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Tip of tail turned black, what do i do

JAG 32

JAG 32

look at that face :)
I got my creamsicle out today and noticed that her tail did not look normal. The tip area to about 1/8 of an inch up was dark red/black. She had shed before and the tail tip did not come off- i got it off with wet paper towel. I don't know why this is happening. What should i do and why did this happen? Any help would be appreciated. John
 
Most likely the circulation was cut off by the incomplete shed and she'll lose the tip of her tail. I'm not sure what the chances of retaining it are once it goes black but I suppose it could happen. Maybe put some neosporin on it and keep an eye on it. Not positive how to treat it though - maybe some one with experience in this will chime in. Good luck.

~Katie
 
thanks for the help - i'll try neosporin until someone else says something. I assume this won't really affect they way she acts, will it? I assume that i'll just be left with a stubby tailed creamsicle. Thanks John
 
This may not even become much of an issue. Scrutinize your husbandry. And keep a close eye on the affected area, if it looks as if it is getting bigger you will have to take her to a vet right away. Dead tissue encourages and supports the growth of tremendous amounts of bacteria. If the bacteria gains the upper hand it can cause more tissue to die. If it breaks into the circulation it can cause sepsis.

Personally, I have only seen this in a couple iguanas and a water monitor. In their cases the dead tissue did slowly advance up the tail. The dead stumps were amputated to healthy tissue and the die off stopped. Sorry, whether my experience can be applied to snakes or not, I don't know. I am interested to read what others have to offer.
 
My ball python lost about a half a centimeter of the tip of his tail. But for him it was because the shed came off to early and kinda ripped some of the scales off his tail..if that makes sense.

Anyway, chances are of her growing it back...5%....i dont kno what to tell you honestly..just good luck and keep us updated:)
 
I know this is going to come across a little harsh but my intent is to educate

The tail tip didn't fall off just because one incomplete shed was left on for an extra day or two. It takes a while for this to happen. It is also safe to say (based on the evidence) that at some point the tale tips wasn't successfully removed in its entirety.

The question you need to answer now is "what can be done to to prevent this from happening again?". A couple of suggestions:

1) Don't use heat lamps if at all possible.

2) Always get into the habit of looking at each shed. Visually ensure that it is complete to including eyes and tale tip.

This is a great learning experience for you as a young keeper. Find a solution for your shedding problem and you'll gain invaluable knowledge. :)
 
This sounds like at some point, the tip of the tail did not shed properly. This happened once to me. I had a girl that was a problem-shedder for a while when I first got her (now she sheds beautifully). The first 2 or 3 sheds were in pieces, dispite high humidity, so it was very difficult to see if she shed properly for a while there. I always did a visual check of her tail, and each time would use the "crawling through my fingers with a wet towel" method to remove pieces of shed on the end of the tail that sometimes were not even visible. Well I must have missed a bit at one point (hard as I had tried not to) and about 3 weeks after the shed her tail tip turned blackish. At this point, nothing I tried worked, and the black tip ended up coming off with the next shed.

I should say now, that Melony is no worse for the wear, and her stubby tail is actually hardly noticable since, for some reason, the edge of the black tip occured on a daigonal, so now her tail still tapers to a point - the point is just off to one side (still trying to figure out how that worked out). Anyway, keep an eye on it and hopefully the black tip will come off in the next shed and that should be the last of your problems.

Like CAV said, I'd still try to figure out what went wrong to make her shed improperly - this time of year I need to actually "up" the humidity a little by misting them once or twice during the blue phase. You might give something like that a try. :) Good luck!
 
Can you post a pic of his tail? Lost of folks here with veterinary degrees and experience.. might be able to tell you if you need to take your snake to the vet ASAP, or if it looks okie.

When I worked at the vets office, there was only one snake we ever saw, and we saw it because of an incomplete shed of the tail, and by the time we saw it 1.5 - 2 inches of its tail was dead and the flesh had begun to rot, we had to surgically remove most of its tail (fortunately it was female, or else the hemipenes would have been amputated as well =/). It lived, and is quite healthy now, but if we had seen it earlier we wouldn't have had to do such a drastic surgery! (Not trying to scare anyone hehe, just pointing it out.. dead flesh tends to spred its nice like bacteriums to healthy flesh rather quickly ~,~)
 
=P we use the term "bacteriums" in bacterial geneolgy (yes we spell that wrong too =P) Turns into a habit LOL Its the "bacteria" lab where we study "bacteriums" hehe... gotta love crazy scientists =P
 
Grrr geneology forgot my O =P And yes.. I know it should be genaeology to be correct, but hey.. we infect ourselves with bacteria to find cures for them... let us be nuts, or we'll stop curing the infections =P

On a side note.. I managed to cross breed paramecials (2 strains of paramecium) and accidently infect myself =P Incurable skin rash anyone? =P Free of charge LOL (Yes, I look like a lepar now, well... my legs do... but hey.. I bred a new strain of paramecium =P)
 
Tip Of Tail Black

Your snake did what mine did. Han in incomplete shed and now that part of the tail is dying off.

MY exotics vet(and I'm and Licensed Vet Tech and I see a repti-vet only for my reptiles not a routine vet).

He does not recommend neosporin-it can cause a fungal problem, but silvadine cream. You really should see if you can get some of this from your vet. Keep it clean with a diluted betadine solution and put the silvadine cream on it. You may be able to save the part of the tail that is red.

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone. I have a question for CAV : Why shouldnt i use heat lamps? I'm getting rid of my ASAP and getting a UTH but what effects foes it have? Thanks everyone,the hard part is trying to get her to sit still for a tail pic
we'll have to watch it! Thanks - John
 
First it is important to understand what happens when a snake sheds

A snake skin isn't elastic and doesn't stretch or grow as the snake does. Each time the animal goes through the shed cycle, the new skin is just a little bit larger than the old one. By losing the old layer, the snake is able to literally grow into the newer, bigger skin. If some of the old skin is left behind, it dries out, hardens and begins to constrict the snake.

Imagine putting your hand inside a glove that is a couple of sizes too small. If left on, the small glove would reduce the flow of blood into the extremeties of your hand. Without oxygen rich blood flowing to your fingers the tissue will eventually begin to die. If the flow isn't restored your finger will turn black, shrivel up and fall off just like the snake's tail.

Heat lamps dry out the air inside the snake's enclosure (especially during the dry winter months). Without moisture in the air snakes have a hard time separating the old skin from their body and little pieces get left on. See the problem?
 
Thanks, the heat lamp is going to be gone tomorrow afternoon as soon as i can get a UTH. Thanks for the info, i have a feeling the heat lamp may be the culprit otherthan myself. As soon as the shed was bad i covered half of the screen top with a towel and tried to boost the humidity. I know it wont help the bad shed before but i am trying to prevent it from happening again. Thanks for everybodys help. I will try my best to get pictures but i am pretty sure that the problem is from shedding. John
 
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