Retained eye cap or something else?
 

I just got a baby sunglow boa and was told that she had a retained eye cap. I got her on Thursday and have been keeping her tank rather moist and gently dabbing her eye with a wet q-tip in order to loosen it up. But her eye has a yellowish part and is kind of shaped irregularly, maybe due to dehydration? Is this just a retained eye cap or something more? Or has it just become infected? I've never dealt with a retained eye cap before so I have been doing some research but could use some information from people who know more about it. Thanks.

Need a more close up shot. It's hard to tell. I've had to removed retained eyecaps with tweezers before. They often make the eye look kind of buldgy.

Hard to tell from that pic, but it looks like somebody tried to remove an eyecap that wasn't there and caused some damage. Could be an infection; related to such attempts, or not.. That's something that's tough to differentiate from just a pic; and, honestly, I probably wouldn't be 100% confident in the accuracy of my assessment with a personal inspection. I've seen similar before - don't expect the eye to look "normal" any time soon, (it may always be cloudy, if it heals).

modified my approach/questions, because this is not the BOI

Personally, it looks like someone pawned off an albino with a bad eye on you. It's not a simple retained eye cap, it could possibly be quite a few eye caps stuck on, but I don't think so. I also don't think it's an injury done by someone removing an eye cap.

It's a pretty common occurence that people get albinos with bad eyes and try to pass it off as an injury in order to make people think it's alright to breed so they can move it easier and get a bit more money out of it.

I would go with Harald's suggestion and get the animal to the vet to make sure that it isn't infected, but don't get your hopes up that you can save the eye. The plus side is even with one eye, it can live a very happy life.

Chris

It's embarrassing that I didn't stop to consider that it is an albino....
That does look like what happened to my albinos that had the bad eyes
(this is what it looks like before it gets to that point
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&d=1273621857

The ones that didn't rupture during the first shed, started looking just like that....I culled them, so I can't speak for the progression beyond that point.
Good call, Chris.




I have seen similar with non-albinos, of various species, which were the result of infection or damage caused by trying to remove an eyecap that wasn't there (or both)

:iagree: with the more negative assessments already posted
the snake is damaged goods and the breeder of said animal should be pressed into monetary reimbursement

Here's another pic. To me it looks like it was punctured at some point and the yellow part is pus that has hardened onto the eye, but as I said, I have no experience with eye problems on snakes. Should I get it confirmed by a vet and then request full monetary reimbursement plus vet fees or what? I really like her and she's very friendly, but I didn't go in knowing about this problem if it's more than just a retained eye cap issue. Thanks for the info.

Oh, by the way, it's not bulgy. It actually seems to be more depressed than the other eye with maybe a dent (where it was punctured?). It's hard to tell.

Oh ... man ... that eye is pretty much not an eye anymore. Should really get it to a vet. to get it checked out.

It really just do not look like an actual eye is even there. Either it was born that way or suffered trauma.

Either way, the general consensus from before is correct in that you were sold damaged goods and should not have been.

You should hold the seller accountable for this.

Some people do sell their one eyed albinos/sunglows (and from the look of it, that's what it will be)...typically at a reduced price. The question here is whether you were made aware of this prior to purchase.