Eye caps or tears on the surface of the eyeballs?

My husband and I have a passion for rescuing animals; especially ball pythons. So we recently rescued a beautiful mojave (we believe to be a female - however shes too tense and untrusting to pop her to sex her just yet) When we first got her she wasnt handled much so she was very defensive, under fed - under weight, extremely dehydrated, mite infested & was in shed. Needless to say, in just merely weeks under our care in quarentine she is doing much better; mite free, eating well and shes filling back out. She recently shed and i am able to see hereyes for the first time. But now im alittle concerned, i cant tell if this is a old eye cap that needs to be removed or does she have tears on the surface of her eye balls? :thinking: both appear this way and i have tried my best to get good pictures but i would like to get an opinion on her eye situation





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It is hard for me to tell from these pictures. I would say eye cap, but, it looks like they are dehydrated/drying up. I would give it a good soak and incress the humidity
for a few days and see what happens. Does it seem like it can see ok? (Not bumping into things and strikes on targets) Hopefully a few others jump in with their opinions.

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My first thoughts are the above with dehydration first choice, only other suggestion is physical damage.
Just an opinion.
Wait, your new here, welcome to the community :slight_smile:

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Definitely get the hydration up. 3rd person agreeing on dehydration on her.

She looks like she may have been rubbing a bit cause you can see similar markings on the nose scales in one photo. Possibly due to the mites she was treated for?

There’s a small chance it’s an eyecap seeing how blurry it looks in some photos…but messing with it would do more harm than good imo. I would keep an eye on it and wait for the next shed to see if it clears up.

Part of good hydration in a ball python is good feeding, so if she’s been malnourished on top of dehydration than she may just be taking a bit more time to fill back out and get used to a normal body condition.

If she’s settling in well, maybe try and give her a little soak 2x a week to encourage her to drink more. Make sure humidity is right in her habitat and get a couple good meals in. Hopefully it will clear up with the next shed.

Obviously, if anything does seem to worse. Over time, I recommend taking her to a vet or seeking a professional opinion of some type.

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I would like to add… you can try using “Reptile Electrolyte Soak”. It is something i just herd about for non eaters. I used it for one that did not eat for a year and it ate after 2 soaks i did over 3 days. This will serve as 2 uses in one, it will be a soak and also possible help get nutrients back in it. I did soak for 30min as i heard about, not what the directions said. I did follow how to mix.
And as @armiyana said, i would not try to remove it. If nothing works, let a vet try to remove, if it is a cap.

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I just want to take the time to say a simple thank you to everyone who took the time to respond and give me their opinions she’s had a few good meals she was definitely malnourished she’s putting on weight well and she’s had a few good soaks she always drinks water like a fish even though she actively has a fishbowl available in her enclosure at any given time so I’m going to give the electrolytes soak a shot as well and of course if I don’t see progress over the next few weeks and of course we will take her to the vet but I appreciate everyone’s input so much thank you

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I take in rescues and rehab as well when needed. I hope she gets better soon and I’m glad she’s with you now. She clearly wasn’t getting the care she needed before.