Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had this problem with just this one snake for about 4 months now. His shed looked fine but hes got these dried caps over his eyes that are super thick. I tried scotch tape taking them off, tried Q-tip, putting him in a wet towel, soaks. Last week I tried to pull one off that was cracked. Some of it came off but I noticed today that the covers turning white and look nasty. I was thinking about putting some anti biotic creme on them to see how that works. I deff cannot pull them off, they are too stuck and we do not have a reptile vet anywhere close to me. It seems like the skin is behind the eye too and when I pull on it, it doesnt even seem to attack to the skin. The eye I pulled a chunk off of I belive I shouldnt have done that because that eye looks really bad. I have never had this problem except with this snake. They all get weekly soaks and I have a humidifier in the room too. I was reading that they can be cut off, but I dont see how thats gonna help the skin thats not cutt off. His last shed didnt touch them.

Any help would be awesome.

Thanks

Tim

Have you tried just treating the eyes with mineral oil and/or petrolatum prior to shedding? I have had good luck with applying one or both to the eyes with a finger just after the snake clears from the cloudy phase and before it sheds. This works particularly well just after a long, warm soak. I'd recommend trying to soak, then coat the eyes. Do this daily until the snake sheds and you can see the results.

You are correct that you shouldn't pull the eyecaps off. If they are stuck well enough, then pulling them off will damage the snake's cornea-type structure. The "nasty" looking tissue you saw start to turn white was probably damaged cornea. This may or may not heal with a few more sheds.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

I tried some vet ointment on the snakes eyes, they look better but what I dont get is when I pulled on the eye lid it seems like its deeper than just the top layer of skin. The snake will shed perfect but the eye cap is like stuck deep inside.