Care for Retained Eye Caps?

[Chass]

Alrighty, so to begin I just got my girl back from the vet today. Her eyes were looking really bad after her shed. She has stuck eye caps, which isn't a surprise because she's had stubborn eye caps since she was a baby. My vet said to get artificial tears, use them 3 times a day for a month, make sure she has her shed box, and to soak her as well. He didn't tell me how long or how often though.

Questions:
How often should I soak her?
How long should I soak her for?
Should I attempt to remove them, and if yes, how far along should I attempt?

She's been doing so well, and now her eyes look terrible. The worse I've seen.

Better Eye:




Bad Eye:

Thank you so much for your time and help. I really want to help her out. Just a note, she acts normal, energy is the same, and appetite and feeding is the exact same. It's just her eyes that look horrible. Any help and tips are greatly appreciated. I really love my snakes and just want them to be comfortable.

[Lord Sorril]

I can't comment on attempting to remove the eyecaps: I have never had this issue.

In the rare event that I do have a ball python that has an issue shedding-I will put them in their appropriately sized water bowl (which is large enough for them to completely submerge in-if they want). The water level should be high enough that most of the body is below water, but, the head can easily rest on top of its coils above water. I will put a plastic lid with ventilation holes on top to keep the snake inside. I do this about 15-20 minutes/day until the shed comes off.

As for water temperature: I heat my snake rooms to 80-82F ambient so I don't need to mess around with water temperature. If you need to make a separate soaking tub you will have to adjust the temperature carefully because you can do a lot of damage soaking in cold/hot temperature water...ideally you would be between 82-88F. I would recommend using a digital thermometer to measure because you won't be able to determine the water temperature so precisely by the feel on your skin.

[Chass]

Ah, thank you so much! This helps me know where to start!

[Bogertophis]

Chass, I have a question...How much snake experience does your vet have? It really matters. If they aren't experienced with exotics (herps!) then you need to find one that is, & this may help>>> https://members.arav.org/search/custom.asp?id=3661

Honestly, I'm skeptical, because I've never heard of anyone using "artificial tears" for a snake's eyes- they're covered with a clear scale, & they're not moist, so what are the artificial tears supposed to do? Also, you should call your vet back & ask them for clarification...not ask us what your vet meant.

Apart from raising the humidity, soaking, or mild rubbing (like with a moist towel), you should NOT try to remove "really stuck" eye-caps yourself- it's hard enough for a vet to do it & you need one with the right skills. Snake's eyes are very delicate, & more than one owner has blinded their snake trying to help, not to mention causing a serious infection.

You mention that your snake has always had trouble shedding her eye-caps: So what is the humidity in her enclosure? Have you consistently monitored the humidity & provided a humid hide? It looks like your snake has multiple layers of eye-caps stuck on- that's not for a novice to remove.

[Chass]

Hi, thank you for a response. Yes, he is an exotic vet. And I looked up the artificial tears thing and I did see some people online recommend it too. But, a while ago when she was a baby I also took her in for eye caps and he prescribed me some eye drops as well. Her humidity box is usually at 90-98% humidity. It's got a lot of moss and cork bark for her to rub up on. That's why I never understood why her eye caps are so stubborn. My other two do just fine, with the same care. But, she's just a special case.

My vet only works on mon-wed, so that's why I asked about the frequency of soaking her for. They closed before I could call yesterday.

Thank you again for your response!

[Bogertophis]

That's interesting about using the artificial tears on snakes. Maybe it somehow soaks into the "eye-caps"? But if you've been using eye drops before, when she was younger, why aren't they helping this issue? Apart from her eye-caps, does she shed alright? Is she ever constipated? I hope your vet gets this figured out for you.

Do you see her actually using her humidity box? Most snakes can't get enough of them. It's true that snakes aren't all the same- metabolism can vary, as can other issues. How's her appetite? Poor digestion might influence this too?

Just looking around for more answers (& wondering if others use eye drops?)
https://veterinaryvisioncenter.com/s...g%20old%20skin).

Here's another article but WARNING for some graphic photos!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...acrimal%20duct.

Excerpt: In snakes, spectacular thickness seems to reflect evolutionary adaptation and development to their natural habitat and ranges from 74 to 244 µm. The thinnest spectacles are found in arboreal and terrestrial species, whereas the thickest occur in aquatic and fossorial or burrowing species. In general, colubrids have thinner spectacles than boas and pythons. The thinnest spectacles are found in viperids and the thickest in pipe snakes [33].

Excerpt: 6. Retention of the Spectacle

Especially in snakes, retention of the spectacle is a commonly observed disorder. As the transition zone of the spectacle to the periocular zone is one of the body sites with the highest mechanical resistance, retention may also occur in healthy reptiles. If retained spectacles are part of generalized dysecdysis, this might be attributed to non-infectious causes, such as inappropriate environmental conditions (mainly inappropriate humidity levels or a lack of objects in the captive environment to rub against), as well as infectious causes, including ectoparasitosis (Figure 12) and bacterial, mycotic, or viral dermatitis. Malnutrition or generalized disorders, especially those resulting in dehydration and/or hypoproteinemia, may also result in impaired shedding, including spectacular retention [44,45,46,48]. The diagnosis and treatment of the primary causes of retained spectacles are indispensable parts of the treatment of this disorder.

[Chass]

I remembered wrong. They gave me eye drops for after care cause they removed her eye caps there. Yes, she does use her shed box. Not enough to harm and cause scale rot, luckily. But, she does use it. Other than the eye caps, her sheds are always one piece and rolled up tight lol. She's never had problems with constipation.

But from what I saw online, apparently the artificial tears helps keep the caps moist to help get them off better. That's what I understand anyway.

[Chass]

I thought I'd do a little update, I guess just in case anyone sees this.

Its been 2 days going on 3, and her eyes are looking better and clearer, still has the eye caps, but they look better since they're hydrated.

Been soaking her in the morning and night for 25-30min. And giving Eyedrops in morning, evening, and night. I just bought equate dry eyes drops, as I saw that recommended somewhere else. I've seen her using her shed box here and there too. So, hopefully this helps her out. She goes back on the 18th for a follow up appointment.

Oh, I also covered a lot of the screen top and added a lot of sphagnum moss on her hot side, to help with overall humidity as well.

[MichPlat]

Have you tried the damp towel trick ?

It works great on retained eye-caps or stubborn shed skin .

I soak a rough textured bath towel in snake temp water 88-90F then leaning into the bath wrap the snake up in it and let it slither around inside .. applying very , very gentle pressure to the head / eye region ... any retained eyelid will generally come off easily and painlessly after five minutes or so .
For stubborn shed skin just do the same thing but apply pressure to the body .I’d just try the damp towel trick first ..

It works great on retained eye-caps or stubborn shed skin .

I soak a rough textured bath towel in snake temp water 88-90F then leaning into the bath wrap the snake up in it and let it slither around inside .. applying very , very gentle pressure to the head / eye region ... any retained eyelid will generally come off easily and painlessly after five minutes or so .
For stubborn skin just do the same thing but apply pressure to the body .


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[Chass]

Yes! I started adding a towel in with her soaks. She loves that thing. She still has those eye caps, but it looks like she's going into shed soon, her tummy is turning pink. So, I'm hoping in keeping them hydrated she can get them off. 🤞

Thank you for the tip!