Injured tail???

Hi everyone. I’ve had my corn snake Peaches for about a year, and yesterday I noticed her tail looked like this. I’m not really sure what’s happened but I have a feeling some dead skin has gotten caught and caused any circulation of blood to get to the end of her tail. This has only been here for a few days if that, as she was fine last week. There’s no way she would have injured herself in her viv, so I’m unsure if it could be anything else?

Has anyone got any advise? I’ve soaked her tail in some warm water but I don’t want to stress her out too much. She’s going into shed soon, so would that help remove the skin or make it worse? I have been spraying her viv with water to keep humidity up and have never had an issue before.

Do I need to take her to my vat? He specialises in reptiles so I know I can go to him. I’m just worried about her, and I’m worried it hurts her? She seems fine in herself and is eating and drinking fine and has been fairly active as well.

See pics below.






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The rest of her scales are fine as you can see from the pictures.


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Don't wait. If that skin constricts the blood flow, that part of the tail will die. Soak her again and gently rub a wet paper towel or rag towards the end of her tail. If you are lucky it will roll right off. If it won't come off wet your hand and rub it off towards the end of the tail. Don't wait until the next shed. If the blood flow stops to the tail there's nothing your vet can do except possibly amputating the dead section if tail.

Should say section of tail.

Twolunger said:

Don't wait. If that skin constricts the blood flow, that part of the tail will die. Soak her again and gently rub a wet paper towel or rag towards the end of her tail. If you are lucky it will roll right off. If it won't come off wet your hand and rub it off towards the end of the tail. Don't wait until the next shed. If the blood flow stops to the tail there's nothing your vet can do except possibly amputating the dead section if tail.

Click to expand...

I second this.

hiii,

i took her to the vet and he said it will just fall off and not to worry!

thanks!


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Find another vet.

he’s very trustworthy and is a reptile specialist. i’m going to soak it in some warm water but he said it’s fine.

thanks for your input anyway haha.


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There's two possibilities. One is that the shed remnants are not restricting the blood flow to the end of the tail. Gently removing it is still a good idea in preparation for the next shed. The second possibility is that the restricted blood flow caused the cells to die in the tail, and the end will fall off on its own. If the vet is not concerned I'm not, but the comment that it will fall off had me wondering.

he checked it and attempted to try and get the skin off, but he said that the tail will end up falling off on its own and that it’s nothing to worry about. he didn’t seem concerned and he’s known all our pets since day 1, so i trust him. he said to soak it but he didn’t want to pull it too much just in case as it clearly is tender. he said it will fall off and leave a stump, and it might bleed a little bit.

i will still soak it for her but she’s just fed so i don’t want to more her too much.

thank you though, i will be keeping an eye on it and if it changes or anything i will be taking her back to him.


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*move


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The end of the tail will eventually atrophy and fall off, as he stated. The only other thing I would do is apply antibiotic cream to the end of the tail periodically where the dead cells join the good cells. Any time there is an opening in the skin there's a possibility bacteria may enter and cause an infection. It doesn't usually happen, but I like to minimize the chance. Good luck, she will not miss the end of the tail at all. LOL

what antibiotic cream would you suggest?? just any one or something in particular??


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I don't know what is available in the UK. Here we have triple antibiotic cream made by Equate. The ingredients are Bacitracin, Neomycin Sulfate, and Polymyxin B Sulfate. Any quality antibiotic made to prevent infection due to cuts, scrapes and burns will suffice.

I bought a baby corn from a young breeder in his teens a few years ago just because the last baby he had did have stuck shed on it’s tail. I got it home and got the shed off but the damage was done. The tail came off it healed up and that snake is good. The only thing is that the snake who we name Captain Nubbula doesn’t like you to touch his tail. If you think about how they are made I would think that there is only a little bit of skin over bone there and that bone might have a few nerve endings there.

I will say always check the shed for eye caps and tail tips.


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