Scab? Thing between his eyeball and scales keeps growing back?

[redshepherd]

These things keeps coming back again soon after Yukon sheds. When he sheds, it comes off. There is one on BOTH eyes, in the same location! It makes me wonder if it's a health issue or something wrong with his eyes that's causing it? Is it really a scab? You can see that it even kind of pushes his scales back from his eyeball... It looks pretty much the same on both eyes.

If it's a scab, what can it be from? His tub is currently just a water bowl, aspen, and a hide.

I've tried scratching it a little, and it is very solidly stuck to his eye/scales- it has a rough surface, like a scab.

[Rstrui]

just looks like he is missing a scale

[T_Sauer]

just looks like he is missing a scale

You don't see the humongous bump in front of the eye on the bottom picture that is making the snout look extremely distorted from the top picture??

To the OP ... I do see what your talking about but your pictures are rather small and not very clear if you could get some better pics up it would probably help .... either way I'm sorry but I have no idea what it could be .... hopefully someone else can guide you in the right direction .... best of luck to you

[piedlover79]

The fact that it's on both sides makes me think something is going on and that a trip to a herp vet is in order. How many times has it come back?

EDIT: also it looks as though the area around the eye is swollen?

[DVirginiana]

Those scales have kind of a shiny-puffy look to them that make me think it's an infection of some sort... That could cause the swelling as well. Infections can often 'go away' to the point that you don't really see any visible symptoms, but enough bacteria is left inside each time to allow it to come back. I think a vet is your best option here considering the swelling under the eye. Even if you treated the discolored scales at home, the root of the problem would likely still remain.

[Albert Clark]

Sorry for the dilemma red. He doesn't seem to have it in the bottom picture that is framed. Well, not as defined as in the top pics. If you look very closely at the framed picture there is a hint of a very light discoloration around the ocular scale. When did you first begin noticing it ? In any case I think it should be evaluated by a exotic vet. Mainly bc it is near and potentially affecting the eye which is a critical body part. Also you will feel better once you get professional evaluations. It may be something easily treated or not much at all. Good luck, he has really grown into a beautiful animal.

[Hannahshissyfix]

My unprofessional guess would be that there is an eye issue and it's not really a scab but more a build up of some fluids coming from his eyes since it's both sides in the same location. Maybe there is a mild issue that causes regular discharge but the shedding process irritates it since it can't escape when the eye caps have a gap between layers. Did that make sense? Can snakes need eye drops? Sorry I'm not much help.

[Albert Clark]

My unprofessional guess would be that there is an eye issue and it's not really a scab but more a build up of some fluids coming from his eyes since it's both sides in the same location. Maybe there is a mild issue that causes regular discharge but the shedding process irritates it since it can't escape when the eye caps have a gap between layers. Did that make sense? Can snakes need eye drops? Sorry I'm not much help.

Yes Hannah, this makes a lot of sense. Kudos to you for that deduction, very possible.

[redshepherd]

Thanks for the replies guys! Hannah, I think your deduction sounds very possible too. It probably is a discharge related to either his eye or something else near his eye.

His snout unfortunately has always looked like that, not necessarily swollen. When I received him straight out of the shipment box last October as a baby, I had noticed the two "bulges" on the side of his head were kind of sunken and distorted, and that his snout was a different shape. The breeder sent me a bad hatchling, I guess. He also has some neurological/equilibrium problems, similar to a spider. But I didn't bother messaging him about it at the time, just to be nice. :s I kind of regret not doing that now. Hope he doesn't have a variety of issues in the future and die early or something.

Now I'm looking for a herp vet around my area (Los Angeles/Orange County). Does anyone know of a good one local to here? Or... I remember someone telling me a website a long time back where you can search up your local herp vets that are a member of that "herp vet association" website, with a name something like that... I don't remember what it was.

Albert, what is the ocular scale? Do you mean the discoloration on his eyeball? He has also had the weird coloration (light orange/blue eye) on both eyes, ever since I received him as a hatchling.

I am really regretting not messaging the breeder about getting his bad hatchling. I just didn't want to be a bother at the time, and thought Yukon would be fine when he's older. :| Bad decision. Too late to message now, I assume? LOL

[redshepherd]

Do you think this guy is a good reptile vet? I found him through the ARAV site (I remembered ahah).
Or are there more snake-specific vets that I should be looking for?

http://serranoanimalandbirdhospital....r-scott-weldy/