Thought my snake was dead on his birthday!

[d_virginiana]

I came home after taking a Mother's Day trip to my parents' house, and went in to check on my reptiles. Houdini seemed to be asleep, but wouldn't move when I tapped on his tank. I decided to touch him and make sure, and he twitched his tail a little but stayed mostly still. So I put his face over his water dish in case he was thirsty, thinking that he would perk up and raise his head out of the water if he didn't want any.
So you can imagine how my heart sank when he just let his head fall to the bottom. I immediately removed him from the water, only to have him jerk away and put his head back on the bottom of the dish... To keep drinking. Apparently he just felt like being underwater while he took a sip. Now he's busy doing his thing; running around the tank like crazy, trying to find a female snake.

This May is 13 years since I got him for free in exchange for catching the escaped snake in the petstore :D He's officially my oldest animal and still doing great!

[guidofatherof5]

Good looking 13 year old.
I think he's messing with your mind and doing a right fine job of it :D

[d_virginiana]

He likes to mess with my husband too. He's fine if I hand him to my hubby once I get him out of the tank, but there's been several times I've had to go running up the stairs because my husband tried to get him out and thought he was dying (pooping, snapping, rolling). He just won't let anyone else go in his tank because he can't see them.

[guidofatherof5]

He likes to mess with my husband too. He's fine if I hand him to my hubby once I get him out of the tank, but there's been several times I've had to go running up the stairs because my husband tried to get him out and thought he was dying (pooping, snapping, rolling). He just won't let anyone else go in his tank because he can't see them.

Why?

[d_virginiana]

Why?


He's the blind one. When he was losing his sight, I'm pretty much the only one who got him out regularly, so he got used to only the one person in his tank without seeing them. If he smells someone new, he goes nuts. Once he's out of the tank though, he doesn't mind it as much.

[guidofatherof5]

Poor old guy. Hope you can share some of his story with us.
He trust you and you alone. Very cool. Nice work.

[d_virginiana]

Poor old guy.

He doesn't think so; he's still trying to romance anything that moves (as well as the occasional inanimate object) :D

[guidofatherof5]

Good for him. Get him some girls.

What has caused the blindness. I didn't see any cataracts in the photo.

[d_virginiana]

He has cataracts, but you can't really see them in that pic. His other eye is completely white, but you can only see the cataracts in that one if the light hits it a certain way. I always have to be paranoid about his sheds, because it's difficult to tell between a retained eyecap and the cataracts.

[guidofatherof5]

13years. I love it. I'm serious, get him some ladies.:D

[mikem]

Glad he's still going! :) How old was he when you got him...baby, juvie, adult?

[d_virginiana]

Glad he's still going! :) How old was he when you got him...baby, juvie, adult?

Newborn. Someone had brought in what had to be a wc female that had babies in the store.

[chris-uk]

Thirteen years and he still likes to panic you. :)

What are the issues you're worried about with retained eyecaps? I'm aware that retained eyecaps can cause blindness, can they cause other problems as well? Just asking because the cataracts have already caused him to go blind.

[d_virginiana]

Thirteen years and he still likes to panic you. :)

What are the issues you're worried about with retained eyecaps? I'm aware that retained eyecaps can cause blindness, can they cause other problems as well? Just asking because the cataracts have already caused him to go blind.

They can get infected or make future sheds not go as smoothly. I don't really 'worry' about them, as he's never had any shed issues, but it's something I make sure to keep an eye on just because it would be difficult to tell by looking, because his eyes always look kind of cloudy.

[Foxrun402]

omg that is amazing! It's good to hear that he is ok! and that is a long time 13 years! I couldn't even imagine how distraught you must have been when he seemed lifeless. That would have made me sketched out bad! He looks awesome in that photo! :D