Retained eyecap for over 2 months

[chz]

Ok, so heres the deal..

A few months ago I bought Thor (a juvenile BP) and he was in horrible shape coming from the pet store. He had mites, and had a retained cap over his right eye. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about BP's, which I regretted later on. After reading through 2 of those 70-80 page care books they sell at pet shops, I found that he was in bad shape. I didn't even notice the mites until a week or 2 after I had him, and they started filling up with blood and becomming the size of swollen poppy seeds.

In the few months I've had him, I've taken care of the mite problem, given him a wonderful enclosure with a hot/cool side, and clean his water bowl daily. I've also followed a guide on here in order to bump up the humidity by covering the screen top with 3 layers of aluminum and covering that with duct tape (which turned out great btw). The relative humidity in his cage was at around 30-45% before I did it, and now it remains at 55% even with his light on, and 70% (ideal for shedding) with it turned off. I didn't intend on this happening, it just happened to work out perfectly. Light off, 70%, light on, 50%.

Anyway, sorry to babble on with the history of Thor.. on to the problem. His right eye (which also was badly infested with mites before I killed em) has had a retained cap for months now. I bought some stuff that you spray on a bad shed and it didnt work for the cap (im sure it works fine for body shed though). I read the tutorial by Cristie (i hope i got her name right) where she uses lukewarm water and a towel, but I don't think that will work in my case.

Is there any way I can use a tool such as an exacto knife or anothe rprecision tool to pop it off without harming hte snake? I thought that since I raised the humidity to ideal conditions, it'd come off in due time, but it is still stuck on his eye.

Also, the closer I look at his eye, the more it seems as though the mites cause it to be puffy (I forget what that was called in my book) where the scales around the actual eye seem to stick out further than they should.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the help!

Nick

[JLC]

Don't don't DON'T go anywhere near the eye with a sharp object...please! The risks you take doing that steeply outweigh the risk of just leaving a retained eyecap to come off with the next shed.


You say you don't think the soaking and warm, wet towel method will work in this case...but have you tried it yet? That's one that can't hurt to try...but if you go at it with something sharp, you could literally puncture the eye or lance it. NOT worth it!!

It sounds to me like this snake would be best off being seen by an experienced herp vet. He would know what to do about the eyecap and have had experience removing them by hand. He would also be able to look at the eye and see if there's any sort of infection going on there...which it sounds like there may be. That could be far more serious and in need of attention than a retained cap. ALSO....given the condition of the snake when you got it...it's highly likely to be loaded with internal parasites and will need treatment for those as well in order to grow and thrive.

At the very least......at least give the snake a chance to go through a complete shed cycle in your care to see if it can shed the eyecap off itself. But I strongly, strongly recommend you get it to a vet soon.

Good luck with it.

[chz]

Thanks Judy I've really been considering taking him to a vet. And I wasn't really gonna use my Exacto knife.. just giving an example of the precision invovled. Only reason I thought the towel method wouldn't work is because it appears to be more for the body shed as it requires you to let the snake squeeze through it. I'd most likely have to rub his eye with the towel which would stress him out, as I don't think he'd willingly squeeze his head through the towel (dont think any bp would do that).

But yea, I'm afraid the mites may have caused an infection, so I am going to call around an find a good herp vet in my area. Thanks for the help

[JLC]

... as I don't think he'd willingly squeeze his head through the towel (dont think any bp would do that).

But yea, I'm afraid the mites may have caused an infection, so I am going to call around an find a good herp vet in my area. Thanks for the help

Actually, they very likely will. If you wrap the wet towel around your hand and make a little "cave" out of it...he'll very naturally poke his head into the "entrance" to see what's in there...and likely slide through your hand, so long as you don't twitch or squeeze.

Here's some links that can help find a local herp vet:

http://www.arav.org/USMembers.htm

http://www.anapsid.org/vets/index.html#vetlist

http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

[Jonny2184]

Well I hope you manage to get that thing off...
I have a question about retained eye caps, If it stays on there long enough they can go blind right!!?!! Lets say he has it for a year and then you get it off... would they still be blind or would it even be possible to get it off after that much time?

[frankykeno]

Actually I've had multiple caps come off using the soaking, slithering through a damp, rough facecloth method. A bit of pressure around the towel and it's often quite effective. Well worth a try.

It does sound as if this poor snake has been through a lot though and I completely agree with Judy that a vet visit would be in order as well as a fecal float or vent wash to check for internal parasites. You can also have your herp vet weigh the snake, double check on it's gender and give it a good general going over.

Jonny all I can tell you is my experience with a rescue with a lot of retained caps on both eyes. We phoned Adam Wysocki becuase we weren't sure if we should be messing with this. We were able to get 3 layers or so of her caps off one eye and found a lovely bright perfect eye underneath. The other eye was worse however. We got a few layers of caps off but there were still at least 2 layers left. We allowed nature to take it's course and with subsequent sheds and proper humidity Saorise cleared those caps off. Amazingly there was a good eye under that incredible mess, a bit dented but even that small dent eventually smoothed back out. As far as we can tell she has normal sight in both eyes. I'm very glad we didn't messed about trying to tug off caps. Adam advised us that it's far more likely to injure or actually pull the snake's eye out of it's socket if you start doing that sort of thing.

Saoirse did not however have any other issues as far as mites, ticks, bulging around her eyes, etc. She had just not been shedding correctly for a long while so good husbandry and a lot of patience solved her problems.

[SoundUnsleep]

There are actually several more options that you have in order to get rid of the eye caps and prevent/treat infection of the eyes (as well as suffocate any mites that might still be present without showing themselves):
Most common procedure to prevent/treat infection of eyes is terramycin ophthalmic ointment (available at Rural King, TSC, etc. in the cattle health aisle, unless you are living in CA). The product is applied directly to the eyes once. After three days use a cotton swab and slowly roll it against the edge of the stuck cap until you can get a hold of it.

If no mites and no infection (swelling would indicate an infection) is present use mineral oil (Kroger, Walmart, Walgreens, etc., in the shelf with laxatives). The most common brand is Roberts. Do not use baby oil!!! Use a cotton swab to apply liberally to the eye caps. After approx. an hour use a cotton swab and roll it against the edge of the stuck cap until you can get a hold of it. If it doesn't come loose, reapply mineral oil, wait another hour and dab excess from the eye cap using a clean piece of paper towel. Wrap a piece of artist tape (masking tape will do too) - sticky side out - around your finger and gently but quickly dab the sticky side onto the stuck eye cap.

[chz]

Just a little update for you guys. As i said previously, Thor was blue when I started this thread, so I decided to wait until he finished shedding to see how it turned out. Well, he turned out beautifully! The cap is gone, thanks to the 70% humidity in the cage during his shed. Also, I believe his eye wasn't swollen, but that it was just an optical illusion, as it appeared darker and more inset than the other eye as a result. Now that the cap is gone, both eyes look black and shiney and GREAT.

It really feels good to know that I nursed this guy into perfect health, being as he was in fairly bad shape when I got him. No more mites, no more stuck sheds, and no more stress for the poor fellar!

Here are a few pics. The water spots on my pants are from a soak that I just gave him. You'll notice water spots on the snake as a result of the soak/wet towel. I don't know if you'll see his eyes in these pictures, but I'll take another picture in a bit to show how good his eyes look. Thanks for the great replies guys!

Thor #1

Thor #2


Nick

[JLC]

It's always heartwarming to hear such a good report! Thank you for coming back and letting us know!!

[kundalini]

Where is the post about how to make a foil/tape top over the screen? I am having humidity issues and that sounds like the way to go...