Tail problems

[Elmo]

My mates ball python is having some tail problems as of late. His sheds have not been shedding properly at the tip of the tail everywhere else was fine. Now a 'scabby' small bit of tail at the tip keeps forming (dark red and hard, like dried blood) it is only a small bit. I was around the other day and i swabbed it with warm water and it softened it up and the scab came clean off. It left the tail then a bit injured looking and very sensitive.

He says it keeps going lik this and he is afriad it is stressing out the snake. We have upped the humidity a bit to dry and clean it and we have checked temps etc and all are fine. Any ways of cleaning this up permanently?

Thanks

[hbwright]

A retained shed every now and then on the tip of the tail isn't going to cause major problems. But, if it is an often occuring thing then there is a problem. How is the humidity for the rest of the time? It has to stay pretty constantly humid and then bumped up for sheds.

If he has been having problems he may need to do soaks when in shed to try to aleviate what is causing this. Has he carefully checked the snake for mites? The problem with incomplete tail sheddding is that it can eventually cause a rubberband effect around the tip of the tail causing loss of circulation and eventually amputation. Normally I would say just increase humidity and make sure it comes off with the next shed but I'm going to say that he has to be carefully sure his sheds are coming off since this has happened.

Either this is the case or the retained shed has caused the snake to injure his tail on something while trying to get it off. Rubbing it too hard on a rock, piece of wood or whatever he uses.

Have your friend make sure the sheds are complete. If they are not then he may have to help him with soaks, wet towel, etc. As far as the scab goes I would just clean it with 10% peroxide solution and he can use neosporin or bacitracin withOUT the pain reliever in it to get it to heel. It will eventually scar and probably shed fine.

[Elmo]

I followed your directions and everything is PERFECT now. I bit of the tail is slowly still healing but by cleaning it with 10percent peroxide solution everything seems to be coming on fine.

Snake seems happy and healthy when being handled, is shedding normally and is feeding normally too.

Thanks for the info!

[hbwright]

I'm glad to hear. Always like to know I helped.

[mykee]

Fixing the snakes problem is only half of the problem. The environment that caused this issue should be dealt with so that this doesn't continue to happen with each shed. Up your humidity to over 80% when in shed, and leave it up there until you see the rolled up skin. I achieve this by pouring out water from their dish into the enclosure. 80%+