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RE: Is it bad ?
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by camoyeti on December 19, 2009
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Thanks for the heads up on the cedar chips, major brain fart on my part, I knew this from keeping Pythons. I changed it out and put in a felt pad in it's place, his acting better now, but again his not letting me take him out of his little cave, but I'm not giving up, I want to get some more pics of him. Much Respect Y'all, thanks again.
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RE: Is it bad ?
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by camoyeti on January 9, 2010
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Cro, I was able to get a pic of my Agkis, so what could it be and what could cause it, and what could I do? the picture is on my profile and I have removed the cedar chips and he's laying on crushed velvet now, Thanks. Charles
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RE: Is it bad ?
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by Cro on January 9, 2010
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Charles, Thanks for posting a close up photo of the eye of your copperhead.
From the looks of it, I think the snake has perhaps broken a capillary inside of the eye. That would allow blood to fill part of the eye. There is a similar thing that can happen to humans. It is something that could have happened if the snake had been bitten by another snake directly in the eye, or, could have happened due to some sort of disease.
As far as what you can do to help, if I am correct in what is causing the problem, there will be little that you can do to help. Hopefully, it will heal itself over time, and if the blood stops leaking into the eye, the blood inside of the eye would probably be absorbed over time, and eventually disappear from the eye.
On the other hand, if blood keeps leaking into the eye, it could fill it with enough blood so that all vision is blocked. The snake might loose all use of the eye in a case like that.
The good news is that snakes have a remarkable ability to heal things like that over time. But, even if it did not heal, and the snake lost all of the vision in that eye, it would probably still not kill the snake, or, even keep it from living a fairly normal life.
Because these snakes have heat-sensitive pits, they are able to work quite well without vision.
Whatever is going on, is quite unusual. If the dark area gets larger, try to document that with more photos. And, if it gets smaller, try to document that also.
Keep feeding the snake, and just try to keep a eye on the situation and look for changes.
In a human, they would use a laser to seal up a leaking blood vessel inside the eye. However, there will be no way to do that with a snake.
Keep us updated on any changes you see over time.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Is it bad ?
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by camoyeti on January 9, 2010
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John, Thanks for everything. I did notice, on the last time I fed him, he didn't even eat the mouse, he didn't even strike at the mouse, the mouse was crawling all over him, riding on his back like a long ass skate board or something, I don't know if that's normal, all I know is that the Python's I had would darn near grab that meal in mid air. Well I'll surely keep you up to date on him, again Thank you very much, and keep it safe out there... Charles.
p.s. I got my first look at his fangs, all I can say, not to shabby for a little guy though. Take care ttys.
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RE: Is it bad ?
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by Cro on January 10, 2010
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Charles,
It would be better if you placed a freshly killed mouse in the cage, and left the snake alone with it.
A live mouse that crawls all over a snake can cause the snake to become intimidated by mice, and perhaps be afraid to eat them in the future.
There are some times when snakes are just not in the mood to eat, and there is also the possibility that the vision problem on your snake is causing it to miss when it strikes at mice. It will have to learn new hunting techniques to compensate.
I would go to freshly killed mice, or, frozen / thawed mice that have been warmed back up. The copperhead might not eat them at first, but will eventually learn to eat them that way.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Is it bad ?
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by camoyeti on January 10, 2010
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John, I'll have to try that method, thanks a lot for the advice, I'll keep you informed on things. Charles
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by SwampY on January 12, 2010
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I wouldn't be too worried about him not eating just yet. This time of year they are expecting to brumate and often go off feed even if kept warm.
If it goes a while without him eating then here are a few things to try...
Chicken gizzards. They are not very healthy, but they are like candy to a copperhead. It could at least get him into the habit of eating, then after that you can switch him to mice with the face dipped in gizzard juice.
If that doesn't work, this might: I discovered what I call the "stinky box" method by accident. Put a dead mouse in a plastic shoe box. Let it rot for about 2 or 3 days in a nice warm place. It needs to get REALLY stinky. If it doesn't make you gag when you open the box, it's not ripe enough. It should be dripping with rotten mouse juice. Now, go outside and THROW THE ROTTEN MOUSE AWAY. give the box a quick rinse under the hose but don't wash it. You want the stink to stay in the box. Put a freshly thawed mouse into the box for a few hours. The rotten smell will cover any odd humanlike scents on the fresh mouse. When you get ready to feed it to the snake DO NOT touch it with your hands. Use tongs or forceps to put it in the snakes cage.
As to the eye, all of john's advice was spot on. It may take some time but I think it will correct itself. I'd be interested to hear what happens when the snake sheds.
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