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New Bloodred! Tail problem

Corny73

Corny73

New member
Well I jsut got my new bloodred yearling for my female normal to mate with next year. Well i got him at a discount due to about a centimeter of his tail being black becuase he didnt shed properly over maybe 1 or two sheds. Should i let this peice jsut fall off naturally or should i assist in any way?
 
black tail

having your snake checked by a qualified herp vet is never a bad idea. if the tail is already black, the tissue is dead. it should fall off by itself. no harm to the snake. if you try to assist it, you could damage surrounding healthy tissues.

if you're concerned about something other than an incomplete shed causing the dead tail, check it out with a vet.

lin
 
Is there any use?

Is there any use in trying to rub the affected are with a warm wet towel to see i its maybe just skin hanging on or should i just leave it alone?
 
My snake has the exact same problem. A couple of sheds have passed where the tail flesh doesn't come off and builds up layer after layer. Early on, per my vet's recommendation, I tried soaking, extra humidity, misting the tail section, etc....no luck. I've never applied any pressure or attempted to remove the dead tissue. However, it's been 3-4 months and it's still there. I haven't yet gone back to the vet.

So, i seem to recall from past posts that the general consensus is that the tail will eventually fall off, and there should be no harm to the snake (infections, etc)???.

ziggy_tail.JPG
 
I would still be worried about the necrosis inching its way up the tail. I is probably worth having it checked out. If you tied a rubber band around your finger really tightly and waited a few months, I'm sure your finger would fall off...just think of how little lambs are 'ringed'.
 
a spreading necrosis usually occurs when there is some sort of either spreading bacterial infection that destroys tissue. In this case it would seem more like the rubber band example when the blood flow is slowly being pinched off causing cell death so you really shouldn't have to worry about an infection or a spreading of the necrotic tissue because it is localized and no more blood is being cut off further up the tail. So i don't think there is anything to worry about except that part of the tail which is already damaged.
 
Thanks Count - I hope you're right. In any case, I'll talk to the vet more about it in a few days when I take our new kitten down for an exam. (my vet does cats, but is apparently also a snake expert, having about 13 snakes of her own).

Corny, i'll let you know what my vet says about my situation. Stay tuned.
 
UPDATE: Earlier in this thread I posted a pic of my snake's tail, which had the same shedding problem as Corny73's snake. About one week ago, after many months, the "dead" piece of tail finally dropped off (about a centimeters worth) without any intervention on my part. The tail looks very good now, and I can't even tell there was ever a problem.

Hopefully Corny73's snake will rid of his dead tail soon as well, if he hasn't already.
 
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