Another lesson about retained sheds

[FollowTheSun]

I hold my ratsnake quite often, and I check her sheds for completeness. Therefore I feel pretty bad about missing this one. The shed before last I noticed Noodle's very tip of her tail had a bit of extra skin, just the tiniest bit, and I tried to pull it off but it didn't come off. The rest of the tail looked fine to me. I decided not to force it and just left it alone. She shed again a few days ago. I admit I was busy this week and I didn't inspect her or the shed until yesterday, and was horrified to see that her tail looked awful, and the very tip looked dead! I then inspected the shed and found that the tip of the tail skin looked like at least a couple layers had shed at once. I swear I never noticed extra skin that far up after her last shed.

So off we went off to the exotic vet. The vet says the tail tip is still alive for now, just very raw. There is some infection going up towards the body already but not too bad. The vet drew a line around her tail with marker below the infection, and if that gets worse or spreads I need to bring her back immediately.

It does look like she really pulled off a bunch of skin and some scales along with the shed. I am dipping her tail in iodine twice a day and we are watching to see if it dies or not, requiring amputation. It looks better this morning (the infection part) so I'm hopeful the tail can be saved, but only time will tell.

I consider myself a very attentive and good snake owner and we only have 3 snakes in the house. I guess this goes to show it can happen to anyone.

[Bogertophis]

This can happen much faster with snakes like colubrids (rat, corn, king, milk snakes, etc) because their tail tips are so skinny, but really this can happen with any kind
of snake if you're not paying close attention. Just a few layers of retained shed can constrict the already-minimal blood supply in the tail tip, causing it to die & require
removal due to infection. Thanks for sharing your photo...I sure hope Noodles tail tip recovers ok.

This is why we long-time snake keepers "nag" about checking over your snakes after they shed. I'm sure it happens to wild snakes too, but they're more active & old
skin tends to get rubbed off, plus our houses are often lacking humidity, whereas a wild snake often spends time underground where there's residual moisture.

It's even harder to spot a bit of retained shed on a tail-tip when your snake is light colored like Ms. Noodles, and they sure don't sit still for you to check either, so
you really just have to gently insist upon checking.

[richardhind1972]

Hope all goes well,
I think it's important to share bad things as well as good things. it may help a fellow keeper in future prevent done thing with there own snakes

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

Keep in mind these images are bigger than real life...a little shed left on a tiny tail tip is truly very hard to see, so use a magnifier if you need to. My snakes don't
"appreciate" me messing with their tail tips if any shed is stuck, but I've never had one bite me for doing so, they just get squirmy & try to leave town. You have
to be the grown-up.

On the top photo you see a darkened area, but at first, you won't see that at all...just a bit of shed left on the tip. It's important to get the old shed off before it gets
to this point, because if the tip dies &/or becomes septic, it's a bigger deal, a vet may have to surgically remove the tip so the infection doesn't become systemic (thru-
out the snake's body).

That's a very helpful post, for sure...

[Godzilla78]

I recommend above 60% humidity, it seems anything less can cause dry sheds.


Kaos Balls

[FollowTheSun]

Update-- her tail is okay!! It appears to have mostly healed and is still alive all the way to the tip. That was a close call!

[Bogertophis]

Update-- her tail is okay!! It appears to have mostly healed and is still alive all the way to the tip. That was a close call!

I'm so happy to hear that. No matter what kind of snakes we keep, it helps to remember where they live in the wild- what the climate (& humidity) is like, & any habits they have that may affect the humidity they experience (like burrowing into termite mounds & rock piles, or occupying the burrows of other animals). All our houses remove the natural humidity via A/C & heating, but it also matters if we live in the desert, versus living in areas that receive lots of rainfall. There isn't a "one size fits all" answer, we just have to pay attention to what our captive snakes seem to need, & provide those options.

I'm so glad you posted about this...tail tips can be lost so quickly...it's something we all need to watch for.