Eye Caps

[invadertoast]

I was away for a few months this winter and my mom took care of my ball for me. I got home a few weeks ago and found she had just shed and had a couple peices still stuck to her. I soaked her and got the loose skin off with no problems at all. She was a little reluctant to eat an f/t rat last week, but took it after leaving it in with her overnight. Today we moved her cage upstairs to the spare bedroom, and when I took her out to move the cage I noticed her eyes looked weird. Having never seen retained eye caps before, I thought I should post pictures to get some opinions. She wouldn't sit still for anything, but you can see how they're kind of dry and wrinkly looking:





I've never dealt with retained eye caps before, is it best to wait for the next shed and see if they come off, or should I raise the humidity more and maybe rub them lightly with a wet q-tip?

She is in a home-made wooden enclosure with a radiant heat panel and bed-a-beast. Temps are 78/90 Humidity 45%

[starmom]

I'd bump humidity up. I cant tell if they are eye caps or indented eyes due to low humidity. Try your best to keep humidity between 50-60% during non-shedding times and bump up to 70% during shedding.
In my cages and tubs for the balls, I keep humidity btwn 54-56% and then I bump to 72-74% during shed.
Hope this helps you some!

[missi182]

Awe poor little girl. I would say don't try the q-tip because it looks like the one eye might be indented a bit, and the other looks like there is an eye cap on it. Definitely get your humidity up to 55%-60%. If you've already soaked her to get the bad shed off, try putting her in a container with a damp towel, then put the container with her in it in the enclosure to keep it warm. Do that for maybe an hour and she may try to rub the eye caps off herself. I hope that helps.