Bootsie's blue eye

[smigon]

For the last 4 weeks Bootsie (full grown normal, 850g) has had a milky blue left eye. Obviously at first I thought he was in blue, but it is still the same a month later and he hasn't shed.

An ulcer? A scratched eye?

Should I take him to the vet? He has been sort of lethargic lately, and will lay there with his mouth open slightly.

I have never had this happen before, but he is eating and drinking just fine.

Any ideas?

 

[mscbf2010]

I'd play it safe and take him to the vet.

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[jagodzinski]

I agree you should visit the vet. I know my vet will let me call first and the front desk person will relay questions to my vet and he can best advise me about whether or not I should come in. I'm sure your vet would do the same.

I hope everything is okay with your little guy.

 

[smigon]

I called the vet and he said to wait until he shed (I knew he was now in blue), and his odd behavior stopped pretty much in the next two days, he was very active and back to his old self. Then he finally shed, it has been about two months. Unfortunately the blue eye is still blue, it wasn't an attached eye cap, the vet said it is probably injured in some way but from my description it wasn't causing him any discomfort or pain.

We agreed that his odd behavior at the time was most likely due to the injury, I feel bad for not being able to help him. He is blind in that eye now, but unless he starts to act odd again I was told just to leave it be. I didn't feed him last Sunday because I knew he was in blue from his coloring and Wednesday he did shed perfectly. I thawed a mouse that night and he ate it right away, and seems to be back to his old self. He loves being held, so I will be giving him some extra lovin' now.

Thanks for the advice, it's one of those things where you know the right answer but want to see if anyone has been through it before!

 

[hypnoctopus]

Thanks for the update. That's certainly a bit weird. Do you have any idea how it happened? Is he pretty old?

 

[smigon]

No clue how it happened. He is in a 55 gallon tank with a lot of driftwood, plastic plants, two big hides, a big water dish, so anything could have caused it if he accidentally rubbed his eye on something. His coloring also got really dark in the week before he shed, he is a normal and doesn't have any really bright coloring, but he was so dull and some areas were almost black.

He is only 3 years old, he is the huge normal I got and was 1000g at 1.5 years old, they had fed him one rat a week his whole life. He is down to 900g, he has never looked obese, but I weaned him down to one large mouse every other week for about two years now.

His shed was perfect but his eyecap was intact on the shed and his eye is still blue, and the shed was very dark in some places (he always sheds clear) but his coloring is much better.

I will just watch him, I sort of tested his eye, waving a bit of Kleenex at him both slowly and quickly, he never flinched so I think he is blind in that eye now. I will watch for swelling or if they eye starts to go bad, I don't want to put him through surgery to remove the bad eye (if that is even an option) unless it is infected and a last resort.

He is back to normal activity and is sweet and cuddly again, I guess he was just in pain and I couldn't help him with that. I feel so guilty!

Thanks for the advice, I will let you know if anything changes.