Risk of leaving retained shed/eyecaps

[DillonH]

Already posted twice but looking for additional info/advice, my 3 m/o BP had a bad first shed with me due to husbandry errors. Over 4 weeks later his whole head and eyecaps are still retained. I’ve tried to assist with soaking/warm towel from the early stages till now but it’s pretty difficult for me to remove even with persistence and I don’t want to over do it. He’s feeding every 5 days and his temps/humidity are good after switching to a tub. Am I good to leave him be till his next shed? Will he be able to shed normally next time if I leave it alone? I’m tempted to try to soak a few more times but I’ve heard excessive soaking before a shed cycle can backfire. Thanks in advance.


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[DillonH]

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[Sunnieskys]

Vet now! Odyn went in for surgery today and the eye cap is fused and is nOw scar tissue. Please do not wait! If you can't get it off get to a vet now!

[DillonH]

Dang that’s scary. Was hoping to avoid a vet trip but sounds like it’s necessary. Thanks

[Mr. Misha]

In my personal opinion, a vet trip would be an absolute overkill.

When I started out and had my BPs in glass enclosures, I had some horrible sheds. Usually upping the humidity and throwing in some sphagnum moss would do the trick. In regards to soaking, don't do it! You're just washing out the natural oil that they use to shed. Let them do their own thing. Leave some damp moss around his enclosure and let him do his own thing.

[Bogertophis]

Vet now! Odyn went in for surgery today and the eye cap is fused and is nOw scar tissue. Please do not wait! If you can't get it off get to a vet now!

How's he doing? What did the vet do? But didn't he have multiple layers stuck on?
I'd probably not run to the vet with the OP's snake just yet, but boost the humidity & hope the all comes off in the next shed. It's just one layer so far. Actually I cannot
remember leaving stuck shed on a snake though...I'm persistent with helping (humid hide, raise humidity, soak, damp cloth, whatever it takes...).

[bcr229]

I'd need a better eye picture but I don't see a retained cap on it, which is one reason I advise not removing them because if you remove the eye scale rather than a retained cap you will blind your snake.

The scale looks like it may be dented which indicates dehydration, but it looks too clear to be retained.

[Sunnieskys]

How's he doing? What did the vet do? But didn't he have multiple layers stuck on?
I'd probably not run to the vet with the OP's snake just yet, but boost the humidity & hope the all comes off in the next shed. It's just one layer so far. Actually I cannot
remember leaving stuck shed on a snake though...I'm persistent with helping (humid hide, raise humidity, soak, damp cloth, whatever it takes...).

They could not do surgery since it turned into scar tissue and would cause more damage and trauma to take them off. They are basically part of his cornea and removing them would be removing part of the cornea. There is no infection and he eats and acts like a normal ball. He is healthy otherwise so they will just keep checking him periodically. They did say I did everything correct and this has been an issue from the beginning.

This is is why I'm saying please do t mess around. If you can't get them off please don't wait. I don't want to see another snake like my Odyn.

[DillonH]

I’ll upload a more focused picture of his eyes later today. This is my first BP & it’s been hard to tell if his caps are retained or not. However I know that the skin on his head and neck is mighty stuck and his eyes don’t look normal. They look almost more creased and scale like than dented. Definitely different than when I received him. I have yet to try the pillow case method so I was gonna go for that today. His humidity has been 60% plus since I moved to a tub 2 weeks ago but his condition hasn’t changed. I will post updates. Thanks for the replies.


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[Team Slytherin]

If it's only been one bad shed, I'd honestly just boost the humidity and leave him alone. If it hasn't come off yet, you definitely don't want to force it. If he's eating every 5 days, he should shed again soon and, hopefully, your problem will be solved.