How Do I Fix a Bad Shed? Retained Eye Caps!

Okay, the thing to do is keep humidity up. But what else can I do besides that? My humidity was and is 60%, as high as it would go with a wet cloth and a water dish in the enclosure. Couldn't get it much higher as have a glass enclosure with screen top. (The same procedure has worked well for two years.) Question-could it have been caused by handling when lotion was on hands? The shed was retained except for a few scattered pieces here and there and I had to take repti-shed and ease off the shed, paying close attention to tail tip and head. Now it seems that the eye caps were retained as well, because the surface looks crinkly on both sides. Am I going to have to wait until the next shed to remove them? I don't want to damage his eyes. I have repti-bark in the enclosure with jungle bedding mixed in. Heat is at 80 on UTH and 90-95 under light (yes, it is very drying), where he can move around and get different gradients, including a cool side which is mostly in the 70 degree range. In process of getting a Boaphile within a year for him.

What's always worked for me for getting off a retained eyecap is letting him soak in lukewarm water, taking a q-tip and soaking it in mineral water, and lightly rubbing the eycap if it doesn't come off on it's own. I'v never had to use and shed helper, but lukewarm water always works for me. Good luck!

A warm bath or some time in a warm, wet pillow case should do the trick. Fill a shallow tub with 80 to 85 degree water no higher than 3/4th of your snakes girth. Meaning you don't want him swimming, just laying in warm water. Keep in mind that 80 degree water will feel a bit cold to you but it's nice and warm for them. Use a temp gun or a thermometer to check the temp of the water and let him soak for about half an hour. When you pull him out, the stuck shed should be soft enough that you'll be able to get it off with a towel as he slithered thru it when you dry him.

Or take a towel and soak it in 80 degree water and wring it out. You want it damp, not soaking. Put your snake and the damp towel in a pillow case, tie it closed and leave him in there for about half an hour. As he slithered in the pillow case,, he'll rub against the towel and the stuck shed should come off. Hope that helped.

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You may do more harm than good.
Leave him be until the next shed and they should come off on their own.
Best thing would be making a humid hide for when sheds come around.

I'm still a newbie so please take this for what it is. Anytime I see a recommendation to swab an eye I cringe. I'd be going to vet for retained caps before I tried that myself.

Other then keeping humidity up. You can use a product by Zilla called Shed-Ease. You can dilute the solution with water. And soak your snakes for at least 20-30 minutes in the diluted solution as needed. The solution has an aloe Vera in it to sooth and moisturize the skin for easy emergence of old skin. I use this product all the time and it really helps. My snakes never have problems with shedding. They often shed in one whole piece. I usually soak my snakes once a month in the solution and whenever I see symptoms of the shedding process. You can view photos of my snakes on my page and see that they all have beautiful and healthy skin. None of my snakes have pieces of old skin on their bodies.

i would do nothing until next shed. then, check the next shed for the eye caps, see if they can be found in the shed, or if the head-piece of the shed has a hole where the eye cap should be. and then, when you know for sure, try the damp pillowcase, or a bath.


one or two layers of retained eyecaps are no problem. but there is exactly one way to make a snake cry, and that is when you accidentally remove or damage an eye cap that is still in use. no eyelids and no eye cap is a combination that really sucks. avoid it.

another thought came to mind when i was thinking about this thread.

snakes are opportunistic feeders. they are also opportunistic drinkers. so when they happen to be thirsty, and you spray them down or give them a bath or a soak, they will drink if they feel like it.

my question: when you give a BP a soak that is supposed to help retained eye caps, how do you keep the BP from drinking? i always wonder when people put chemicals in the water for a therapeutic bath, how do you keep your snake from ingesting the chemicals?

I've never witnessed my snakes drinking from their shed bath water. But I've been using that method for quite some time now. And thank GOD all my snakes have been in good health. I would assume that the water is harmless being that the labeled product has no warnings about the snakes ingesting the diluted solution. If it was harmless, I would assume they will acknowledge the public to avoid legal issues. Zilla is a very popular company in it's Industry for many years.

Repti-shed is really Shed-ease. I just re-name things due to poor memory. I had bought a whole ton of it off Amazon. The ingredients it has in it are ones that I wouldn't mind putting on my skin. I didn't know that you put it in shedding water for a soak but it stands to reason that you could, like bath salts. I spray it directly on the reptile or onto my hand and then put it on the snake. However, I have laughed a little about the lime flavoring being absorbed through the skin of the snake and causing a weird taste in the mouth. My little one seems to make faces as consequence of this happening. His skin is smooth and every particle of shed is off except for those blasted eyecaps. I'm going to try misting him at time of next shed. I still think hand lotion was the culprit for the bad shed and am trying to wash hands everytime I handle him, just to see if it makes a difference...