Vitamins or Not

[dbouklias]

I just started with corn snakes and have had one problems so far. One of them are going to lost part of his tail. The end of his tail has gotting hard and is breaking off. I received him from the pet store and will be the last time I buy one from there. He's fine otherwise.

But anyway, my question: what type of vitamin should I give my snakes (3) now and the name so I can look it up and buy some if you dont mind. Plus where do you buy spagnum moss for snakes at? Thanks for your help everyone.:crazy02:

[MerlinsPop]

I'm no authority and my advice is free, and in this case you get what you pay for, possibly less!

But... I believe that, in general, you don't need to provide vitamins to your snakes. Some texts I've read recommend very limited use of 'reptile specific' vitamins that you can get at most pet stores. But there's usually not a recommended dosage (too many variables). Just make sure that the vitamin contains ...er... D3 (please do a bit of research... I just said that out of memory and my memory is terrible!) which is needed for absorption of calcium. Personally, I would use the 'less is more' rule of thumb and at most, dust a mouse's butt with just a pinch and not more than 1 meal a month.

A better way, I believe, to make sure your snakes get good nutrition is to make sure you feed it very healthy mice. If you raise your own, you can give your mice high quality food, maybe a supplement now and then, and so you are feeding your snakes furry vitamins with every meal. The Mouse Factory as a very good reputation for providing good sized, healthy mice (except for being dead and frozen, of course!!).

The lost tail tip is unfortunate, but not uncommon. Often that is caused by that last bit of old skin not coming off for multiple sheds. You said it is 'breaking' off. Watch it closely and if there is any amount of rawness or otherwise unhealthy look to it, see a vet, or at the very least, apply a bit of triple antibiotic ointment to it (like Neosporin) to make sure it doesn't get infected and lose more.

Good luck!

[ghosthousecorns]

About the tail tip and bad sheds, the best way to deal with these is prevention by keeping the humidity up and making sure your snake sheds completely. If a snake has a bad shed, let it crawl through damp paper towels. Don't peel the snake or try to remove the last bit of stuck shed with your fingers, though.
I've seen a few snakes with this problem, the tip of the tail will die and fall off if enough bad sheds happen in a row. The old skin that is caught on there is tight and cuts off the circulation. But if the tail tip is already partially broken off that kinda sounds bad. You may want to have a vet amputate it the rest of the way so it has a clean stub that can heal more easily.