about a foot and a half in length. I've had her since she was a baby and she's never had any major health issues, always ate like a champ, active, alert, everything. I keep her in a ten gallon tank with about six inches of aspen shavings for substrate, with a 60watt heat lamp overheat and a small heat pad under the tank. I keep the tank appropriately dry... she does occasionally spill her water, but I dont give her a lot, so it's usually dried up by the lamp within a few hours, so humidity isnt a problem.

Recently I've noticed her eyes becoming scratched and damaged looking, at first I assumed it was retained eye caps, I tried the old scotch tape trick but nothing came loose, so I just let it shed out. She successfully shed and her eyes were glassy clear. A week later, I checked her and sure enough, her eyes were all scratched again. It almost looks like they were sanded. It seems to be getting worse, as part of the eye cap seems to be misshaped and almost slightly coming off. Obviously I am very alarmed. Her behavior hasnt changed, she still feeds aggressively and doesnt seem to be bothered too much by her eyes.

I'm at a loss, I couldnt find anything on the internet, nor do I know anyone who has encountered this problem. What should I do?

[dr del]

Hi,

What e4lse is in the elclosure? Any hides or rocks?

I had this happen in the past and it turned out to be the unglazed terracotta hides I was using - she scuffed her eyes as she moved around inside it.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hlight=scuffed


dr del

[rascal_rascal_99]

KSB's aren't nearly the dry climate animals a lot of people perceive them to be. Unless the air temp in the room where you have it is really cold and you need the extra heating just to get ambient temps up, I would lose the heat lamp. I wouldn't be surprised if you're drying her out too much and that's whats causing it.

[Tig]

Dr del... the only things in her tank are aspen and her water dish. She does nose the lid a lot, but if it was from that, I would expect her whole face to be injured, not just the eyes.

rascal - the temp in my room isnt freezing, but it does tend to fluctuate a bit. This is how I've kept her for her whole life and never seen an issue, but I did ask a reptile vet at a herp club I'm in today and what he told me was similar, except he suggested that I spray the tank down three times a week or so. I'll def take the lamp off when summer comes around, but I live up north, so it can get kinda cold this time of year.

[Tig]

I have been just running the heat pad and keeping the lamp off for the last few days, however, I have seen no improvements and the eye caps are nearly completely white and scratched out.

Where do I go from here...?

[rascal_rascal_99]

This is likely something you won't see change until after it's next shed, when it does go into its shed cycle, mist it a couple of times and give it a humid hide box to make sure the shed goes well and easy for it.