stuck eye caps

my snake just had a sort of bad shed. mostly came off in one piece except some on his head and neck. I dont think thats much to worry about. Will give him a day and maybe soak depends if he eats or not.

What I am concerned about is it seems his eye caps have not come off. Im assuming he cant see like this as hes acting very skittish, unlike his usual curious self.

The eye caps will cause his vision to be a little distorted. That said, don't try to get them off! You can damage their eyes. Just wait until the next shed and make sure your humidity is right. If your humidity is correct, the eye caps should come off with the next shed.

Of course make sure your husbandry is spot on but from my understanding, stuck eye caps are usually resolved during the next shed.

I have read about methods to help assist
removing them, just don't have the experience to comment on them.

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i have the same problem and what im wondering is should i keep the humidity up until the next shed so the eye caps dont dry out or do i let the humidity drop and then when he starts to show signs of the next shed, then bring it up?

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Originally Posted by royal constrictor

i have the same problem and what im wondering is should i keep the humidity up until the next shed so the eye caps dont dry out or do i let the humidity drop and then when he starts to show signs of the next shed, then bring it up?

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I would keep humidity at 60%, next shed bump up to 70%

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I recently saw the vet and he gave me an easy home fix for this. If your snake is having a bad shed try soaking in room temp water with a drop or two of detergent mixed in. It helps flush the old shed off easier. It works for eye caps too. I watched him do it in person. a little wet rag with a drop of detergent mixed in and it came of instantly!

Hope this helps. My vet is a certified reptile specialist too. Apparently one of only a few, if that helps ease your mind.

One of my girls had some pretty bad eyecaps on her last shed so I just tied her in a wet, warm pillow case and let her crawl around for a while. It worked pretty well and she got both caps off cleanly.

Last bad shed I had, gave him a bath at 87 degrees, wrapped him in a bath towel, then put him, bath towel and all, back into his cage. After a couple of days he had rubbed all the loose skin off.

Apparently he is still on his hunger strike so maybe Ill try a soak or wet pillow case otherwise wont worry too much about it I guess.

I was out of town when he went into shed at first and the dimmer on one of his heat lamps croaked which made the lamp go full blast. There is a thermostat also so temp didnt get too high but it seems like the humidity gets destroyed when the lamps cycle on at full blast and off often, when kept to low intensity, even if they are on constantly humidity stays up better. So he spent 3-4 days at like 30% humidiry, bumped to 70% when I got back but apparently too late.

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

Apparently he is still on his hunger strike so maybe Ill try a soak or wet pillow case otherwise wont worry too much about it I guess.

I was out of town when he went into shed at first and the dimmer on one of his heat lamps croaked which made the lamp go full blast. There is a thermostat also so temp didnt get too high but it seems like the humidity gets destroyed when the lamps cycle on at full blast and off often, when kept to low intensity, even if they are on constantly humidity stays up better. So he spent 3-4 days at like 30% humidiry, bumped to 70% when I got back but apparently too late.

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I think it helps to keep the humidity high until all the pieces come off, especially the eyes. If the eyes get stuck real bad, the caps might not come off even in the next shed.

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

Apparently he is still on his hunger strike so maybe Ill try a soak or wet pillow case otherwise wont worry too much about it I guess.

I was out of town when he went into shed at first and the dimmer on one of his heat lamps croaked which made the lamp go full blast. There is a thermostat also so temp didnt get too high but it seems like the humidity gets destroyed when the lamps cycle on at full blast and off often, when kept to low intensity, even if they are on constantly humidity stays up better. So he spent 3-4 days at like 30% humidiry, bumped to 70% when I got back but apparently too late.

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Excellent observation. You should be fine with a warm damp towel or warm wash cloth wrapped in a towel and some light handling to get the skin off. the trick is to get moisture between the layers. Don't worry too much about the caps yet if they don't come of yet, it's layers of caps we are to fear.

Have you tried a lower wattage bulb, or slowing the airflow through your enclosure. It worked wonders for my "too big" enclosure. Also I keep a lamp on a dimmer right over the water for ambient and humidity boosts.

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Originally Posted by arialmt

Have you tried a lower wattage bulb, or slowing the airflow through your enclosure. It worked wonders for my "too big" enclosure. Also I keep a lamp on a dimmer right over the water for ambient and humidity boosts.

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A lower wattage bulb would work well too, but I like to have the higher wattage in case it happens to get colder. The dimmer's effectively make it like a lower wattage one, but have the ability to crank it up if needed. I'm pretty sure my problem was the busted rheostat which was stuck on high I think that really killed the humidity leading to this whole mess.

At any rate I have good news, he seems to have gotten the eye caps off and all the stuck shed. I stuck him in a tub with some water, and threw a wet t-shirt in over top and put the whole thing in his enclosure. Only let it sit for a few minutes due to unrelated reasons, but that seemed to be enough next day he's good as new. Now if only he would eat, but that's a whole other discussion.

Yeah! Glad his eye caps came off. :D