tail necrosis

[mikey_mike]

Anyone know how long a retained tail tip can stay on before the tail dies?

My Darwin carpet has just turned all antisocial. He's coming in to a shed. I'm currently working away from home 5 days a week and I'm worried that I could miss a retained shed untill its too late.

On his 2nd last shed he retained a small section of skin on his tail tip. All better after a bath. His last shed went smoothly - perhaps because I moved his water bowl to the warm end. I've done that again so I'm not too stressed, but I'd love to hear that a tail tip can be safely left for a few days.

Another question - can pythons be moved during a shed? Looks like I'm being sent 600 ks up the road for a few months, to a town I don't want to go to, with almost no warning. Ho hum. If he hasnt fnished shedding can I move him?

 

[buffcoat]

Make a humid hide. Simple and easy. Get a container with a lid on it, cut a hole out in the front. Fill the container with sphagnum moss and spray it down til its damp. Yer snakey will go in there and hang out. When its time to shed it all comes off ez pz!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mikey_mike]

I'll give it a go. Thanks.

 

[Variety]

Good luck mikey mike

 

[Bluetongue1]

Insufficient humidity or hydration of the snake are the usual reasons for a retained shed. Doing what you have done and taking the advice given will get you through. Also chngeing the water more regularly can help as python won't drink from watr that has stood more than a day. As for moving your animal, just take out the loose item and move it in its enclosure. Failing that, set up a back plastic box style hide with an entry hole, as per post #2. Once it is inside, you can place something over the entry hole and move it in that without having to handle it at all. There are a few days during the sloughing process where snakes are vulnerable to physical damage if handled. This is why they hide away. After that they are fine.


Blue

 

[Darlyn]

Oh yahoo, you're moving to Tenant? Have fun

 

[mikey_mike]

Tennant for a few months and then back to Darwin, where I don't anticipate any difficulty maintaining humidity. Yay.

 

[Kruger88]

Hi Guys, instead of starting a new thread I thought I would continue on this one....
Today I was given a pair or Diamond pythons and one of the animals is clearly not well in that he has shedding issues, I have worked with snakes for a few years now but never encountered shedding issues, I have bathed him and removed gently most of the sloughed skin (its appears to have been an ongoing issue as I removed a few layers in places... However I have noticed on his tail that it appears to be very hard and dry... I assume the previous owner wasnt as diligent as myself when i comes to caring for Diamonds... My question is has anyone got a solution to remove the hard mass on the tail, having noticed a cut on the area I believe its still living tissue underneath....If I cant find a solution here I will of course be taking him to the vet however would rather seek a bit of advice before what will be a costly trip