Sharp tail tip

I had Emily out last night and she was crawling around me when suddently she scratched me with her tail - her tail has always been a bit harder than the rest of her but it's never prickled me before so now I'm wondering if it's all old shed and how I can get it off of her or will it come off on its own with a good shed? If it's old shed it may have been there for quite a while and I wonder if it will ever come off. About a couple of months ago I switched from bark substrate to newspaper and her last shed wasn't as good as normal with a few bits being left on her body. I feel like switching back to bark but the newspaper/paper towels seems much more hygienic. I use plain topsoil for my monitor but I guess soil isn't any good for snakes ... or is it? Just something I've wondered since having a monitor as the humidity is never a problem in the sav enclosure.

I just thought of another thing - when I spray the enclosure I tend to spray around and about but never make the paper wet at all. One thing I noticed when I got my boa from the breeder is his tubs had paper in and they seemed quite soggy - I thought that was a bit too wet - but maybe I'm not making them wet enough - the boa, by the way, had a perfect shed and has perfect skin.

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Originally Posted by Razaiel

I had Emily out last night and she was crawling around me when suddently she scratched me with her tail - her tail has always been a bit harder than the rest of her but it's never prickled me before so now I'm wondering if it's all old shed and how I can get it off of her or will it come off on its own with a good shed?

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Your snake has a "sharp" tail tip to help it grip. You might might notice that when it moves around you arm from time to time it might poke this on your skin. Its just trying to get a grip. No worries. As for the old shed a warm bath in shallow water then just gentley rub it off with a warm damp wash rag. This should help.

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I just thought of another thing - when I spray the enclosure I tend to spray around and about but never make the paper wet at all. One thing I noticed when I got my boa from the breeder is his tubs had paper in and they seemed quite soggy - I thought that was a bit too wet - but maybe I'm not making them wet enough - the boa, by the way, had a perfect shed and has perfect skin.

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I don't use newspaper but I'm going to take a stab at this. The paper shouldn't be soggy but damp. Like the substrate (bark or bed-a-beast). Too wet will risk belly rot and could cause prolonged high humidity and thats a lead in to an URI. Just damp enough to hold the humidity.

If you feel more comfortable using the other substrate then thats what you whould use. Use what you can maintain without risking the health of your snake.

I hope this helps.

Thank you - it does help! I think I was being a bit neurotic - it's just that it seems scratchier than I'd noticed it before - and neither my boas nor my hognoses tails are like that at all.


I think I'll try keeping the paper towels wetter and see if that helps - but like you say, I don't want to risk any RI or belly rot stuff.

Bp's have little spurs back by their tails, don't they? These little things help them grab on during mating, right? Maybe it was your bp's spur that you felt.

the spurs are on either side of the vent.

Sue, i know what you're talking about. unless you can see stuck shed i wouldnt worry about it. sometimes mine poke me with they're tails, particularly when the are climbing on me and trying to hold on.

all of my females have VERY sharp tail tips. my male's on the other hand is blunt and very fat looking. my females havent poked me but I have poked my self with them and it hurts... :P

You know, all this time keeping ball pythons, I never really much paid attention to the very tip of their tails (other than making sure there was no stuck shed) until I was handling Ailish about a week before shipping her to Joanna.


I noticed the tip of her tail was very hard and sharp and I started examining more closely to make sure that she didn't have stuck shed that I had somehow missed.

After that I examined the tips of each snake as I handled them and they all seem to have that hard pointed end to it. I guess I just never really got poked by them to notice.

Fascinating how you learn new things about these lovely animals even after keeping multiples and gaining more experience!