Swollen Right Eye (Retic)

I have a young female blonde tiger retic and I noticed about 24 hours ago that her right eye is swollen significantly. I've had quite a few snakes over the years but have never encountered anything like this. I know retics tend to "push" when they're in a new enclosure, in shed, or other situations where they may be stressed, and she's in blue right now and in a new enclosure. Could she just have bruised the side of her face, perhaps? Please help me figure out what's going on with her. Thanks in advance!

My retics will push and have caused some facial swelling, on (rare) occasion, abrasions on the frontal, prefrontal, or parietal scales. This is unilateral eye involvement. I would be concerned about an ocular abscess. I would get him to a reptile vet.

It may turn out to be a weird pushing injury, but in people, abscesses involving the eye are not a minor thing.

That's not from pushing, it's an abscess or infection in the eye. She needs a good snake vet ASAP.

Thanks, guys! She's going to the vet first thing Wednesday morning. That's the earliest I could get an appointment.

Thanks guys for the info. I found a vet who could see her today and a lot closer to home. He said that her eye is perfectly fine and it wasn't infected at all. He made a very small incision and drained it and told me to apply pressure on it two or three times a day just to make sure that any remaining fluid is out before the incision heels, and if anything changes, let him know. She has a clean bill of health otherwise

Good to hear!!

She looks a little dehydrated I would just keep an eye on it.

Good luck with her!

Andrew, hey man, good to know your snake was able to be seen today. Here's the thing though.. (and I say this as a practicing ER physician)..if your vet had to incise the area and express fluid out and did not culture that fluid, you have no idea what was actually going on. The good news is that with uncomplicated abscesses, usually incision and drainage is adequate for healing (though we often use oral antibiotics too), the actual opening up is typically curative. For you vet to say "nothing to see here, move along", may be missing a pathogen that could be a problem. If they cultured it, great...if not, just keep a very close eye on the wound and your snake's behavior. Keep us updated!

Originally Posted by Kjm88

Good to hear!!

She looks a little dehydrated I would just keep an eye on it.

Good luck with her!

Dehydrated? not even close. It's very deep in shed.

Perhaps. I'm only able to see the last photo and it looked dehydrated.

Originally Posted by Docglock

Andrew, hey man, good to know your snake was able to be seen today. Here's the thing though.. (and I say this as a practicing ER physician)..if your vet had to incise the area and express fluid out and did not culture that fluid, you have no idea what was actually going on. The good news is that with uncomplicated abscesses, usually incision and drainage is adequate for healing (though we often use oral antibiotics too), the actual opening up is typically curative. For you vet to say "nothing to see here, move along", may be missing a pathogen that could be a problem. If they cultured it, great...if not, just keep a very close eye on the wound and your snake's behavior. Keep us updated!

Sorry I'm just now getting back to you. I checked this thread last night, but was running a little behind for work so I didn't have time to respond properly. Thanks for your input, any and all advice is always appreciated The vet that saw her was very professional and talked to me about having it cultured and all about how that process works (honestly, I would've preferred to have had it cultured, but I didn't have the extra cash in my pocket to cover having it sent off on top of the vet bill itself). However, Dr. Tarabula did talk to me about the fluid he drained. He said that there were no signs of infections or anything like that and told me to use a damp tissue and apply a little pressure just a few times a day just to make sure that any remaining fluid is out before her incision heals and to keep an eye on her. He said that a culture would've been great, but he didn't see a "need" for it in her particular case. He called just a few minutes ago to check in on her. Thanks for asking about her and the advice, Docglock! (Are you into Glock firearms? I carry a Glock 22 myself)