Kinked tail :(

[Wyldrose]

Last Sunday and Monday my amel motley clutch hatched out. I went to change #11's water and noticed his tail is kinked. I am not sure if it was like that when he hatched or maybe I pinched it in his lid?

I have them set up in these little bins


I don't think his kink will effect him in life, maybe some tail tip shedding issues. I don't know if I should just keep him around as a pet only or find him a pet only home or cull him. I guess I will see if he eats!

What do you all do with your kinked babies? I know it can be genetic, I don't plan on using the sire again.

 

[Nanci]

If I hatch a snake with a kink, if it is not life-altering, I will find a pet home. I have given away snakes with one tiny kink, to good friends who want them as pets. I have a snake who developed kinks after she shipped to me, who is an adult, who will obviously never be bred. I had little Krinkle, who lived about a year and a half with severe kinks. He did great for the first year and kept up with the smaller hatchlings of the same age, but eventually fell further and further behind, then refused a couple meals, had a horrible bad shed, refused again and died.

If they move, eat, poop, shed- I think they deserve a chance. If they are so kinked you need to euth them- you will recognize it when you see it.

You can't necessarily blame the sire. It could be genetic, or could be developmental during incubation. If it's genetic, you don't know which parent is responsible. If out of the whole clutch, you had only one kinked baby, I wouldn't hesitate to breed the parents with each other or with new mates. If you had say 50% kinks, including some severe, I would NOT put those parents together again.

Your little guy just has kinks way down his tail- that's not going to effect him at all as a pet. If you can find the right home.

 

[Chip]

That one isn't severe enough to cull, from my criteria anyway. Though they sometimes get worse, and I won't breed any snake with a kink. The problem with a pet only home is they so often wind up getting bred later anyway, as we've seen here over and over. Make them swear they won't do it!

 

[airenlow]

Does he have a slight conehead or is that just his head markings?

 

[GillianC]

I certainly don't think there's any reason to cull the little fella - the kink is after the vent, so it's not affecting any of his critical internal organs. I would just keep an eye out for the development of more kinks in less benign areas. But he looks like a healthy little guy to me!