My Ball Python's Eyes....

[BallPython999]

Hi all,
My ball has a shedding problem. Thank god with the people I work with told me that she had this problem. I have to give her a Shed Ease bath whenever it comes time to shedding(I just want to let you all know that this Shed Ease stuff is priced at $8.99 at my pet store and it works great, her skin comes off all in one piece so I can save it and see how bigs she gets over the years). There is however one problem. When she sheds, the skin never comes off the eyes all the way like it does the rest of the body. Her eyes are always kind of ashy after she sheds but not as bad as before she sheds. I just read something in the forum that someone thought there friend's ball was blind. I don't think my ball is blind at all but I just want an explaination on why she can't fully shed her eyes. The people at the pet store just say that her eyes just have a bad time shedding. Is that true or should I be worried??? Some information would be greatly appreciated!!! Thankyou, -Sarah-(BallPtyhon999)

[Tim_Cranwill]

You don't need to buy ANY product to make your ball python shed properly. A good shed starts with good husbandry...

[emroul]

Retained eye caps are caused due to poor husbandry. Raise the humidity in her enclosure (there are a few different ways of doing this) and you can save yourself that $8.99.....

[HetForHuman]

exactly my thoughts Tim and Jennifer, you should not need a product to aid them in shedding..


Raise that humidity like the other 2 people said and you should not have any troubles...

If you need to read up on this, just do a search on the site here about humidity, and it should help you out. But you should do the research first before you have the snake...JMO..

[Corey Woods]

dump the water dish into the substrate when they are going to shed.

Corey

[lanceinhispance]

i just soke my snakes every week and every other day when they are about to shed

[mykee]

I keep my relative humidity at 60% all the time, with the occasional mist while in shed, and I have great sheds consistently.

[Auskan]

With regards to the eyes still looking ashy after shedding, could it be possible that she has several retained eye sheds that is causing this problem? I've never actually seen a retained eye caps, so I don't know what it looks like, but reading that kind of concerned me. You might want to see if its possible to get those retained eye caps off, and after that there wouldn't be any problems with shedding, if the humidity is right, and then you wouldn't need to use the Shed Ease product.

[snakehunter]

cataracts?

[BallPython999]

OK thanks a lot you guys, it was really helpful. I'm going to be getting that Habba Mist soon. Would anyone know if that works good or not? It looks pretty good to me. I mist her cage frequently everyday. Maybe they didn't do that to well when they had her in the pet store. Well, thanks again everyone!!! If anyone can get back to me on the Habba Mist, it will be greatly appreciated once again!!!

[Auskan]

I don't know anything about the habba mist, but why would you want to buy something to use when water is just as effective (and free)?

[BallPython999]

It looked like a good idea. You fill it up with water and it's good to go for a week if I'm not mistaken. You can set it to all different spray intervals and times. I just thought it was a good idea and I was asking if anyone knew about it.

[BallPython999]

Also, I thought it might work better than me spraying the cage with a water bottle every couple of times a day(it's a 40 gallon enclosure). I thought the cage mgiht need a little more for the humidity that's all.

[sapphire_moon]

Get a rubbermaid, and you wouldn't have to worry about it.

[Tim_Cranwill]

You should really consider covering most of the top... leave a bit of space for ventilation. This way, you won't have to fight an up hill battle to keep humidity in the enclosure. Spraying 2-3 times a day is WAAAAAAY more work than a ball python should be (as far as humidity goes). In fact, you shouldn't have to spray at all, unless the animal in a shed cycle (and even then it's not necessary).

Keeping your ball python in a constantly wet environment WILL lead to health problems. It's just a matter of when and what, respiratory or skin...

Try covering 3/4 of the top with something (a towel, plywood or whatever) for a good month and see where that takes you.

What type of heat source do yo have going?

[BallPython999]

For lights I have a 100 watt and a 60 watt bulb, a UV light, for the day, a nightlight for night time and an undertank heating pad(on 24/7). I already cover the top of the cage with a small blanket to keep in humidity(I really just started this method....I'm hoping it works).

[Nicky]

As for covering a bit of the top of the tank i've noticed that ceran wrap works the best( for me at least) because the towl seems to absorb it and not really keep it in either way good luck with your ball python
Kayla:)

[BallPython999]

Alright Thanks. Maybe I'll try that method and see how it goes!!

[Tigergenesis]

Try covering with damp towels and/or duct tape.

[jfmoore]

Hi Sarah -

How about posting a close up photo of your ball python’s eyes so we can see what you’re describing? You say in another post that you have a digital camera. It’s definitely not normal for your snake’s eyes to be “ashy” looking right after it sheds. If it is retained eyecaps, you don’t want them to keep building up.

BTW, snakes do get cataracts. I have some that have them, but the snakes are kind of old timers! Cataracts don’t seem to be much of a handicap for pampered captive animals.

-Joan

[BallPython999]

OK thanx, I will try to post a close up pic of her eyes for you guys. Her eyes don't get extremely ashy after shedding but they still look a little ashy(it's not horribly bad but they're still shouldn't be skin left over the eyes, I mean it looks better but not as good as it should). But I will try posting a close up pic later on for you guys to see, I'll do it in a little bit!! Thanx again guys!! -Sarah-

[BallPython999]

I can't seem to take a clear picture of her eyes so when she calms down I will post it-sry! -Sarah-