Dented eye...

[Deluge]

Well, I handled my BP tonight and I noticed he had a dented eye. Now, I know this is usually due to low humidity levels or dehydration, but the humidity inside the tub hangs around 60%. Ambient temp is at 80 degrees. He has access to fresh water, and he recently shed and it was a successful one piece shed. I know he drinks because I've seen him take a few gulps here and there. The husbandry is pretty much on point, without much variation. He's feeding fine, and his behavior hasn't changed at all. So I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

[nightrainfalls]

Could be a retained eye cap falling off. Did you check the shed to make sure it had eye caps?

Also is your python showing any other signs of dehydration?

A few pictures would help.

David

[Deluge]

Yep, I did check to make sure both eye caps came off and they did. No other signs of dehydration. His skin is looking good, no wrinkles at all and it's not loose.

Here's a pic. Can't see the dented eye, but should be enough to tell whether or not he's dehydrated. Skin looks fine, I think. You can see the acurite with the humidity and the ambient temp. I just misted the tub and the moss an hour before, so that's why the humidity is a bit high. I had to lift his hide to take the pic and he wasn't too pleased about that, as you can tell. Ahaha.

[nightrainfalls]

I would get a small rubber made container just large enough to hold him, put some air holes in the side of the container. Then put some sponges moistened with water at 85 degrees f in the container. I would then put him in the container for 30-45 minutes and put the lid on. See if that helps. If it does, repeat daily until the problem is resolved.

The idea is to create a high humidity environment to help pop the eye back out. Still pythons can have problems with too high a humidity, so this must be for only a limited time.

David

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Dented eyes are a sign that your humidity is not where it is, just bump it up.

[Deluge]

That's the weird thing, though. Once I noticed his color get a little dull, I knew he was going into shed so I had the humidity up around 70% the entire time. I even have a container filled with moss inside the tub at all times, I mist that once a day. Unless the Acurite is off by a lot, I don't understand how it would be a humidity issue. His eyes were fine before he shed. In fact, they were fine up until last night. He still took down a medium rat, so he still has an aggressive appetite. I'll bump up the humidity a bit more, but it's hovering around 60% right now. I'll give him a soak and see what happens. Thanks for the replies!

[Deluge]

Well, I handled him again and...The dent is gone. Lol. Interesting. Seemingly popped up over night, then vanished just as fast. That's crazy. I double checked to make sure he doesn't have any eye caps hanging around and he doesn't. Any chance he could've bumped his eye on something while trying to break the shed loose on his head? I'm grasping at straws here, but I'm curious to find out why it happened when the husbandry is spot on.