Eye Caps

I went to the pet store some years ago, saw some really funny looking balls, skinny, in such a small cage, there was a sign that said "think adoption" so i find out that these lovelys were dropped off in a bag one day, well i had to have em, called a friend to ask what to look for in health, and took them home, If you have ever seen an emaciated snake it was these two and i should have taken pix, i got them eating, although never a problem, ive never seen snakes drink but these two do alot of it, vet said that they were healthy except for the reasoning i took them in,

eye caps

their eyes look as if there were criss crosses on them vet said that to peel them off would be bad and basically they are blind. :( :( not sure i mind so much about that but they sent me home with some spray to spray on their faces and eyes primarily to soften up the caps to get them off, now the puckering has lessened and the current caps come off but any ideas or help on getting their eyes back to normal???

Thanks much

Valerie and Lucy and Monte

so you've had them for years and their eyes are not healed? i would think they never will be.

so sad :(

Yeah, they were in pretty bad shape, but they are healthy and happy now, however, the eyecaps, i have a ball that i had from hatch and its incredible how beautiful his eyes are, i should get some close pix of their eyes, just not sure how to help them come off other than having vet do it and they are not sure they want to because it may be more harmfull???

if they aren't coming off with their sheds... and their humidity levels are right... i would be very cautious about removing them. you may take what little sight they have away completely!

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

Poor snakes...
Can the vet surgically remove the retained lid? This is reminding me of the horror stories you hear about people with contacts that never take them out, and they end up growing into their eyeball.

WOW< thats EXACTLY what is happening with mine, Please let me know what the Vet says, I do need to make another apointment, im "sorta" friends iwth the local HErp guy round my parts and was thinking that id see if he had any suggestions or know of a good Herp vet as opposed to just my regular "exotic" one.

Good luck,

Valerie

ps yes makes me super mad that people are so insensitive..how can they jsut not care. But then again people here i have heard feel that snakes cannot love or hate so why think they have feelings of anysort right?

Fiona when you say "people here" do you mean here as in where you live or here as in here at BPNet?

unfortunatly i have heard it here.

Are they still all caged together? The best course of action would be to get one Rubbermaid for each snake, set those up, and Up that humidity before their next sheds. Eyecaps are so preventable, and tubs hold humidity like a dream.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fionafancypants

unfortunatly i have heard it here.

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

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.