Terrible shed... Question about eye caps.

[whispersinmyhead]

I have three ball pythons. I just got all three into a rac setup. My cool side is 78-80. Warm spot is 92. Humidity was 70-75 for shedding period. Usually 55-60.

Now we have been running fans because it is hot as hell right now in the house but I have been closely watching humidity. I use several hygrometers and all seem to be within 2-3% of each other.

One snake shed perfectly. One had a little patch didn't come off and she is the one I had before recently aquiring the other two. The worst one was the spider! He had a dented eye (old eye cap) when I got him but otherwise normal. He has quite the wobble and whirly movements but eats well and I really wanted this shed to take off the old eye caps. Now he had a bad shed. It came off in pieces. I soaked him for 40 minutes in Luke warm water and kept the life on the container with air holes. All his shed appeared to come off.

Now although his shed appeareed complete he still has a small dent in one eye. Now I got him to rubamd slide on a damp cloth and my hands to see if it would come off but nothing. Does the eye stay dented for a while still? Should I try another method to remove it or just leave him be? First bad shed ever. And now two snakes. Maybe they need something in the tub to rub on for shedding time to get a better start?

Sorry any input is much appreciated as usual.

[alykoz]

I read somewhere that you can get a piece of scotch tape and roll it into a circle around your fingers and gently roll it back and forth on the eye. However it seems as though his eye might be permanently damaged so it might not be a good idea to mess with it. That's my input but I'm not as experienced as others on here.

[Capray]

The eyes of a dehydrated snake will dent, give it some time.
One stuck eye cap won't hurt him.

DON'T TRY TO REMOVE IT! There's too much danger of hurting his eye and so little consequence of one eye cap for a month. Just mist the cages next shed and keep it humid.

[MarkS]

I never mess with the eye caps unless it's really bad and there are several that are retained. It's too easy to damage the eye by messing around with it. I generally just leave it alone and it'll come off with the next shed.

[norwegn113]

I agree with what the others have said so far. Do not try to remove it, just let it be! I had a snake that was very dehydrated. The previous owners did not keep humidity correct and it took several sheds before the eyes did not have that dented /cracked look anymore. Be sure to maintain a good humidity level and things will work themselves out!!!!!

[DooLittle]

I personally would never mess with an eye cap. Raise your humidity even more next time. Messing with eye caps can do more harm than good. I dont think they need anything more in the tub to rub on. They have the tub, and themselves to rub against. Mine shed fine in tubs, with around 60% humidity. When I notice a shed coming, I move the water bowl over the hot side to bump it a bit.

[kitedemon]

NO TAPE !!! Don't mess with them just let it be all kinds of damages can be done by messing with it.

Bad sheds are not always humidity related stress illness ect. can all contribute to it. It could be everything is fine just the stress of moving and new plus the old sheds added up to a bad one.

Just out of curiosity what are your ambient air temps? Relative Humidity is relative to temperature. You need 15.5 mg/m3 of water to shed well.

that varies a lot depending on air temps.

@75ºF that means 71%RH
@ 80ºF that is 60% RH
@ 85 that is 52%RH

These numbers are all the same amount of water in the air. RH is the % of water to saturation. Cool air carries less water than warm.

[whispersinmyhead]

Thanks Kitedemon for that explanation. The ambients have shot up the last few days into the mid 80's. that may have contributed because the there wasn't enough water in the air. I just put a small air conditioner in the living room (where our rack is) and I set it so it won't cool the room down too much. Should be mod 70's where I know the rack will perform to spec with a 78-80 ambient.

Also dehydrationay be possible because of his poor motor skills drinking water maybe be a very rare event. Usually he puts his whole head in the water and scares the crap out of himself.

Thanks everyone for the advise. I don't want to mess with the eye. I would hate to risk permanent damage.

Side note: he ate tonight even after me stressing him with the soak and shedding help. He actually ate very aggressively.