Hi,


Well If the vet is recomending topical treatments it probably isn't something internal like cataracts I think. Even if he did lose the sight in one eye it isn't as disasterous for a snake as it would be for us as they have such incredible scent and heat sensing abilities.

I wouldn't soak at all unless it was after a bad shed or the snake was dehydrated but there may be other opinions on that.

A humid hide is simply a box with something inside it to keep a high humidity, examples could be a tupperware box with a hole cut in it and either peat or sphagnum moss in the bottom. I think they sell the moss in a lot of pet stores now and it would be less messy than peat. You do have to clean it out and replace the substrate fairly often to make sure it doesn't become a breeding ground for nasties or anything.

They are quite good escape artists aren't they?

Most people using tubs use either metal binder clips or those luggage bungee cords to hold the lids firmly in place as no matter how good the clips at the end the middle usually has too much give in it.

You could try putting a UTH under the cool end of his tank as well as the warm end - you can sometimes even connect them to the same thermostat as the hot end if you put it through a dimmer and adjust it right. Test it before you put the snake in though.

As to what to look for in the eye I'm not really sure - I would look to see if there were surface dents by holding it so that I was looking across the eye rather than into it and possibly try to (very gently) pull back on the skin around the eye to see if I could spot the white fringe of thin skin on the edge of any retained spectacles. You would expect to see the whites of his eyes by the way but the retained eyecap edge would be ragged rather than uniform. I would also recomend a magnifying glass when doing this as it makes life sooo much easier.

But if you are even slightly nervous about doing this wrong and possibly hurting the snake then the best advice I can give would be to leave it to the vet.

Retained eyecaps can look slightly different on occasion ranging from almost looking like a cloudy layer to looking like the snake has a starbust pattern in his eye caused by them drying out and wrinkling. There are also things like dents in the eyecap that can happen - one of my girls has a doozy at the moment in fact ( click here to see it).

I think thats covered most of the questions in your post but sing out if I missed one.


dr del