Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has ever had any issues, and more importantly solutions for a chronic retained spectacle. I have an adult female rosy boa that has had issues shedding her left spectacle. She is housed in a basic RB setup with a temp gradient from 78-90 degrees. Sand substrate and of course f/c water. She has still been feeding regularly and is holding weight well. I have tried saline eye drops and soakings with no success.

Any help will be appreciated,

Paul

I have some 'reptiaid shed' from petsmart that you can spray right on their eyes and it works pretty well.

Sometimes I can wipe it right off and sometimes I have to put them back in the substrate and give them a few days to work it off themselves.

I have yet to be thwarted.

Good luck....

Below is a regular recipient of Repti-Aid Shed.....

-----
Mark Huntley
Sand Boa Morphs

Kenyan Sand Boa's
4.1 Rufescens
2.2 Albinos
0.2 Dodoma
1.5 Flame
2.5 Normal (orange)
3.4 Anery
0.1 Snow
2.2 Hopeful Yellow Snow
0.1 Splash Albino
1.0 Splash Anery
1.0 Orange Stripe 100% Het Anery
2.0 High Orange Stripe
1.0 Yellow Stripe
0.4 High Orange Tiger
2.2 High Orange
2.3 Boston Terriers
0.2 Sooners
8.30 Rhode Island Reds
0.0.15 Tropical Fish
0.1 Moody Wives
1.1 On the fence in-laws
2.1 Rug Rats

Don't apply too much pressure to getting it off. You can really damage the eye that way.

If it doesn't come off easily, wait until the next shed cycle and really up the humidity...ie let him/her run through some warm, wet towels for a little while. That should help.
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Travis Rose
Lazy S Snake Ranch
3.7 Kenyan sand boas (various morphs)
1.2 Indian sand boas
0.3 Dogs
0.1 Cat
X.X Fish
0.1 Very understanding wife
2.0 Future Snake Lovers

Yeah, but once you remove the eye you no longer have to worry about the retained spectacle, so it's win/win, either way!
-----
Mark Huntley
Sand Boa Morphs

Kenyan Sand Boa's
4.1 Rufescens
2.2 Albinos
0.2 Dodoma
1.5 Flame
2.5 Normal (orange)
3.4 Anery
0.1 Snow
2.2 Hopeful Yellow Snow
0.1 Splash Albino
1.0 Splash Anery
1.0 Orange Stripe 100% Het Anery
2.0 High Orange Stripe
1.0 Yellow Stripe
0.4 High Orange Tiger
2.2 High Orange
2.3 Boston Terriers
0.2 Sooners
8.30 Rhode Island Reds
0.0.15 Tropical Fish
0.1 Moody Wives
1.1 On the fence in-laws
2.1 Rug Rats

I had 1 rosy that gave me this problem twice, the first time I kept her wrapped upp in a wet towel while holding her for a minute. I kept lightly wetting her eye cap. It took quite a while for it to soften/release enough to slide off when she slid between my fingers holding the towel.
The second time I found this to work ALOT BETTER and surprisingly did not have any further issues with her.To aid in removing the eye cap/stuck shed get a shoebox sized tub, fill up LUKEWARM water ONLY enough so that the rosys body is halfway submerged, put the lid back on and let it stay in for about 15 minutes. try to LIGHTLY with a soft cloth that is damp to SLIDE the eyecap off (DO NOT PULL). If it doesn't come off yet, then put NEW water that is lukewarm again and let it soak for another 15 minutes. This should get it off for you.

NEXT time you see you Rosy going into shed/close to time to shed put a piece of papertowel inside the cage that is damp. reapply water to keep it damp (NOT WET). thus can help raise the humidity SLIGHTLY to aid in shedding.They may actually rub their body/face on it to soften the shedding. I would ONLY recommend doing this for a few days max. You do not want to raise the humidity too much as to cause other issues with too high of humidity. You could always use the soak method above also when you see your rosys eyes turn blue and then again every couple days until it sheds. Good luck