Hi, I am new to this site and I must say an excellent site! My question is I took in a blind old rat snake yesterday that has cataracts in both eyes and a cyst in one, or some kind of tumor. I run a reptile rescue/rehab mostly specializing in iguanas so this is the first rat snake for me. I was wondering if any of you have heard of this problem with the eyes and could give me some tips on how to care for it. the center that takes all the snakes I get in is full so it looks like this one is up to me. I do have a vet appt for Friday, however I was also wondering if you could give me some tips on how to sex this snake without probing as I do not want to cause anymore undo stress on the poor thing. thanks so much for any info you could give me!!

Hello,

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't much of anything you could do for the snake in regards to the eye issues. I may be wrong, but nothing is coming to mind.

Sorry I wasn't of more help, but welcome to the site!

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is there a possible way to give an educated guess to the sex of this snake without probing? he/she is a big sweetie, i just fed it 2 f/t medium mice and it does not even strike or coil around them or anything. It just opens it"s mouth like a little baby bird and I placed the mouse in with tongs headfirst and it ate both of them like that, i have never seen anything like it as far as behaviour goes. the only info I got on the snake was they felt that since it could not see that it needed to die naturally so they had not fed it in over 5 weeks. that confused me a little as to starving to death is not a natural death to me, so I asked a few more questions and they said the snake could never find the mouse they dropped in the corner and it would sit there and rot, so hence they fed no more. the snake is pretty skinny and about 5 and a half feet long, dehydrated and barely moves when he had his first bath last night. Oh did I mention the mites.

First off Welcome to HerpCenter! Do you have any previous experience with snakes. There care is a lot different than iguanas.

Letting an animal starve to death is natural?
People like that make me want to ,.... Well I can't say it but it would be very ugly!

An adult snake does not become noticeably skinny in just 5 weeks. They can go for months without eating and show no ill effects or even loss of weight. It sounds like this snake has had improper care for a considerable length of time!
First thing is you need to get rid of the mites as they are draining an already weakened animal.
Here is our page page on mites.
Snake Mites - An approach to snake mite removal and identification
When you soaked him did he drink?
I would continue to give him daily soakings to both rehydrate as well as keep the mites knocked down. I would also put some pedialyte in his water bowl to aid in the restoration of electrolytes.
The fact that he is feeding is a good sign. That is one less hurdle to cross. A fecal sample to rule out internal parasites is also a good idea.
I don't know of anything that could be done for the cataracts but the cyst or tumor could be surgically removed.
As for sexing, probing, properly done by someone that knows their stuff, is not particularly stressful. I have had snakes probed that didn't act like anything was even going on! Some say you can tell sex based on the tapering of the tail but this is not found to be anything more than a guess. The sex is really not necessary to know unless you intend on breeding since sex doesn't affect behavior as it does with iguanas.

If you have any questions or uncertainty about anything please post back and ask. And keep us apprised on how he is doing

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Welcome to Herp Center. Sorry you have to join us with a sick snake, the advice that has been given is great. As for sexing ask you vet on Friday when your take him in, the vet should be able to probe him for you. Like Merlin said take a fecal sample with you to the vet also.

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Colleen

welcome to HC! glad you joined us. good luck with the snake. let us know how things work out.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

thank you merlin for all the wonderful answers!! as far as experience with snakes compared to most of you I would consider myself with much to learn, I at the moment have 1 red tail boa, 2 ball pythons, and now the rat snake. The snakes I get in are not usually here for more than one week as I transport them to another rescue who specializes in snakes and he has been full for quite some time.All the above snakes are rescue. As far as how long they had him I am not sure I did not stick around long enough to ask a whole lot as I was horrified!! I was really sure the other rescue would take him! LOL.
As far as the mites I am doing the baths actually morning, noon, and night also for rehydration. He is also a great drinker, every single time so far that he has had his bath. He also drinks from the water bowl too!! YEAH! He drinks more than any other snake that has came in here. I use paper towels for his substrate as they are fairly easy to spot the mites on and will clean his habitat daily. It is just basic for now, water bowl, hide box, and paper towels.
I will bring a fecal sample to the vet on Friday if I can manage to get one by then. As far as his feeding I just fed him 2 should I give him more? I do not want to overfeed but geez he looks like he has not eaten in months and months!
Last but not least the tumor is on the inside of the eye, wow! Do you think that can be removed? I have had a lot of snakes come in and out of here quickly but I have never seen one in this shape ever. Once again thanks for any help!

Welcome to HC! Keep us posted about the snake.

If he is drinking that much then I suspect that not only were they withholding food they were witholding water. This is criminal neglect and animal cruelty! I would report him to the authorities!

I would allow the snake to rest for a week to digest his feeding and then feed again. You don't want to over stress him by keeping the digestive process going full tilt all the time. If he has been off feed for so long if you over feed you risk a regurgitation which will further tax his system.
You want to use a prey item about the size of his body at the widest point, and equal size rats would be preferable to mice as they contain more meat and fat for their size but if all you have is mice thats fine. If your prey items are small then multiples are ok, just don't get carried away.
If the snake hasn't been feeding it is possible that there will not be a bowel movement between now and the trip to the vet but the vet may be able to extract one by going in and getting it. Mine has done it.
As for the growth behind the eye, I am not a vet and am not qualified to speak on that. Your vet is your best option there.
Do you know what kind of ratsnake it is?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I have no idea what kind of rat snake it is, the man told me a leucistic (spelling?) rat snake from texas? I do not know if that is where he got it from or not. It is albino with at one time pretty blue eyes. As far as the authorities, exotics have no rights here, you can report them until you are blue in the face, animal control does nothing! The only thing they will do is call me when they get them in, they have never followed up on any reports that I have made. The only thing they follow up on are dogs, cats,horses, and livestock only if it is extreme.
Good news is he is moving around in his enclosure, finally acting like he is alive!! YEAH! Bad news is he gets to the top and completely falls over backwards, maybe somekind of neurological disorder? Or just serious malnutrition. I do have frozen rats in the freezer always handy, i just don't think I have any small enough for him. I will let him rest tonight and take a pic tomorrow and post it when I figure out how to do that, forgive me I am technically challenged, although my 5 year old could probably do it for me!! Lol. Thanks so much again!