Glorious Blue Eyes!!!

Here are some pictures of Martha's beautiful blue eyes today.....she is in mid shed, yes. This first picture really shows the eye cracks that I've been worried about being retained eye caps. It shows the road map on her eyeball that I am concerned about.

Can't seem to get other pics to upload to the page....hope you enjoy these ones. I'll try later. The second pic shows her eye quite well.

Martha has been in this stage of shedding for ten days now.....her eyes are not clearing at all....she won't eat...refuses to even smell a mouse let alone eat one. She even hisses at me when I try to offer her a mouse. My male always eats during his shed time. He actually eats very well during a shed. I see no difference at all. I guess there's one difference between my two snakes that I've found. The thing is, Martha is showing no signs of completing her shed. She has been in this state for days now, no matter how much I soak her or spray her, or whatever her....she just stays with blue eyes and pink belly. My male has never taken more than a week to complete the entire shedding process from pink belly and blue eyes to complete shed. How long can it take to complete a molt.......?? I mean what's the longest that's it can take before I should start to worry? I think it was the presence of the mites on her that forced her into this shed in the first place. She wasn't due to shed for at least another month or two. She's full grown and her last shed was just at the beginning of September. My male normally sheds every eight to ten weeks. He's small. Martha's old and big. I sure hope she doesn have trouble with those eye caps. It sure looks like she's got a bad retained one in the pictures of this thread doesn't it? I am doing everything in my power to get her to shed in one piece. I am keeping her warm and moist. Would stress delay her from shedding? I know she is stressed because of how much I've had to handle her with the mites and all. Plus, I've taken away her bark/mulch substrate and left her with a hard bottomed/paper towelled bottom to lay on. I try and put a face cloth under her to keep her comfortable, but she just bunches is up and squeezes it in the center of her ball. She isn't a very happy camper right now. Should I put back the mulch yet? Probably not until I can tell if any mites are going to show up again....any eggs that I missed would show up within 30 days I was told. There....I just answered my own question..lol. Also, I bleached and soaked and rinsed all of the bark that I had left over in the bag that was underneath the snake tanks. I should be able to use this right? It wasn't ever used in the tanks, but it was underneath them and there were mites on the outside glass of the tanks....so I assumed that there may be some in the bark bag since it is an inviting substrate to lay eggs in. even though I rinsed and rinsed until I thought my water bill was going to burst, it still smells a little like bleach. Maybe I'll put them outside and air them out for a few days. It snowed last night about six inches. It's very fresh outside.

~~Cher~~

Older snakes tend to take a little longer to shed.. Just be worried if her shed cycle takes two weeks or more. If not, just let her do her thing. If you keep stressing her by checking on her so much, she might retaliate... (ie CHOMP on you)

And yes, she does look like she had a retained eye cap.

I do not use bark, but if it smells like bleach, I would not suggest using it at all.. The chemicals are unhealthy for your snake.

I think that was all your questions.. It was rather hard to read your big block of questions. Good luck

I WOKE UP TO THIS.............




AND THIS!!!!!!

AND>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>THIS!!!!!!! WE HAVE EYECAPS MARTHA!!! YAY!! I GUESS THE LOOK OF HER EYE IS JUST AGE. SHE MUST BE REALLY OLD THEN. I GUESS ABOUT 15 YEARS OR MORE TO HAVE AN EYE THAT LOOKS SO WRINKLY AND NOT BE A RETAINED EYECAP!!!

Good job! It's all about patience when it comes to shedding..