Dry eyes?

[emunkey]

my snake shed a few days ago, and ever since his eyes look really dry, kinda wrinkly...what could this be? how hard are eye infections to treat, what causes them, and are they common?

[Doug]

Re: Dry eyes?

HI,
Dented eyes could mean dehydration and or retained shed.of the eye caps ..  
I used to own a BP who had problem shed, until I raised the humidty in his cage.  This was part of that learning curve thingy he was my first snake and proably the most difficult to own he had dented eyes occasionally .
 Another problem could be dehydration are you using external heat that dries the  air. Your cage may be causing the problem..
I used to use 40 critters for my young snakes but there are tremendous temp gradients in glass tanks. So I finally went to UTH"S   the uth covers over 50% of the floor of the cage ,,with a towel thrown over the top of the tank this holds humidty if you spray water on the newspaper,  I also use a thermostat in the cage on the wall above the floor that cuts the UTH out at around 84 Deg,if your using aspen put down a layer of paper fairly thick and pour a cup or two of water on the paper and the cover with aspen this will hold the humidty.. To me humidty and lack of even heat is the most common problem that leads to many other problems in very young snakes.
  Look at the two 40 critters with towels they hold at 82-84 deg and the humidity runs from 60 -80% depending on how much water I had to the paper. ANd the humidity will hold for a couple days in the tanks. Heck I gotta change the water anyway so I spill some and then refill the water dish after cleaning it a bit and replace.

 
 My guyana's love the extra humidty and so did my hog island.
I usally have two hides in every cage one cooler one warmer and the largest water dishes I can buy.
  My larger cages are basically incubators with little or no temp
gradients , yes the floor is warmer but the air is mostly warm at least 82 to 84 due to either che's or my UV heaters attached to the top of the cage. Both also have uth's in the foor with thermostats to everything.
 I usally spend more on heat than I do on the cage.  I ve never had a problem since and all are thriving and growing like weeds.
 




 If your having any problems with a young boa its proably
a temp gradient problem with  humidty problems.
 My two cents.
 Most boa experts have found ways to keep their boas in the perfect temps and humidty tried and proven, this will prevent
RI, shed problems and POO and digestion problems.  Remember your homes ac and heat dry the air tremendously
my winter humidity is around 30% and summer around 50% with the ac, gas heat dries the air also so I close the vents in the summer in my herp room it stays at 80 deg around 50 % humidty. I ve gotten used to the heat,, I don't have scales yet maybe next year. I am getting use dto having frozen rats next to my Ice cream, ( it improves the flavor) hehe

  DOug cwm4.gif
 
   

[Doug]

Re: Dry eyes?

HI,
 I forgot to mention you need to have some type of humidty and temp  measuring device in your cage at our near the favorite hide, and second temp device near the warm spot..  This is important in glass cages, they can hit 90 to 100 + deg on the warm side specially under che's and be 70 on the cool.side . That causes all kinds of problems. So you should  try to hold the temp at 82 inside the cage ambient and warmer at the warm spot around 86-90.
  Good luck...  That little extra money in heat and humidty pays for it self in excellent health and feeding response.
    doug

[lukeUK]

Re: Dry eyes?

If I forget to mist my boas thay too get dented eyes, this is soon sorted with a quick misting, and trying not to forget again, if the humidity is right thay wont be dented.