Have no idea whats going on...HELP???

[MikeHansen]

ok here is the situation...i have an adult BP who has been a wonderful snake. well she went through a shed last week and retained an eye cap. well tonight i was going to clean the cage and take her out and soak her for a while to help the cap come off. I need to mention she is very head shy so i couldn't do any of the other tricks to get it off.

Anyhoo she has been spending a ton of time under the newspaper that i use for substrate and when i went to take her out she was hissing up a storm. It kind of freaked me out cause she has never shown any aggression at all.

I guess my question is...what can i do to get that eye cap off? And...what would make her start hissing like that when she has never done it before? She new i was there so i didn't surprise her at all.

Any comments,suggestions,or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike
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[Ed_r]

She cant see well i wouldnt worry about it
Try misting her down real good and putting some moss in the cage for her to rub though.
If not soak her in a tub of luke warm water, work your way up to her head and get ahold of it and LIGHTLY rub the eye from front to back. Make sure she has been soaking for a while before you do this. DO NOT pull the eye caps off dry. When you see them start to break free, just keep stroking them back LIGHTLY with your finger. Keep her head wet too. If it takes dunking her head briefly thats what you got to do. And yes you may take a hit by doing this.
NEVER USE SCOTCH TAPE TO REMOVE THE EYE CAP. You'll pull the whole eye out.
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[RevMojo]

I know diddly about BP's, but might the attitude be from the retained eyecap? Having it's vision impaired might be stressing it...but that's my VERY amateur opinion

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[Tracy]

I have had that problem with my Argentine, she is #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& about it in a way.. Just soak her and let it go naturally..
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[LdyDrgn]

Ya, it's a pain when they are head shy. I use a Q-tip and warm water. Soak the Q-tip in the warm water and use a gentle circular motion. Granted you will have to hold the snake still (have fun with that [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] ) in order to do it, but it's the best 'manual' method. It takes a little while for it to loosen up, but you will see it start to slide to the side as you are using the Q-tip (KEEP the Q-tip WET!). Just carefully slide it all the way to the side and then with a twist, you can pick it up with the Q-tip.

Letting her do it naturally is good, too, but you don't want her to retain it for too long....

GOOD LUCK!! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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