Reptile & Amphibian Forums

safari is a 2002 male JCP. his last shed was on 4-2-05 and before that he shed in january. so he is shedding like every 3 months. it wasn't till a month or so later after this recent shed that i noticed his eye. i got a pretty good photo. can someone tell me if it is a retained eye cap? it doesn't go around his whole eye. it's mostly a jaggid edge around the center. it doesn't seem to bother him. his left eye is fine. he hasn't shown any agression as to make me think he can't see out of it. i have tried to wet it with some water and gently rub my finger over it to get it off, which he don't like. i got some replies on the general snake forum to use tape or tweezers. no way. i don't want to go poking at his eye like that. can someone let me know...thanks.

when he does go into shedding i will mist his tank couple time week till he clears then i will mist him down as well. he usually has perfect sheds.

1st of all- I am not a vet. If you are really concerned take it to a reptile oriented vet. (Having said that....)
2nd of all- I don't see a retained cap, but it may just not show up on my monitor, or in that picture, or whatever.

Just check the shed. You should be able to see the whole eyecap if it was a good shed.
Hope this helps.
Ben

i can't check the shed because i didn't notice it till like a month later. plus his last shed was all bunched up. the photo isn't the greatest but it does show something on his eye.
thanks anyway and i'm keeping an eye on it. so far it hasn't gotten worse or anything like that. right now i don't have funds for a trip to the vet.

After my JCP's eyes clear up, they look just like that for a day or so. Its whats left of the blue. Anyway, I would hold off on going to a vet for a couple days just to make sure she's not in another shed. Good luck, Eric-

i don't think he is going into shedding. his other eye is nice and clear. at any rate i'm going to wait till after his next shed to see how it is. thanks.

It's hard to tell; the eye looks a bit cloudy, but as the other poster noted it could be into another shed cycle. If that's the case the old eyecap will most likely come off with the new shed (be sure to check the next shed to make sure you have both eyecaps attached to the head piece... the retained cap may just fall off since it's not attached to the new shed. And you might not find it.

If this is not a shed cycle and you see that the eye in question looks different from the other, you can try gently rubbing the eye area with a wet washcloth. I've used that technique myself and it has worked.

I wouldn't try tweezers, and you have to be real careful when using tape; the tape can't be too sticky or you might damage the eye, and you have to roll the sticky side of the tape over the eye area. I wouldn't bother with the tape either; there's always a risk of pulling too hard and if there's no retained eyecap you could really mess things up.

The wet washcloth has worked for me.

Bill

If you think you might try the wet washcloth, I use cool water. No need to shove something warm right up against the heat pits.

Bill

I have seen that in carpets that have mites. Not saying yours does but somethng to look into. I have seen a lot of morelia that have been exposed to mites have them get in their eyes and stay alive and dead, then show back up at a later day. I also have seen sheds with dead mites packed in around the eye socket. I would not do anything to the animal. Wait for the next shed and be on the look out for little moving black dots!!!
Good Luck TW