Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

My yearling ball python just shed, and I don't know if her eyecaps came off. I checked her shed, but that particular part of her shed (her head) was no connected to the rest of the skin and I couldn't tell. The shed came off completely, but I just couldn't find the part where her eyecaps should be. My question is: How do you know if the eycaps came off or not? Is there any particular way her eyes should look, etc. etc?

Thanks everyone,
Geoffrey.

I know this sounds weird but I've read if you take a piece of scotch tape, and stick it to her eye softly and then pull it off, it will get the shed off, but goodluck getting the tape on her eye without her jerking away...I've never done it with my python because she's always had good sheds (except for her first couple as a yearling and in the glass cage, but the pieces always came off next shed).

Do you have her in a glass cage? I believe it is very important to a python to be housed in a wooden or plastic cage only. Glass cages cause a number of problems for pythons, at least it did for mine. Once I moved her into a high quality wooden cage (http://home.earthlink.net/~bdaniels80/angel.jpg) she's never had a problem shedding since.

Just look at the shed skin. If the eyecaps are present, you know they came off. If they did not, I do not recommend the tape method. I prefer the "sweat box" which has never failed me and is much safer.

I recommend you do a search on "sweat box" or eyecaps. This is a recurring topic.

Good luck!
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Jay A. Martin

np