Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The new rescue burmese that I told everyone about just a while back shed a few days ago. He was really dehydrated when I got him, but after a proper setup and quite a few baths, he shed in a complete piece.
The weird thing is that he still looks to have eye-caps despite it. I thought that any build up layers of eyecaps would come off if he shed completely, because the new ones are under the old ones. Why then, does he still have clouded eyes?
Is it possible for the skin of the head and the whole body to come off but not the eye caps? I threw away the skin and as it looked whole, I didn't check for eyecaps on it.
He ate a large rat the day before this picture was taken, and he's putting on weight already. He's still a mean SOB
Here's the picture of him in the cage I put them in for cleaning the main enclosure. His bite wounds are healing nicely, but he still looks unhealthy.

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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

Yes, it's somewhat common for the eye caps to remain when a snake sheds. This happens mostly in cases like yours, with dehydrated snakes, but generally only one eye cap will stick, but, both do once in a geat while.

Not to insult your intelligence by any means but a few days before a snake sheds, it's eyes clear up. If that burm's eyes cleared before shedding but they're cloudy now, it most likely is about to shed again (another common phenomenon with dehydrated or mite infested snakes).

If /when eye scales remain they can be removed with tweezers. It's best to have one person hold the snake, and it's head, while another person removes the scales. You should be able to see the edge of the old eye scale and easily grab ahold of it & slowly peel it off.

Hang in there & keep up the good work!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Actually, I'm happy you told me that they clear up right before shedding. I never knew because I leave my snakes alone while they're in shed (and they usually stay in their hides while they're in shed). Learn something new every day!

Okay, so I should prepare for this guy to possibly shed again. He doesn't have mites, which is amazing considering the situation he came from, but that's really good. His skin is a lot less wrinkly from dehydration now. With the size cage he was kept in (a 10 gallon), I don't see how they fit the snake and a water bowl in the cage at the same time.

I was looking over your site (from the link on the CO2 chamber post) and looking at your burm pics. They look great. They've got that nice bright color that I like so much. Pixil's got it too, but this guy doesn't. He's dark and dull.

On a side note, I had to do a double take on your picture, because you look exactly like one of my uncles (RIP), and a lot like one of the others.

I'm working on a website too, but it might take a while for it to get up and running.

Thanks for the advice,
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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

> > > I was looking over your site (from the link on the CO2 chamber post) and looking at your burm pics. They look great. They've got that nice bright color that I like so much. Pixil's got it too, but this guy doesn't. He's dark and dull.

Those 2 burms in my photos are both Het for albino and labyrinth, that's why they're so light & bright looking. Pixil does have the same characteristics and could very well produce some albinos, especially with the right mate.

Oh, and don't make fun of the way your uncles look, we can't help it, ya know. Poor guys. Hahahaha!!! Good luck with your website. I'm no pro but if you have any questions or problems, contact me and we'll see if I can help.

Catch ya later!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Okay, so I used tweezers and got the eyecap off (it was easy once the snake decided to be still) and it came off really easily. The other one came off on its own yesterday, so I don't think he/she is shedding again, I think the eyecaps just remained. He/she is looking SO much better from the time I got it in. The people who saw him/her then and now all comment that he/she looks like a completely different snake.

Thank you for your advice.
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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

I remember the first time I had to remove an eye cap. No Internet back then, relied on books & hearsay. I was nervous as all get out just thinkin' about doing it but once I finally mustered up the nerve to do it I saw there was nothing to it.

Glad it went so well with you. Keep up the good work, it'll come back to you one way or another.

Catch ya later!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I have not been keeping burms nearly as long as you, but I see something different in your pic. It looks to me like he has dented in eyes and not retained caps. Is he perhaps dehydrated or the humidity lower in this enclosure?

He came to me very dehydrated. I've got the humidity at 65% (actually 63% most of the time) as the ambient humidity in his cage. This is higher than I keep Pixil's because of how dehydrated he is. I also have a very large pan of water for him.
I've been giving him baths once a week (so he's had a total of 3 baths while living with me. I'm looking around for a new reptile vet, and I'll take him in as soon as I find one. My local vet isn't very good with reptiles.
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~Sara~
"If you look down on me, I am evil, If you look up to me, I am God, if you look straight at me, I Am you"
-Charles Manson

http://www.arav.org/Directory.htm

Has most of the Herp vets in the US

Have you given him a bath since his shed? I wondering if it would help any.

The only reason why I brought this point up is because I went through this with mine. He's the weird burm who drinks constantly and pees every other day. He came to me in a tank with a screen lid and obviously, the humidity was difficult to maintain. One day I looked at him and he had dented in his eyeball. Well, they protrude outward, y'know, and I thought he must have bumped it along the glass or something. I found out it was a side effect of low humidity.

Living in FL, I don't deal with low humidity very often. I had been keeping snakes for a decade and had never heard of this. Sure enough, I misted him daily, covered his lid with foil, and he's better. The bottom photo in your original message reminds me of what it looked like when his eye caved in. It seems that my burm requires a higher humidity for whatever reason...just his makeup.