Eye caps (sorry to post another thread) HELP! HELP!

[shelliebear]

On my ball python Nergal, I haven't been able to see his pupils since we got him from Petco. His eyes were too cloudy looking, and NOT because he was in shed.
I'm very worried he may have several layers of stuck eye caps, because when he was in Petco he had quite a bit of stuck shed on his head. It doesn't go away when he sheds now, and he has shed 3-4 times with us.
One of his eyes looks a LOT like this:
http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/...ge/eyecap1.jpg
It has the dent in the middle of the eye where his pupil should be, and the rest is thick looking and full of dents/scratch looking things.
His other eye looks similar but is a little clearer, with less dents.
What should I do? I tried gently rubbing a wet Q-tip over the top of his eye using the roll-back method on Youtube, and applied no pressure, after I had soaked him for a good 30 minutes. I did not want to touch his eye, so I just rubbed around the top of his head where the eye caps start.
Nothing happened, nothing came off.
I've raised his humidity, nothing. He's shed--didn't change. He has clean water to drink, and I see him drink it--nada.
What do I do? Should I bring him to a vet? I'm worried he may have layers of eyecaps on there.
I just want to see his beautiful snakey eyes that I know are under there SOMEwhere.
Please help!

[shelliebear]

Also, on one eye he has white skin in one of the edges of his eye. Could this be some skin he didn't shed off?

[Sammy412]

The easiest way to remove retained eyecaps is to put a little drop of mineral oil on your finger and rub it over his eye....it doesn't hurt, just let that soak in good....I usually wait overnight. Then take a damp Qtip and it should roll right off. Be sure to coat the eye pretty good, especially if you think he has more than one eyecap retained. You may have to do this a couple of ties to remove them all. I have never had this not work. Good Luck!

[sarahlovesmiike]

That picture you posted doesn't look at all like a stuck eye cap. They look like they have a silvery film over them. That snake looks like he's had injury to his eye. It looks like some one removed the protective layer of scale from the eye itself. If that's what your snake looks like, leave him alone and stop play with his eyes. They may or may not ever be normal again. I don't know if they can regrow that layer of scale or not, but in the mean time take anything sharp or rough out of the enclosure and give him newspaper or paper towel as substrate so nothing is irritating that skin. If your snake is having rapid sheds, then I can pretty much guarantee that he's trying to form a protective layer of skin over his eyes, don't remove it. Make sure your humidity is correct and just leave it alone.

[sarahlovesmiike]

http://www.joecompelreptiles.com/bal..._cap/index.asp (Sorry if posting that link isn't allow mods)

That is what a retained eye cap looks like. When a ball sheds its eye caps they all come off at once, not one at a time.

[JLC]

Were it me, I would make sure the humidity stays relatively high (in the 60% range or a little higher) AND I would get the snake to a vet with experience in dealing with snakes. I would NOT physically mess with the eye itself without knowing precisely what I was dealing with.

[JLC]

http://www.joecompelreptiles.com/bal..._cap/index.asp (Sorry if posting that link isn't allow mods)

That is what a retained eye cap looks like. When a ball sheds its eye caps they all come off at once, not one at a time.

perfectly acceptable

[shelliebear]

This is a picture of what his eyes look like (I'm sorry for the bad quality).
I got some Zoo Med Shedding Aid, and it says you can use it for snakes with retained eye caps by just spraying it on. Could I try that--would it serve the same purpose as the mineral oil?
Thanks.

[bsash]

Try to get closer pictures, it is hard to tell from so far away.

[JLC]

I really think, since you don't KNOW it's a retained eyecap, that you shouldn't mess with it at all. Let a vet evaluate it and help you. Even with known eyecaps...one retained after a typical shed is fairly simple to remove with a number of different gentle remedies....but multiple retained caps after many months of bad sheds is something else entirely, and again, should be evaluated and dealt with by a pro.

You run a high risk of causing more and possibly permanent damage to the eye.