Retained eye caps

[Emohooker]

Hey all,
I have a question my ball python has retained eye caps. iv givin her a bath, and attempted to get it off by the rolling the tape method. still no luck? should I wait for her to shed again or do you think this requires a vet visit? oh one more thing she had mite (or so I think they are) and got the mite cleaning stuff and havnt seen any little black bugs in her nose or cage.

thanks all!

[Teresa]

I resuced a female about 2 months ago and I just waited for he next shed and kept the humidity up and the eye caps came off just fine.

[Kaorte]

if it is just one layer, wait until the next shed. If they don't come off with the next shed, see a vet.

[MitsuMike]

When I had a stuck shed and had to peel the shed off myself I got the eye caps stuck. What worked fast and easy was just soak the snake for like 30 min and then use a qtip and gentally try and rub off the cap. It only took like 3 rubs for me to get it off.

[Elise.m]

What exactly is the rolling tape method? That doesn't sound very safe to me.

My Pinstripe has one retained eye cap, I'm just going to wait til he sheds again, he'll get it off.

[zantedeschia]

Here are a couple things that worked for me.

My newest BP had bad retained head shed and both eyecaps. I soaked him in tepid water for 15 minutes, don't leave them alone when you soak. Then I took a wet washcloth and gently rubbed over the eye, front to back, till the cap loosened and came off. Took about 2 minutes one side, about a minute the other.

Another thing you can do is just leave it till next shed, it should be okay. After the eyes clear from being in blue, dab a drop of mineral oil on the retained caps. They should come right off with the shed.

[illini4x4]

When I first got Sookie she had retained caps. With her I just kept her humidity high and waited for the next shed because I had no experience with it. They cam off just fine.

My friend picked up a pastel and spider bp and both had retained caps and I used the warm washcloth method and that worked wonderfully. It took awhile as I didn't want to hurt his snakes but they came off eventually.