Help - Ramses is hissing at me

[Penguin]

I haven't been holding my juvenile ball python probably as much as I should have the last two weeks, I've been very busy with company temporarily living with me etc. I then went out of town for 2 days, when I came back there was a shed in the cage, not one whole piece this time but small pieces. There was also feces in the cage. However, whenever I reach into the cage Ramses hisses at me. This has never happened before. Someone tell me what to do from here? I'm sad about this.

[Penguin]

I'm wondering if, given that his last shed wasn't a good shed and he is more timid than usual, if he could have retained eyecaps. What do they look like? I managed to get him out of his tank, no hissing. His eyes aren't cloudy although the left one has what looks like a whitish area in the back corner of it.

[Lankyrob]

Leaving a snake alone is not going to cause issues, the bad shed means poor husbandry, what are your temperatures and humidity in the viv?

Get these right and the snake should settle down again.

[mykee]

Simple: ball pythons don't like to be handled.

[alessia55]

The bad shed is an indicator that your husbandry isn't good enough. What are your temps and humidity in there? Low humidity will make a snake shed in pieces like Ramses did. Having bad husbandry will stress out the snake, which might be why he's tense and hissing. Remember, it's not natural for snakes to be handled and held by humans. So first get your husbandry right, let him settle down again, and then slowly work on handling him again. Good luck! :)

[Penguin]

I managed to pick him up and handle him fine, no hissing. I think maybe he didn't recognize me at first? I have only had him a little over a month, his first shed was excellent because I was misting him. But since I removed the heat lamp and only use a uth, the humidity in the tank is higher, around 60%, so I thought he'd be fine without misting when he was preparing for this last shed. Apparently not. Next time he is ready to shed I will return to misting him.

But how do I detect retained eyecaps? I threw out his shed without thinking to check for eye caps on the shed.

[Lankyrob]

During the shed process you want the humidity at 75% minimum, 55-65% the rest of the time should be fine, am sure someone will post pics of eyecaps soon :)

[Penguin]

Okay thanks, will keep that in mind next time.

[alessia55]

The eye will appear dry... Some google images of ball pythons with retained eye caps:

http://www.ballpython.com/contentimgs/bpfaq_eyecap.jpg

http://www.reptileexpert.org/images/ball-python-retained-eyecap.jpg

[Penguin]

See how in the first pic there is a whitish area at the corner of the eye? Ramses has that. I'll try getting a closer look at his eyes. I found this website: Removing unshed snake eyecaps (http://www.anapsid.org/eyeshed.html)

I am wondering if dabbing mineral oil on my snake's eyes will damage them if he doesn't happen to have retained eye caps.