yay another shed question

Woot my bp is finally shedding. He's a youngster, so I was wondering when he'd start. I've been brushing up on shed-related posts that have answered a lot of my questions. The two stickies at the top of this forum are awwwesome! Muy thanks for those!

Anyway, his skin hasn't started peeling yet, but I've read that eye caps are often left behind on the snake. I've read several times that its best to leave the eye caps alone, that Q-tipping can easily cause damage, and there's no real harm to the bp if its left until the next shed.

...And I have also read that retained eye caps can cause health problems if not addressed, and that they should be removed with a wet Q-tip (I'll finally get that nippy bite I've been waiting for hehe) if it doesn't come off naturally.

Soo... which is it? lol Leave 'em alone, or try and remove (if needed)?

I completely believe that using a Q-tip can damage the eye, if not done with extreme care... but I don't understand how a bp can see and hunt with covered eye caps..

If your humidity is 50-60% and he has good, rough objects to shed on, there should not be a problem. But if for some reason they do get stuck you probably should assist him. What I do it wear one of those rubber thumb things from staples and just gently rub it off.

One cycle with retained eye caps is not a problem. You could easily cause more damage to the snake than if you waited until the next shed. They do not use their eyesight very much to hunt as it is pretty bad. They do most of their hunting via infrared, those little holes you see above their lip are heat pits that they use to pick up the heat signatures. That in combination with their very acute sense of smell is how they hunt.

If your husbandry is correct with humidity above 50% you should not have a prob with retained eyecaps, if snake does retain them they should come off with the next shed. you only need to become concerned when you get multiple retained eyecaps, another important reason to keep accurate records.