Damaged tip of tail?!

When I got this pastel the very top of her tail looked slightly smaller than it should be. Like it suddenly just got smaller. After her first shed I had to bathe because there was stuck shed on her back and tail. A week or two ago before her second shed I noticed that it looked like she had shed stuck at the tip of her tail and got it off (bad on my part should have waited for her to finish shedding) the shed went great. However just now during maintenance I decided to hold her and noticed her tail looked even worse. Is this necrosis or anything to be worried about? Also what exactly is necrosis?

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...1bbef6991a.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...4405dbb79d.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...616324dd18.jpg

Does it look like there is more shed at the very top or is it just me?


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To me it just looks like a small nick which isn't too serious. You need to keep it from getting infected though.

1) Clean and disinfect the cage daily.
2) Remove substrate and use clean newspaper or paper towels.
3) Dilute betadine soak of tail tip about 5 to 10 mins daily.
4) Apply triple antibiotic ointment like neosporin daily after betadine. I personally found manuka honey to work better than antibiotic ointments, if you decide to try this, make sure it says UMF on the label (not just "active" or some other term.) and a rating of about 15+ or 18+.

It probably will heal on itself but I would do this to be safe.

If it gets worse see a vet.

I would definitely switch to paper towels. Then you can go to the vet but I would just get something safe for the snake to clean the wound. Good luck.

That doesn't look bad at all. I'd probably just either put painkiller free neosporin on it or swab it daily with betadine and keep an eye on it. If you can get it to scab over without infection setting in you should be good. She probably had a minor injury that kept getting caught and reopened with the sheds.

Switching to paper towels couldn't hurt anything, but I probably wouldn't even do that for such a small injury.

Honestly, you could probably ignore it and she'd be fine, but it's always better to be proactive.

Also, necrosis is dead or dying flesh. I don't see that here. It'll usually get either a grey/green or black look when it's progressed to that point.

Definitely not necrosis.

The scales and skin have already been pulled off. What is left is the structure for the skin and scales to grow and attach to. Whether that's keratin or cartilage, I don't know. I haven't studied snake anatomy.
But be sure it is kept clean and it should heal fine.

would slightly lowering humidity be a good idea? So it could scab over without infection?


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If she's not about to shed it probably wouldn't hurt anything. This is a pretty minor wound though, like I said you could probably ignore it completely and everything would be fine.

It's gotten worse. It's now really skinny, and I have no clue what to make of it. Is it just going to fall off?? Or shrivel into nothing? And is this a big health concern? Please help guys


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Can you post new pics of the worsening of the tail issue? :)

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...53a8b427f4.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...ec306d3e9b.jpg

The top view of it:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...daf2ecdb58.jpg

More of the side:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...2a29a535f0.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...82a31d048f.jpg

And silhouetted against a lamp:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...dc2ee310cd.jpg

I'm worried that it's shriveling up. She just had her third shed with me two days ago.


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I think that the stuck shed caused the blood supply to the tip of the tail to be cut off and that tail tip died, primarily the claw at the end of the tail. It will shrivel up and fall off like a scab. The claw will not grow back. The snake wont be harmed by this at all. You see this a lot with lizard and gecko toes when shedding. I would personally just leave her alone. It looks like her body is doing what needs to be done, no infection etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kibbleswhites

I think that the stuck shed caused the blood supply to the tip of the tail to be cut off and that tail tip died, primarily the claw at the end of the tail. It will shrivel up and fall off like a scab. The claw will not grow back. The snake wont be harmed by this at all. You see this a lot with lizard and gecko toes when shedding. I would personally just leave her alone. It looks like her body is doing what needs to be done, no infection etc.

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That's exactly what I was thinking/ afraid of. If it is the case then I'm relieved that she will be fine. But it won't be like frost bite where she will have part of her body rotted and make her sick?


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Shouldn't make her sick unless it got infected. As long as it is kept dry, clean bedding, it should be fine. If it were my snake I would leave her be, keep her dry, and look at the tail every couple of days to make sure the would is not getting bigger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kibbleswhites

the claw at the end of the tail

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Wait, what?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aercadia

Wait, what?

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Lol it looks like a claw on my snakes tail


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IMO, and I have triple checked all these photos, and I don't see anything that resembles a injury or any physical defect at all. I think this, at most, is a normal variation in the tail structure of this particular bp. If it really concerns you , have a herp vet just do a well consult and get his opinion. :) But I don't think you should even worry about this. Good luck.:)