Eye Caps

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Originally Posted by fionafancypants

unfortunatly i have heard it here.

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It is true that many of us here believe that snakes do not experience complex emotions like "love" or "hate"...but that does not mean we treat them with any less respect or reverence as any other pet in our care. I'm one of those that believes my snake does not return my affections in any way....but I adore her! And would not dream of neglecting her simply because I don't think she experiences emotions in any "language" I could comprehend.

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Originally Posted by xhunniebearx

I also have a ball with the same problem. She was a rescue from some people who had no clue what they were doing. When they brought her to us, she had burns and scars from who knows where. She also had absolutely NO hides, and a moldy branch in her water bowl :mad: .. Anyway, I have a few pictures that might help.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...y/IMG_2223.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...y/IMG_2181.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...y/IMG_2222.jpg
We've tried everything we can think of to get them off, but they just won;t come off. We've got to take her to the vet ASAP anyway, because we think she has an RI

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I'm fairly sure that those aren't retained eyecaps in the snake pictured above.

I have a ball python whose eyes were exactly like that when I got her, and I was wondering what it was also.

In my care, she shed perfectly, eyecaps and all, and you could even see the wrinkles on the shed caps.

This condition is known as "wrinkly eye," obviously not the technical definition, but results from being kept long-term in condition with low humidity.

It took about 6 months and 4-5 perfect sheds to go away. No big deal. Don't pick at them or anything, just keep her humidity up, and one day, she'll shed, and you'll be suprised to see perfectly smooth eyecaps.

Where is the OP? I want to know if the snakes were housed seperately or are still together in one cage.

Brad, I have a 5-6yr old adult female who has the same eye problem. She's well-hydrated, sheds completely with nothing retained. Her spectacles are just cracked/creased, not dented. The humidity in every tub in the rack is 50-55% constantly. Hopefully it will work itself out and she will be able to have pretty eyes once again :)

she said she's had the snake for two years... so i doubt it'll be fixed with a few more sheds?

Just to follow up on what Judy posted, Fiona I think you may have misunderstood a bit. While a lot of us feel that snakes just simply do not have the kind of brains that are capable of emotional responses that humans call "love" or "hate" it surely does not mean we don't feel an emotional bond with the snakes. Nor does it mean they can't feel pain, discomfort, a fear response, that sort of thing. Those things are generally dealt with at a more basic brain function, in fact humans have a reptilian brain deep inside our mammalian brain that deals with our own very basic instincts and reactions (flight or fight, that sort of thing).

I think if anything most of us worry more about our snakes because they cannot communicate to us, in a way we completely understand, that they are in need of something. Unlike a dog that can whine to get attention our snakes are fairly silent and very subtle, so most of us here if anything are hyper-aware of even the slightest change that may indicate a problem brewing.

Of course there are people that treat snakes extremely poorly but then they exist everywhere....we unfortunately are not immune to this.