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Milky eyes

Tuesday, December 5, 2006 | 0 comments

A few days ago I noticed that the snake I keep as a pet, a Conopsis lineata (Lined Tolucan ground snake), had milky or cloudy eyes. With snakes this is a clear sign of an upcoming shedding of skin, because the old skin gets lose, and since each eye is covered with a scale, the ocular scale (also called spectacle, brille or eyecap), the eyes appear less clear.

Close-up of a snake's milky eye.
Close-up of a snake's milky eye.

Today the effect was very visible and I managed to make a good close-up photo of the snake. I keep this snake in captivity for over a year now, and it has shed its skin about 5 times now. From what I can tell it's doing very well on a diet consisting of mainly house crickets with now and then a few grasshoppers.

Conopsis lineata terrarium.
Conopsis lineata terrarium.

The above photo is an older photo of this snake in its terrarium. The substrate consists of very fine volcanic ash with some fine sand mixed in. For hiding places several pieces of volcanic rock are provided. The terrarium has a bottle cap to provide the snake with some water, but so far I have only see it drink from water drops on the glass, or water on the rocks after misting the terrarium.

The snake I keep is certainly non-aggressive and curious enough to just move on your hand when it's placed in front of the animal. The snake is quite small, just above 23 cm, and might look a bit dull, but both Esme and I like it a lot.

It's mostly active in the evening, around 8 or 9 we see it peek out from under one of the many volcanic rocks, and when it's hungry, or after a cricket it moves out in the open.

Conopsis lineata on a road near Las Vigas.
Conopsis lineata on a road near Las Vigas.

The above photo was taken a few months ago. This is probably an adult Conopsis Lineata. Esme spotted this fine specimen on a road near Las Vigas.

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