Hurt tail?

I started off the day excited to see my bp had his first shed in my possession. This evening I took him out to see that he had some shed left on the last 1/4 inch of his tail.

I followed one of the suggestions I found on the boards of using a warm damp wash cloth and gently running it over his tail. I was not applying any pressure and just dragging the washcloth over the tip of the tail softly. It appeared to be working as the shed was slowly rolling back. I did this for maybe 4-5 minutes being in no rush. At the end, it appeared as if the shed came off cleanly but when I examined it more closely it looks as if there may be some missing scales.

I examined the shed that came off and saw only shed skin with no scales attached to it so I'm puzzled as to how or if it was due to my efforts to remove the shed.

I've had him for a month now and I can't say I've closely examined the tip of his tail prior to this, so I thought I'd post some pics here to get some feedback from more experienced keepers. The pics are a little blurry but it's the best I could do with what I have.


http://i51.tinypic.com/2zdriug.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/29dv5zd.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/hvxmhu.jpg

Every now and again they will loose a scale or two as long as the skin isn't broken there is nothing to worry about they will grow back . The tip of the tail is an odd thing it is like a single scale and from what I can tell yours looks quite normal.

Yup, the tail looks just fine to me as well. Both my ball pythons have the same type tail, it's normal :)

Thank you both for the replies. That puts me at ease. I hated the thought that I may have unintentionally hurt him.

Looks ok. If ever there is any damage/cuts,bite etc...
Betadine, Bag Balm and newspaper for substrate till wound is healed,works everytime.
Best of luck!

i thought that was something odd when i first saw it on my girl and even thought it was stuck shed and tried to use my nail to kinda scratch it off but only scratched a couple times before i realized it was her tail but just a bit funkier lookin' after the shed. :rolleyes: