Retained eye cap
 

Just received a beautiful laddertail today via DHL and upon checking him over he has retained an eye cap from his last shed. I called the seller and he said that he forgot to inform me of this and that the shed took place about a week ago. So, where do we go from here? I can certainly up the humidity until the next shed or is it worth it put him in a shed box and then do the ole' masking tape trick? The seller mentioned that he had done this several times before and that the second shed always took care of it. I don't see any reason why this should be common place and would prefer to end this once and for all. Thoughts?

Griz

Bob,
I'll preface this by saying that I have no real experience here, as this has not been a problem for me. But I'm thinking that if this boa has had chronic, or even somewhat regular, eyecap retention problems, I would think that the problem probably lies with the husbandry. Possibly low humidity and/or vitamin deficiencies.

Personally, I would place the animal in a shed box and try and remove the cap now. I've never advocated the use of duct tape - I prefer the use of precision tweezers and a steady hand, but again, I've not had the need very often to employ either method.

Perhaps others here may be able to offer more assistance.

Good luck with your animal.

I am certainly not a fan of the tape method but 100% of the rest of his shed is off. I had a problem with my adult gravid female and by removing the shed from her face the eye caps came with and thus did not have to use any tape. I just do not trust my hands though with tweezers. I have been siding my home for the past 3 weeks and pounding 1000 nails a day makes one's hands shake a bit!

Griz

The best results I have had with retained eyecaps is to just wait for the next shed and then work on the eyecap at that time. It is much easier to get it off then. Doing it when it has dried on runs the risk of damaging the tissues around the eyeball and possibly getting an infection. Tape will definitely work at that time with ease. Tweezers are tough when the snake is trying to jerk away from you and you could easily punture the eye.

I once did puncture an eye with tweezers. I've never used tweezers since.

After the eyecap is soaked for an hour or two, I put my thumb flat on the eye and wipe from front to back. The ridges of the thumbprint usually provide enough friction to lift the eyecap up after a few wipes.

I also tend to leave eyecaps that have dried on and have never seen a problem result.

I've had problems with BPs taken in as rescues and their eyes.

When I get one with stuck eyecaps I use a washcloth wetted with warm water, lay it on the eye for a few minutes, gently wipe with the cloth to see if the cap has loosened, and repeat till the cap comes off. If it's very stubborn I'll grab the tweezers to work the cap off, still using the wet cloth to moisten the cap.