My husband and I have a passion for rescuing animals; especially ball pythons. So we recently rescued a beautiful mojave (we believe to be a female - however shes too tense and untrusting to pop her to sex her just yet) When we first got her she wasnt handled much so she was very defensive, under fed - under weight, extremely dehydrated, mite infested & was in shed. Needless to say, in just merely weeks under our care in quarentine she is doing much better; mite free, eating well and shes filling back out. She recently shed and i am able to see hereyes for the first time. But now im alittle concerned, i cant tell if this is a old eye cap that needs to be removed or does she have tears on the surface of her eye balls? both appear this way and i have tried my best to get good pictures but i would like to get an opinion on her eye situation
It is hard for me to tell from these pictures. I would say eye cap, but, it looks like they are dehydrated/drying up. I would give it a good soak and incress the humidity
for a few days and see what happens. Does it seem like it can see ok? (Not bumping into things and strikes on targets) Hopefully a few others jump in with their opinions.
My first thoughts are the above with dehydration first choice, only other suggestion is physical damage.
Just an opinion.
Wait, your new here, welcome to the community
Definitely get the hydration up. 3rd person agreeing on dehydration on her.
She looks like she may have been rubbing a bit cause you can see similar markings on the nose scales in one photo. Possibly due to the mites she was treated for?
There’s a small chance it’s an eyecap seeing how blurry it looks in some photos…but messing with it would do more harm than good imo. I would keep an eye on it and wait for the next shed to see if it clears up.
Part of good hydration in a ball python is good feeding, so if she’s been malnourished on top of dehydration than she may just be taking a bit more time to fill back out and get used to a normal body condition.
If she’s settling in well, maybe try and give her a little soak 2x a week to encourage her to drink more. Make sure humidity is right in her habitat and get a couple good meals in. Hopefully it will clear up with the next shed.
Obviously, if anything does seem to worse. Over time, I recommend taking her to a vet or seeking a professional opinion of some type.
I would like to add… you can try using “Reptile Electrolyte Soak”. It is something i just herd about for non eaters. I used it for one that did not eat for a year and it ate after 2 soaks i did over 3 days. This will serve as 2 uses in one, it will be a soak and also possible help get nutrients back in it. I did soak for 30min as i heard about, not what the directions said. I did follow how to mix.
And as @armiyana said, i would not try to remove it. If nothing works, let a vet try to remove, if it is a cap.
I just want to take the time to say a simple thank you to everyone who took the time to respond and give me their opinions she’s had a few good meals she was definitely malnourished she’s putting on weight well and she’s had a few good soaks she always drinks water like a fish even though she actively has a fishbowl available in her enclosure at any given time so I’m going to give the electrolytes soak a shot as well and of course if I don’t see progress over the next few weeks and of course we will take her to the vet but I appreciate everyone’s input so much thank you
I take in rescues and rehab as well when needed. I hope she gets better soon and I’m glad she’s with you now. She clearly wasn’t getting the care she needed before.