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Baby corns with no eyes ....... what do I do?

C

chin_lee

New member
I inadvertently kept a male motley Golddust with a female butter stripe and the butter strip laid 7 eggs. I placed the eggs on spagnum moss and incubated at 82F. sure enough 60 days later, they hatched but a couple of them have very small or pinhole like eyes. Aside from the eyes, they look like nice corns. What do I do with them?
This is my first batch of baby corns so any advice from experienced breeders please.
Thanks
Chin
 
That is really interesting. Snakes don't have very good vision to begin with. In the wild birth defects like that could be fatal, but in captivity they might live. Def. wouldn't recommend using them as breeders if they survive. Post a picture of them if you can.
 
I know there are some people on here who have kept snakes that are missing one or both eyes. They don't need them to survive. I know many willl find this cruel, but if it were me, I'd euthanize them. I wouldn't feel right selling them and I wouldn't be able to keep them all.

edit...It could also be genetic. That would be be another reason.
 
photos

Here's the first snake with nice stripes
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But look at its lack of eyes.
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The second snake with nice motley patterns:
DSC01203.jpg


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DSC01204.jpg
 
Seems one or both of your snakes might be carrying genes for microphthalmia. They should never be used for breeding, BUT.... they do grand as pets. A couple people on this forum have snakes with no eyes and they do just fine.
 
They are very pretty snakes for sure. It's hard for us humanoids to understand how an animal could survive without vision because we rely majorly on your optic sensors for everyday life. But if your willing to keep them or know someone personally that doesn't mind a blind snake and will never breed it, I don't see why they couldn't live a good life :)
 
They are beautiful little snakes, regardless... is there anything in the sockets, or are they empty? The first picture looks like there's an eye, but the others I'm not so sure.
 
Looks to me like Megan is right on the money. This is unlikely to be anything but genetic, particularly since there are two affected hatchlings. Just curious, are the parents closely related? That's usually not a problem with corns, but if a genetic defect crops up it's more likely to have been the case.

Microphthalmia isn't generally painful. The snakes won't suffer any mental agonies about their differences. They'll grow and behave pretty much like any other corn, barring any other complications that we can't see. Personally I'd look for a pet home for these babies. You might consider checking around some schools in your area if you don't know of anyone off hand who'd want them and not breed them.

I wouldn't breed the parents again, not to each other or at all.
 
I'm so sorry this happened. Be sure you have the parents seperated ok? Poor dears happen to carry something that causes this and really can't breed at all. In the third pic it looks like that one has one eye, maybe. Poor things. I do hope there is nothing wrong internally so that they live as they can without eyes, but I still feel bad for the poor things. I'd give them a good pet home, but I am going to have my hands full this year with two new ones already. Good luck with them and please let us know how they do!
 
I would find them a good pet home. They are beautiful, and unless they have other problems, they can have comfortable lives as they are. And as everyone else said, don't breed either parent again, or breed any of the hatchlings that look OK, as although I don't know about snakes, microphthalmia is genetic in other animals.
 
It's a shame. I'm so sorry this happened. Those are some beauties, regardless.

It could be genetic, but my question is, were the parents siblings? The majority of line bred animals fair pretty well, but there is always the exception. If it is a genetic defect, the probability of the babies coming out with the defect significantly increases. I hope you have the parents separated now, to avoid this scenario in the future.


My only other questions would be regarding incubation temps. If they were too low, that could cause kinking and other defects. It's really hard to say, but to have a number of the hatchlings come out with the same defect makes me wonder.

Wayne
 
Thanks all for your support and input. Thats what I like most about these forums.
I'm a rookie snake keeper and didn't realize how small they could be to start laying eggs. Both these snakes came from Rich and since both have a cameral in their blood, they may be related but I cannot be sure. I have separated the two so now all the males and females are separated. Unfortunately I will not know which one is carrying the defect gene. I think I'm going to keep the two just because I have a soft spot for the underdogs. My understanding is snakes have poor vision anyhow and mainly rely on their other senses to survive.

Incubation was done with water, water heater, and small water pump inside a styrofoam box (used for transporting tropical fishes). Then the eggs were placed on moist spagnum moss inside a plastic shoebox. The water heater is controlled by a Ranco temp controller with the temp probe in the air inside the styrofoam box. The box is then covered with the fitting styrofoam lid. The temp was set at 82.
 
It's unlikely that this particular defect was caused by incubation. Odd are great that it's genetic, thus the recommendation that none of the babies or the parents be bred/bred again.

I'm sorry your first babies are a difficult experience. At least the animals themselves probably feel fine!
 
they are nice looking snakes. I am curious on if they will eat. Some snakes who cant see because they are in blue wont eat and some will, so it kind of reminds me of that.
 
Oh, they're beautiful! I hope you do keep them, because I too have a soft spot for the underdogs. But if you can't, I bet you could find some sucker like me who would moon over them and love them all the more for their deformity. Especially if they have nice personalities, too. The first one reminds me of the little guy I'm going to take home from the rescue as soon as I get him a container, except that he has big ol' albino eyes, so that may be making me even more soppy.

I know NOTHING about breeding, but is it in any way possible that this is partially the result of the parents (especially the mother) being especially young to start breeding? You said that you had them together because you didn't know they were big enough for that yet. Of course, I think everyone's right to say it's probably genetic and you shouldn't breed the parents again, but just for my own intellectual curiosity, is it possible for the age of the parents to have an effect on the health of the hatchlings?
 
chin_lee said:
Unfortunately I will not know which one is carrying the defect gene. I think I'm going to keep the two just because I have a soft spot for the underdogs. My understanding is snakes have poor vision anyhow and mainly rely on their other senses to survive.
Click to expand...

Most defects like this have to match up one bit from each parent so I would say both carry it. While I can not say that they can make out definite shapes, my snakes can see just fine as to something being near them. I have not checked for distance of this ability of observation in them but its neat to watch them react to things moving near them. (inanimate objects being moved by me)
I am sure they will be quite happy in your care. Be sure to note this anomoly when selling or giving away the others. The buyers/recipients should be aware of the fact they should not be bred.
 
They are both beautiful snakes. In your position, I would be keeping them for pet purposes.
I agree with keeping those parents apart in the future.
 
Our classic male, Willie has only one full sized eye. He was our first snake so we were so excited we didn't even notice it until the next day but by then we were already in love with him so we kept him. He is like 7 months old now but growing very slowly. We have him on the Munson plan but he has only gained 4 grams and 1" since January. Can the eye defect have anything to do with the overall size of the snake? Mike said he would be a good "Show and Tell" for us at shows, or sales, to show people what to look for when purchasing a snake.

Your are so pretty. I am sure you will find them a good home. "Turkeysgirl" is looking for special needs snakes to adopt.
 
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