• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Newbie, Really need help

D

dbouklias

New member
I recently got a corn snake. He had already shedded at the pet store right before we bought him. He is eating. But yesterday January 13, 2008 after only having him a few days his tail is hard. I don't know whats wrong. The day before everything was fine but yesterday i picked him up and his tail was hard. Please help I don't want to lose my little boy from something that I could have done to help prevent this. I have looked everywhere and can find nothing on a snake tail hardening.
 
What do you mean by hard tail? I have never heard of that kind of problem. Can you post a picture or give us a better description?
 
We just got him Monday January 7th. When we were at the store in his cage was a shed. Yes it looks like he might not of shedded all. But yesterday I tried soaking his tail in warm water and taking a wet towel and seeing if anything would come off but nothing did.
 
His tail is hard. It dont bend. It just goes with his body. It looks like hard wrinkled plastic. I will try and get a picture tonight after work.
 
It sounds like an incomplete shed, it's hard to say. I think Nanci has given you the right idea.
 
I tried soaking him last night. Nothing came off his tail. His tail is actually now a difference color then him. I did get pictures but they must not of emailed right because I didnt have them when I came to work today but I am trying to get them posted.
 
A retained shed can cut off the circulation to the tip of the tail, which then dies. Try leaving the snake in a ventilated plastic lunchbox, with a damp washcloth in it for an hour or so (the snake-o-bath).
It may be too late, in which case the end of the tail will dry and drop off. In this case you'll have to watch for infection, so using paper towels for substrate and dabbing neosporin on any obviously open wounds will help
 

Attachments

  • snakeobath.JPG
    snakeobath.JPG
    75 KB · Views: 33
My picuters of his tail.. Look at his tail. Its like a blue color. Thats where it starts and goes to the end of the tail.
 
Last edited:
Hi there, that looks like an incomplete shed to me.
Try soaking him in a warm water tub with a couple drops of olive oil added for about 20 minutes or so. After that try to remove the shed by hand, this sometimes works.
Be sure afterwards to wipe him down with a soft towel or cloth to get the oil off.
Best of luck.

Ciao
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top