Thanks for the words of encouragement. Should I just wait this out and do nothing until his next shed? Today is his feeding day and I leave tomorrow for 5 days to Disneyland.
It’s nothing to be upset over. 100% the most common injury to corns. Usually it’s caused from stuck shed shutting off blood supply to the tail tip. I don’t know if that’s what happened here, and I can’t see if there’s stuck shed from the pic, but we’re talking about millimeters of tail tip.
Try to clean it to get a better idea of what you’re dealing with and because it’s a good idea anyway. I have a feeling those millimeters of tail tip will drop at some point. It will be unnoticeable after a few months of growth. Monitor closely through the next shed.
Should I clean that now and feed tonight or clean now and feed 5 days later?
And clean just with warm water?
Sorry Dean! I should’ve tagged you too! I am a ditz!
I would clean now with warm water…… feeding 5 days later will not hurt him but he will probably accept food before you leave for Mickey’s World!
Clean now with mild soap and water and a cloth. Feed later if you don’t think you stressed him out too much. But it wouldn’t be a problem to skip him for 5 days.
I didn’t notice.
Ok I’ll dig him out and clean with with warm soap and water with paper towel. I’ll just wait to feed him til I get back. No sense in risking a regurgitation.
Ok I played vet lol. Soaked his tail in anti bacterial soapy water for an about a minute and wiped it down with a damp paper towel. Didn’t seem to bother him at all. Here’s the after pics. Pretty much looks the same? Guess I’ll feed him when I’m back and take him out 48hrs after feeding him to take a look.
Ok so now I remember that years ago I had a corn snake that had some stuck shed at the tip of his tail just like this. He did in fact lose the very tip of it. But it didn’t seem to affect him at all. I just had to remember to check his tail every time he shed after that.
Ok so nothing to worry about? Any idea what could cause this or is it just natural sometimes?
Sometimes a corn snake will appear to have a perfect shed but when it slithers out of its old skin somewhere along the line the skin doesn’t come all the way off so the skin gets stuck at the end of the tail. The shed skin is very fragile anyway.
I really don’t know why it happens. It just does. It’s nothing you did wrong. So just keep an eye on it and come back anytime you have ??’s. All will be fine! Promise!
I said corn snake but it can happen to any snake. Sometimes one of my snakes will need a little help so I always give them the once over after a shed.
Echoing Dean and Caron, that looks very much like stuck shed. The old skin constricts as it dries and restricts the blood supply. If it’s noticed very soon after the snake sheds, it can usually be removed with soaking. After a few days, it is usually too firmly adhered to remove. @deanaii is right, it’s a very common injury.
The good news is that it’s unlikely to be painful at this point. He will lose that little bit of tail tip, which will simply fall off after a bit more time (no way to know exactly low long, but before his next shed is due). It won’t hurt to wait on feeding but if you do want to feed, that’s most likely also fine.
Keep an extra eye on the tip of his tail after future sheds. This can leave rough area which is more likely to catch old skin again. Be sure that he has plenty of humidity when he’s in shed.
Try not to feel bad about it. It’s a minor thing which can happen to them in nature, too. They have plenty of tail and this doesn’t seem to matter to them at all. Chances are great that it’s bothering you much more than it’s bothering him.
Doesn’t look so bad. It may even heal without dropping. Keep things clean and monitor through the next shed.
It might at that.
You’ve already gotten great advice, I’ll just add make sure to keep it clean and dry, you can always put some diluted betadine on it as well. I’ll also add that this is so common, you’re not even the first person to post about it so far this year. Last one was only 15 days ago. Heck, I pulled a missed stuck tail tip shed off of one of my own the other day.
Actually it looks like the tail end part has shrunk a bit which is good because that part is just dying off and withering away, for lack of better wording.
He will eventually have a bit of a stubby tail until it grows out a bit to more of a pointy tip. He should be just fine no worries!
Such a relief! Thank you