Shedding...AGAIN????

[Sappingtont]

Ok, my snake just finished shedding on the 27th, which was his normal feeding date. I gave him two pinkies like always, but these seemed a little bit larger to me. I decided he could eat them, which he did with no problem at all, now he is looking as if he is starting to go blue again. Is this normal?

[DAND]

Sometimes when they shed again so quickly it a sign of something going wrong. How did the last shed go, one piece or many? Are there any signs of mites? Can you tell if it retained eye caps from it's last shed?

[Sappingtont]

His last shed was fine, all in one piece, i dont see any mites I dunno...Im confused.

[DAND]

His last shed was fine, all in one piece, i dont see any mites I dunno...Im confused.

It appears your snake is as well. :shrugs:

Being blue again it may be difficult to determine if there are retained eye caps. After this shed check and see if they were retined.

[Sappingtont]

Will do Dand, and thanks for the input. Much appreciated. :)

[Rorryy]

Sometimes when they shed again so quickly it a sign of something going wrong. How did the last shed go, one piece or many? Are there any signs of mites? Can you tell if it retained eye caps from it's last shed?
I am a new corn snake owner and your comment about eye caps is new to me and has me very interested. How do you tell? My snow shed the other day for the first time since I got it and on the shed there were holes where it's eyes were. Is this right or should it have not had the eye holes? I guess my question is how do you tell? :dunce:

[Tracee]

Rorryy - sounds odd but YES the snake should shed its eye caps, and it's very important that they do. Check the tip of the tail after each shed as well to make sure that has fully come off, or he might lose it!

I've not had to deal with either problem so cannot advise you myself, but I've found two threads that might help you out:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9873&highlight=retained+caps

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21101&highlight=retained+caps

[Rorryy]

Like I mentioned my hatchling is a snow and I couldn't even tell it was in blue. My b/f said she was and he could see it about 6 days before the shed(I couldn't tell). The place on the shed where her eyes woud be is empty but she ate fine today. How would not shedding the 'eye caps" effect her behavior? Would she be blind? :dunce:

[Otter_23]

The easiest way to tell is look at the skin and you will be able to see on the skin where it's eyes were. If you don't have the head part of the skin you can usually look at the snake and tell if the eye caps are still there or not. If snakes continually don't shed the eye caps they can go blind. My understanding is that it is usually due to not enough humidity. I had a ball python that didn't shed it's eye cap I left her until her next shed and made sure I had the humidity up by spraying her every evening (misting not dousing her and her enclosure) and she shed her eye caps and were fine. Its when they start to build up that you run into problems. If you can't tell if her eye caps shed chances are pretty good that she shed them fine but keep your eye (no pun intended) on her and you should be able to tell soon enough if they didn't shed.
Mark Westberg

[Otter_23]

I forgot if they don't shed their eye caps you can soak their heads for awhile (in intervals you don't want to drown them) and then use damp wash cloth and let them crawl through that or gently rub their head and that will usually help get the eye caps off. I have heard some suggest tape before and I have read several threads that say to never use tape to get off the eye caps.
Mark Westberg

[Rorryy]

I will definately keep my "eye" on it

[Tracee]

Ouch, the thought of using tape terrifies me!

I had a quick scan through the threads I posted before, it seems a kinder way of getting them off is to give the snake a good soak (makes sense) followed by gentle useage of a cotton bud. Yes if they are left on the snake could damage its eyes. Good luck!

[Rorryy]

I examined the shed again under better lighting this time and I can definatly see the eye caps are there. Thanx for the good info everyone.