Whats up with his eye?

J

J.huff23

Arachnoking
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Jun 23, 2007
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I just noticed that my new ball python has something goofy going on with his eye. Pics below. Whats wrong. Is it an eye cap?




Compared to his other eye:
 
K

kupo969

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Jul 20, 2007
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It sure looks like an eye cap to me. You can go to office depot and buy those rubber thumb tips used to turn pages and gently take it off.
 
J

J.huff23

Arachnoking
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Ok, thanks guys. Hopefully he will let me take it off and he wont be too ticked at me, lol.
 
Mushroom Spore

Mushroom Spore

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If you want to try something gentler, the method I always suggest for bad sheds is to steam 'em first - you can do this a lot longer than most BPs are willing to actually soak. Get a lockable plastic tub, punch airholes in it, line with warm-ish wet paper towels, add snake. Lock the lid and put the plastic tub in your bathroom, just on the floor somewhere is fine. Turn the shower on as high and as hot as it'll go, shut the door and go do something else for 30-45 minutes or until your hot water runs out.

The above method not only softens bad sheds like a charm, but is great for when dry winter weather gets a BP all dehydrated and wrinkly no matter how much water you give them or how humid you try to keep the enclosure. When I was living in cruddy apartments I used to treat mine for dry-air-dehydration this way, he'd go from wrinkly and dried out to as good as new.

Anyway. Then you just VERY GENTLY stroke the stuck shed with a towel or something. Usually the snake's instinct will kick in and they'll start pushing the eye against the towel themselves. This is good, since a snake knows exactly how hard is too hard and won't injure their eye trying to get the shed off.
 
GailC

GailC

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Dented or wrinkled eyecaps are fairly common in ball pythons and generally nothing to worry about.
Make sure it really is a unshed cap before you go picking at it, I've read horror stories of balls having their eye caps ripped off when a well meaning owner thought the dent/wrinkle was unshed when it really wasn't.
 
J

joshuai

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waldo said:
Dented or wrinkled eyecaps are fairly common in ball pythons and generally nothing to worry about.
Make sure it really is a unshed cap before you go picking at it, I've read horror stories of balls having their eye caps ripped off when a well meaning owner thought the dent/wrinkle was unshed when it really wasn't.
Click to expand...
Yes! and it could be getting ready to shed, looks dull enough to me to be in premolt
 
Jmugleston

Jmugleston

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waldo said:
Dented or wrinkled eyecaps are fairly common in ball pythons and generally nothing to worry about.
Make sure it really is a unshed cap before you go picking at it, I've read horror stories of balls having their eye caps ripped off when a well meaning owner thought the dent/wrinkle was unshed when it really wasn't.
Click to expand...
Listen to "Waldo's" adivice. This is good advice. Wrinkled spectacles are not uncommon in ball pythons. Too many owners take advice from forums and end up removing the wrinkled scale thinking it is a retained eye cap. If you do this you will open your snake up to various infections.

Instead of assuming it is an eyecap, look at your husbandry and see if everything is proper. If humidity and temperature are correct, then wait until the next shed. If it contains both eyecaps, then you have nothing to worry about. If one of the eyecaps is retained, then take measures to fix the problem.

Were both eyecaps present in the last shed?
 
G

Galapoheros

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That's what I was thinking too, it looks like a dented eye cap to me. I've never had a Ball though and not real interested in snakes these days even though I have a few. But I've seen a couple of dents like that when a mouse happens to get a punch in. The couple I've seen popped out some how over time.
 
Mushroom Spore

Mushroom Spore

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You guys sure? It doesn't look like a dent to me, it looks like a wrinkled eyecap that's still stuck at the top of the eye. Looks very much like a second layer over the current "real" eyecap, folded at the edges and everything.
 
S

secular

Arachnosquire
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I think it's a tough call. When I first looked I agreed with Spore, looked like a stuck eyecap. Then when the others mentioned dented I looked again and said Hmmm..

To be safe I'd suggest just waiting until the next shed, making sure humidity is up, then checking for the retained eyecaps in the shed. You could also try a soak with the warm water and towels etc, now if you wanted... just perhaps avoid picking at it just yet, using tape, etc..?

As was mentioned you are messing with the snake's eye so care must be taken. Don't want to make anything worse.
 
Boanerges

Boanerges

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Looks dented to me. I do see what mushroomspore is saying though it does kinda look like it is folded at the edges. If it is dented then humidity is the problem (not enough of it). It might even fix itself (if it is a dent) if you soaked him/her for a little while.
 
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