eye caps

[brandon06]

my bp has been in shed and the only area left is one eyecap and his head area.. i've raised the humidity and added a humid hide so does anyone have some suggestions to remove it b/c i was planning on feeding him this weekend and i know if that shed isnt gone i cant

[Shaun J]

Take a wet q-tip and GENTLY rub it in his eye.Be VERY careful.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Why can't you feed him if the shed isn't gone?

-adam

[brandon06]

well i'm not completely sure but when i bought him i was told that when a ball python is in shed the eyecaps mess with their vision almost like thier blind so when they get the scent of the mouse they could strike in any direction the scent is coming from and completely miss and hurt themselves....do you feed your bp when its in shed?

[Andrew00]

Baiscally from what I have read, Ball Pyhtons do naot eat naturally when they are shedding. SO most likely the recomednation of feeding not feeding them while they are shedding is probably more for people feeding live prey, because the snake might not want to kill it and will end up being hurt. Thye just don't want to eat. Lots of animals that shed/molt always avoid eating when they are undergoing this process. It probably beasue that is when they are most vulnerable. I guess its sorta hard to undersand with snakes since they do not seem to be incapacitated by shedding their skin.

[DrEwTiMe]

Ya if your feeding live that makes sense, just make sure to be very very carful if you use a q-tip on his eye, personally i would give it a few days with the upped humidity and just feed him late. If you let the feeding go a few days over its really not a big deal at all. BP's are opportunist eaters so scedualing them precisly is really not a big need.

[brandon06]

on a another forum i used someone suggested using a q-tip with a piece of scotch tape on it, has anyone tryed that and been successful?

[lucky8926]

I've never tried it but i've heard of people doing that. I would be VERY careful if you tried. As for the shedding/eating question I read somewhere that they don't eat when they're shedding because they are concentrating so much on shedding that they lose interest in food. I'm not saying thats true it's just something i've read.

[DrEwTiMe]

on a another forum i used someone suggested using a q-tip with a piece of scotch tape on it, has anyone tryed that and been successful?

Im not expert but that sounds kinda dangerous to me, what if the cap is really not ready to come off yet and you stick tape to it and rip off the cap, possibly damaging the eye for good

[Adam_Wysocki]

on a another forum i used someone suggested using a q-tip with a piece of scotch tape on it, has anyone tryed that and been successful?

If done wrong you could end up pulling your snakes eye completely out. I wouldn't use tape.

There's a difference between being "in shed" and having a retained eye cap after a shed.

I feed my snakes "in shed", some will eat and some won't. If a keeper choose not to, that is fine. But it's certainly fine to feed a snake that has completed his shed and just has an eyecap stuck. He will most likely do fine. You can just wait for the eye cap to come off after the next shed. If it doesn't, then I'd suggest taking your snake to a vet. If you've never done it before, you can cause some serious damage to your snakes eye trying to take an eyecap off yourself.

-adam