2 baby boas born with eye deformity - Ask Extension
I have search the Internet for hours upon hours and cannot find any similar deformity nor can any Reptile and/or boa constrictor forums offer me any a...
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2 baby boas born with eye deformity #627115
Asked April 24, 2020, 6:15 AM EDT
I have search the Internet for hours upon hours and cannot find any similar deformity nor can any Reptile and/or boa constrictor forums offer me any advice aside from "just kill them" . On August 5th, I had my 1st boa litter. I got lucky and produced 6 Sun glow 5 albino and 6 hypo and somehow 0 normals. My question is that I have 2 snakes 1 with both eyes out of its socket and 1 with 1 eye out of the socket with the other eye so far seeming to function normally. They have not fed yet and I am wondering what route do I take?? I have had a snakes eye come off before due to stuck shed and it healed itself and the snake is completely fine to this day. I am willing to take care of them the eyes seem to be drying out and I am assuming they will fall off and heal over? I am willing to put the time in to take care of them for ever. Any help would be insanely appreciated thank you in advance for your time. Photos 1 and 3 are of topic.
Monroe County New York
Expert Response
You may have gotten lucky but those snakes sure didn't. It's common when breeding animals with lots of recessive traits (such as color pattern abnormalities) for other abnormalities to appear, such as these eye problems, because they are often rather inbred. This is also why lots of purebred dogs, horses, etc. have health problems that are not as prevalent in mutts. They will probably not have a good quality of life no matter what you do, so it might be kinder just to kill them, or you can wait and see what happens with their eyes. They do use their eyes to hunt so it may be a challenge to feed them. It's up to you.
