Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a hog nose that has one eye from his last shed. What's the best why to remove it.

Thanks

Matt

The best way to remove an eye cap is to use a room temperature water compress held onto the eye for as long as you can, 5-10 minutes should suffice but longer is better. This is not only to help soften the dried lens cap but also to help in getting fluid underneath the old lens cap to help separate it from the new lens cap. Using a Q-Tip to help massage around the lens cap should help to loosen it up enough that it might just slide off. If not, then hopefully you have at least loosened an end which can then be gently grabbed with tweezers, hemostats or even sometimes fingernails. It's very important to not pull fast or hard or especially if there even appears to be any type of resistance or a slight pull on the eye itself. If this is the case, reapply your water compress as many times as needed until the lens cap is moistened enough to come off. I personally have successfully removed dozens of eye caps on adults down to hatchlings using this simple method. Good luck!
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

I have found that scotch tape works the best... I learned this technique from dealing with venomous snakes... You dont really want to handle them if you do not need to especially if it is a 5 foot agressive puff adder... I would put scotch tape sticky side out on a pair of 24 inch forcepts and would gently touch the eye cap and it would come off... Obviously with a hognose there is no fear of being killed if you are bitten so you can hold the snake and use your free hand to gently touch the cap with scotch tape...

Hope this helps...