Both eyes retained eye caps?

[Clepsydre]

Hi,
My snake shed a week ago, the shed looked fine as it was in one piece i don't remember looking for the eye caps but now my snake have both eyes looking dried. She also seem to have difficulty to see.

I recently changed my bedding from eco-carpet to the zoo med aspen. It make my vivarium a lot more dry and my snake won't use the humi-box (or others hides for that matter) anymore instead she borrow in the substrate.

Could that be that the dried aspen is drying her eyes?
I don't know if it could be 2 eyes with retained eye caps, anyone saw that before? Because everywhere i look it seems to be only one eye at the time...

Here's two pics, i warn you they're big but i wanted you to be able to see the eyes. both pics are the same eye because she wouldn't let me take pictures after.

Thank you guys,
Maude

 

[Nanci]

I have nearly all my snakes on aspen, and that doesn't happen. I would soak her for 30 minutes and see if that has any effect.

 

[Clepsydre]

Hi, i have tried to let her soak like you said, her eyes got cloudy but it wont come off i have let her slitter in a wet towel and even tried to gently rub the eye with a towel, she tried to bit me a few time but other than that nothing. Is there anything else i can do?

 

[Nythain]

You could try gently dabbing some mineral oil on them with a cotton swab (q-tip) once a day. They should hopefully come off within a day or two. If soaking and mineral oil don't help, I'm at a loss. I'd hate to prescribe scotch tape for fear of harm. If she's young, and it's her first retained cap you could patiently wait till next shed, and try to make sure she's moist enough to get them off that go around? That might not be the best advice, I'm sure Nanci or someone more experienced could further guide. But mineral oil with a q-tip is a popular fairly safe method.

 

[xoxocammyxoxo]

In the past (mind you it's been 10 years) I tried soaking and mineral oil and if that didn't work we would take them to the vet and get an ointment to put on their eyes. It's not a good thing to have them sit there like that. I had a ball python that I rescued loose an eye because of an eye cap.

 

[Nanci]

When I had a snake with a single retained eye cap, I treated it with ointment from the vet and it came off with the next shed. The vet was in no hurry to remove it. BUT it didn't look anything like that- it was smooth and peeled around the edges. I'm not convinced you're dealing with retained spectacles. I'd take him to the vet.

 

[Clepsydre]

Now i'm really getting scared, i don't want my baby to loose an eye or anything i just want to cry.

I'll take an appointment to the vet tomorrow but i know it will take a few days because they're always overbooked and charge like crazy for emergency.

Should i keep trying with the oil and moisture?

Thank you guys,

 

[Nanci]

Stop trying to remove them. Just soak him once or twice a day in weak tea strength beta dine water, and mist his viv. I was advised by my vet to use Vaseline Intensive Care on the eye, for a retained spectacle, before we switched to eye ointment.

 

[Clepsydre]

What kind of Vaseline? Like the body lotion or the jelly we all know? I'll pick everything up as soon as the drug store open.

 

[Nanci]

The body lotion. But that's just a measure to keep the eyes moist until you see a vet.

 

[daddio207]

" I'm not convinced you're dealing with retained spectacles. I'd take him to the vet."

I agree with Nanci's statement and also stop trying to remove them. I have seen that a few times in the past with a couple of my snakes and they went back to normal after the next shed.
I made the mistake of thinking they were retained spectacles and tried to remove them to no avail and ended up doing more damage. Fortunately after multiple sheds the eye was normal looking again but boy did I feel like crap about it.:awcrap:
Lesson learned was always check the shed for eye scales.

 

[Clepsydre]

I brought Ekans to the vet yesterday morning. The vet told me she was probably dehydrated when she last shed so the lack of moisture in her eye caps made it look that way. (He assured me that currently she's not dehydrated and look fine) He told me to bath her in normal water for 5 min (so that she can drink) then had unscented baby oil to the water.

Apparently she was in blue and i didn't notice but the vet told me so! So that was yesterday morning....

Yesterday near midnight i found out that she had a perfect shed and shed 90% of the problem!

Well here goes my money for the vet! One more day and i would not have had to bring her there!!!! :crying:

 

[TheFrogman]

Oh I am so glad for you and Ekans, my heart was breaking for you two. I don't think it was a waste of money, better safe than sorry and I would have done the exact same thing.

 

[Nanci]

Excellent news! It sounds like you lucked out and got a vet who is knowledgeable about snakes. That is such great advice to soak him first- I had to do that with Fred and the Betadine water (soak him in plain water first) or he'd gulp it down like I'd been depriving him of water for days...

I think next time we see this question we'll be able to help people better- thanks!

 

[Clepsydre]

The funny thing about my vet is that he's located 5 min from my home (walking). Each time I call, the girls answering tells me "We only do cats and dogs" Then I argue a bit because i know that 3 vets don't (so the clinic say they don't) but one is actually trained to do so. I love him so much!!