restraining a 6ft rat snake

[Greeling]

basicly my rat has a retained eye cap. i tried to get it off but he thrashes around too much. on top of that i don't have anyone who'll help me (too afraid of both ends, if not snakes in general)
is there anyway to do this single handedly without hurting him?

 

[dawnrenee2000]

Yes, get a long tube of some type that can fit into but not move around a whole lot and have his head open on one end that you can hold onto and work with it.

Before you do anything, Start by putting him a tuppperware container with a wet towel for a few hours at least to soften everything up. It is a sensitive procedure to remove an eyecap without causing damage or eye infection. If its not loose enough it can be a bad thing to deal with.

another idea for restraint is to put him in a pillow case or cloth bag and just pull his head out to work with but leave the body inside the case so the thrashing is controlled.

 

[Greeling]

thanks a ton! i will deffinitly try the pillow case thing ^^

 

[dawnrenee2000]

You are welcome! Good luck with that and please be very gentle...soak it first and dont use any sharp objects to remove that cap..just a wet cloth. if it doesnt come loose easily give up and leave it to come off in the next shed.

 

[snakewispera snr]

The pillow case is a good idea , but we always put ours in a bath with a couple of inches of water. With nothing to grip onto it makes it much easier to control a snake.We then use cotton buds to *flick*the scale off. Having so much water around really helps.
MIKE

 

[Greeling]

he seems to have taken care of it on his own. or will i not be able to see it once it's dried?
i've looked for photos on the subject but i can't seem to find any.

 

[SkyChimp]

If it looks like it's gone, it probably is. A retained eyecap can be hard to see, but usually the edges around the eyecap are visible. If you tried the pillowcase suggestion the eyecap should be in it.