Shed over eyes???

FirstSssnake · 02-01-05, 05:57 PM

Hello again all,

Need a little more help, Im a little worried,
Ive had my dum for about a week now and when I got him there was a little shed still on the head and around it, it's still there. But today when I had him out I noticed that the shed seems to be covering his eyes...

is there anything I can do to help him get this off or should I be concerned? I read something about this being sign of an infection but his mouth isnt open and he seems to be breathing fine. thanks again for any help!

JAdkins2451 · 02-01-05, 06:37 PM

Just a suggestion, but you could try to bath him to see if it will come off. Is it just the eyes or is it his entier head?

lostwithin · 02-01-05, 06:47 PM

Removing shed from the eye can cause damage, but leaving it there is no good either. Give him a good soak, and keep high humidity in his cage, Hopefully he will rub it off.

Devon

Holy Mackerel · 02-01-05, 08:02 PM

Leaving a brille on the eye can lead to infection itself. There are different methods to take it off.

As a disclaimer, I am NOT recomending these methods, but they are things I have helped in trying before, or methods I have been told to use.

In the past I have helped with removing several brilles (at least three layers) from a poor shedding ball. As scarry as it is, we used a steady hand and a pair of tweezers. We sucessfully removed the brilles from both eyes, and the snake was handed off to a more competant keeper, who kept her in higher humidity.

A method that was reccomended to me from an old herp professor was to place a small amount of vasolene on the snakes eye over night or for a few hours, then using some scotch tape, wrapped around your finger, sticky side out, gently dab it on the snakes eye. The vasolene is supposed to soften the brille and release it from the healthy scales surrounding it.

If the snake has many patches of shed that never previously came off, why not try throwing it into a tupperware an jack up the humidity to 100% and raise the temps a bit. I have had snakes within a half hour start to shed in this type of scenario before, and pull off a clean, complete shed.

Just my two cents, Again I am not endorsing any of the above listed methods. THe first thing i would try is jacking the humidity and temp, and covering the tupperware with a towel or sheet making it dark for the snake.

Steve

Linds · 02-02-05, 03:13 PM

Nothing will happen if the eye cap remains on the snake until the next shed. I would just recommend leaving it there and as long as humidity is adequate, it should come off no problems.

If it really is bothering you, you can try throwing the snake in a rubbermaid with a wet towel for a while and letting him crawl around. That method shoudl take care of anything that has been left behind

Holy Mackerel · 02-02-05, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Linds
Nothing will happen if the eye cap remains on the snake until the next shed.

Lindz, we hope nothing will happen, and while nothing most likely will happen, there is still a threat that the eye could become infected. I agree that the best thing to do is to be passive, and give it high humiidty and the chance to rid the brille itself.

The other question that I have is, how many bad sheds has it had. It was just purchased a week ago, it may be possible that more than one old brille is present on the eye. We all know that many pet stores do not give animals proper environments to live.

Steve

lostwithin · 02-02-05, 05:51 PM

I would have to agree that leaving it until next shed probably wont cause any problems, so long as there are NO humidity problems at all. Not with that said and absolutely no insult intended the fact that it had the shed problem to begin with means chances are the humidity was a bit low. The problem you then run into is the risk of further complications when the next shed comes if the eye cap left there causes he next one to get stuck as well. plus there is always a risk of infection which would be bad especially on the eye.

As for the methods suggested above, I would not personally never use tape, or Vaseline.

Now in personal experience I have had this happen once before, on a large boa. I personally dealt with it by doing the following.

First put the snake into a bath to soak for a good long soak. then into a Rubbermaid with a wet towel giving him a chance to rub it off himself. If he doesn't then gently rub your thumb across the eye (from nose to tail) and see if it will rub off, if it does not (like in my case) I then put a few drops of mineral oil on the area, as well as along the edges of the retained shed to allow it to get under it as well. i left that for a few minutes to soak through, then tried with my thumb again and it came off.

Good luck.

Devon

Holy Mackerel · 02-02-05, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by lostwithin
As for the methods suggested above, I would not personally never use tape, or Vaseline.

I have never tried this method, however I see no problems that may arise from it. The method was suggested by Dr. Jim Bogart (pers. communication). His years of experience and education lend him to a great deal of respect in my opinion.

What problems do you see arising from the use of these materials?

sneaky_boa · 02-02-05, 06:12 PM

The problem, as I see, with vasoline is that it is an oil based substance (as opposed to water based) and so becomes difficult to remove from the snake by hand or by the snake itself (and even local applications have the potential to get everywhere). In addition to the potential toxicity (or general bad effects) of the substance if ingested.

I agree with lostwithin and have achieved great results from a soak and then to the rubbermaid with some damp towels or even just torn up newspaper to allow the snake to rub it off. Mineral oil if that doesn't work has also shown positive results with me. As for the tweezers thing, I would only do that as an absolute last resort.

Holy Mackerel · 02-02-05, 07:14 PM

Sneaky Boa,

I would agree about a few things. The tweezing thing I would never do again....the thought is pretty scarry, although the results were good from the first time we did it (the ball had approx. 4 bad sheds, with eye caps not removed). I also agree with the increasing the humidity method. With my chondro when it was younger it had trouble sheding a few times (thin skin), I simply put it into a smaller tupperware / rubbermaid, with extra heat and lots of humidity, worked great!

I also think the toxicity issue would be pretty minor if at all existant. But you are completely correct in saying it would be difficult to remove residual jelly.

Steve