This sort of thing sometimes happens. The usual cause is that a bit of unshed skin was left on the tail tip. The old skin shrinks as it dries, cuts the blood flow off, and kills the affected part of the tail. If left alone, the tip of the tail falls off eventually. You may be able to put your snake in some lukewarm water for half an hour or so to soften up the old skin and get it off manually. The tail tip might survive if this is done. If you do nothing, the tail tip will die if it is not already dead.

If the tail tip is dead, it will simply fall off during a later shed. You do not need to do anything to treat the problem.

His diet is not the cause. You may change the diet if you choose, but the change is optional and is not mandatory.

The cause is that conditions are a little too dry in the cage during the shed. The dryness makes the old shed a little harder to get off, and it tears at the tail tip instead of taking the skin off the tip, too. Higher humidity during the shedding process would help.

Paul Hollander

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