Potential Eye Problem?

[Regius]

Gabriel, my ball, has got what looks like white rims around the tops of his eyes since this last shed. They're very small, and I was thinking they might just be a bit of unshed skin. I was wondering if anyone has ever seen anything like this, and, if so, could you tell me about it.

[stangs13]

cna you get a picture? No one can diagnose what is wrong with him(if anything) over the Internet! Just an FYI. I heard mites can cause that too. Do you notice him soaking?

[Regius]

Unfortunately i can't get a picture with high enough res for it to show up. I have seen him taking a dip in his water bowl now and again, but never soaking for very long. I read about a condition called "pop eye" but the book i found it in said almost nothing other than "go to a vet." It didn't have any pictures, so I've no idea what "pop eye" looks like, either.

[dr del]

Hi,


When he had his last shed did you check the old skin to see if the eye caps had come off ok?



dr del

[UWStoutNinja]

My snake is also about 20 inches long and he has a real problem getting rid of his right eye cap. He actually has a problem getting rid of the skin on his entire head. I have tried soaking him and I have even gone as far as to take a piece of tape and lightly touch the cap, but nothing works. I have read that their eyes are sensitive so I havn't tried too hard to physically remove the cap for fear of damaging his eyesight. My temps are 91-81 and the humidity is 50-60%, and before and during the shed I bump it up to 70%. He sheds his entire body perfectly, but the head and right eye cap have always been a problem. What can I do to improve this?

[dr del]

Hi,


Yes their eyes are VERY easily damaged when you try and do things like pull off retained eyecaps with stickytape!!

Things you could try are damp pillowcases full of damp shredded paper or moss so that when he crawls around it might rub it off. What are you using to measure the humidity?

One of my royals is very lazy about shedding and I occasionally help if she shown no inclination of finishing the job herself. Again its a job you need to be very carefull about especially around the sensitive areas.

Now before the next section - some important notes;

If it has been a while in dry conditions since she shed - don't
If she will probably shed in a month or less and you can raise humidity - don't
If you even suspect you will hurt your snake - please don't

Shed skin isn't normally a problem in a correct environment so you probably don't need to fix it - ask a vet for his opinion if you are in any doubt and if he thinks it should be ignored or left to him please beleive him over me.

If it's her head that is always left and not just the eye cap then start at the edge of the remaining shed (make sure she has been kept humid before trying this and occasionally mist with warm water - n.b. mine absolutely hate the spraying) and rub gently with the pad of your thumb.

If you can raise an edge then slowly and gently work it untill you are at the foremost part of the shed.

If the whole top of her head is left this will be just inside the edge of her mouth at her nose- sensitive so go slowly and never use too much pressure. If it isn't coming off easily then it probably isn't humid enough. The reason I said to start at a definate edge of unshed skin is that the last thing you want to find yourself doing is trying to rub the living skin off your snake.

Once you have the furthest forward bit of retained skin lifted begin slowly rubbing it backwards like removing a sock - remember and slow down for the pits and eyes and nostrils and be extra gentle. When you reach the eyes its best if you never touch them at all frankly. Use the peice of skin removed from the previous bit and pull very softly backwards in the direction of the tail watching the eyes carefully and misting as required. If at any time you even suspect the eyes are "bugging out" or pulling in the sockets -STOP.

As you may have gathered I don't really think you should be trying to remove it like this 99% of the time. But there is always the other 1% so I thought I'd write down how I do it in case you can't find the information elsewhere or get in contact with a vet.



dr del

[Regius]

Yes, as far as I could tell the eye caps shed off. I'm not really concerned, just a bit curious. Gabriel doesn't seem to be having any problems, I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered anything similar.

[UWStoutNinja]

Dr Del, I did not pull or handle his eye with the tape in any harmful way. It looked "loose" and cracked so I merely "kissed" it with the tape. It did not come off on the first attempt so I left it alone. He has fed twice since the eyecap has not come off and it doesn't seem to bother him, so I am not going to worry about it. Thanks for the information in your response. It will be useful for future sheds.

[dr del]

Hi,


Glad to hear confirmation that you were carefull but I really wasn't singling you out or accusing you of hurting him honest.

I was more using the generic "you" rather than the specific "you in the last post" and I should have caught that in the "ramble scan" I try and do before posting.

I think the fact its "starred" means it has definately dried on a bit too much to make trying to remove it a homejob anyway but I am glad he is still eating ok. Hopefully it will be fixed in his next shed.


Regius - was he looking downwards at the time? Can you make him follow your finger to see if it's simply the edge of his eyeball? I think popeye is something that would definately look unusual enough for you to be more concerned and would be all around the eye rahter than just at the top edge but hopefully someone else will be able to give better information on that for you.



dr del

[Mighty Monty]

When my snake was having problems shedding, i put tubaware with damp moss in it, and it got rid of all of this extra skin that didn't come off. That worked well for me, however i'm kind of new to the whole PB thing, but this was just my epxeriance.