mystery barb

[Butter Motley]

There is a mysterious barb on the end of my snakes tail, anyone know what this is?

 

[Nanci]

Like a sharp point?

 

[BloodyBaroness]

Some of mine have it. Can you post a picture?

 

[hypnoctopus]

I've noticed that the last teeny tiny scale on some of my snakes' tails is pointed like a scorpion stinger. Is that what you're talking about?

 

[Butter Motley]

Nanci, BloodyBaroness and hypnoctopus all yes. only one problem, how do you post a pic?

 

[hypnoctopus]

You can upload your photo to any photo-hosting website, like photobucket, and then right-click the image and select copy image location. Then when you go to make a post here, there's a button that looks like a little mountain and you can paste the code in there. If you used the advanced reply, you can also always preview your post to see if your photos posted properly.

I looked through most of my snakes this evening to see how many had the barb and actually only one does. I tried to take some pictures of it, but he's still a pretty small snake, so it's hard to see.

 

[hypnoctopus]

Those pictures also make it look a lot bigger than it does in real life. If you weren't looking for it, you probably wouldn't even see it. And so far it doesn't seem to affect this snake, but I did notice that the last shed he had, a tiny piece of the tail shed was stuck inside-out to the end of the barb, so I had to work it off with a damp paper towel.

 

[Nanci]

It has sometimes seemed to me like they intentionally poke it into my hand, but I'm not sure. It's sharp on some snakes!

 

[Butter Motley]

So what is it, is it something to be worried about?

 

[hypnoctopus]

I think it's normal.

 

[Butter Motley]

ok, good. thank you