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I recently rescued a rat snake that has a white, somewhat blunt end of tail. At first I thought that it might be an incomplete shed but it looks pretty thick and solid. Could it be an amputation that has healed? What does that look like? I thought such heals where black. Seems like I have seen this before. I know I have with Iguanas and such. I have soaked the snake and will continue to do so but I am not sure it will help or even if this is dead skin on the tip. It is irregular shaped where it meets the scales which again makes me think of incomplete shed. Could it be the build up of multiple incomplete sheds? I have looked under a magnifying glass and still can not be sure. Can anyone offer an advice as to what this is and how, if at all, it can be corrected?

A picture would be a big help. Without that it would be tough to say exactly what it is. I would guess that it is just a healed amputation. I doubt that it would be a build up of stuck sheds, but stranger things have happened.

Thanks for your help. Here are some pictures.

What you describe, is more than likely shed related!,....either
it was caused by incomplete sheds, or it still might have some on the tip.

This causes the tip of the tail to be constricted as the old skin(s) dry, and causes the blood to be cut off from the tip of the tail, and it then dies, and falls off!

Run your fingernail along the tip to feel if there is still some skin on it,....if there is, it is sometimes EXTREMELY stuck on, and will need a few hours of soaking in a container of tepid water. then it will come off with great ease.

the remaining "scar" at the tip of the tail from this happening
is typically white, and slightly blunted.

I always tell people the importance of looking for complete sheds!...including the tip and eye caps(ocular scales).

hope this helps, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks for your help. I will try the soaking. I did for a little while last night but no help. However, maybe longer is required. Would you ming looking at these pictures to see if you think it is an incomplete shed issue?

When I recieved a couple of young corns last year, one had a small piece (say 1/8" of leftover shed attached to the tip of her tail. I put damp paper towel in her tupperware for a day and then it popped right off. There was an obvious tapering for the last little bit of her tail where the old skin had been. For the next couple of sheds, the skin stuck on that same spot and I had to remove it myself. Eventually though she started shedding normally and now there in only the slightest of indentation, but no discoloration. The tip in your pic sure looks to me like what she had going on only with the result that would have occured if I hadn't kept at it. Kind of like a leopard gecko who loses toes because his owner doesn't give him a humid hide.

Anyway, it's hard to tell for sure in the picture, but it doesn't look to me like their is old skin attached, more like the bit of tail where skin was getting stuck has already come off. Be sure to check it out on the next shed so that the problem doesn't get to be more than just a blemish.
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From that distance it looks like there's not any old shed left on it, but yes, that's exactly what snake tails typically look like when the tip of the tail is constricted by old shed-skin!

Put some "Neosporine" on it and check it in a day or two, it will act as a lubricant too!

In any case, if it's off, it will gradually get a little more normal colored as it sheds in the future!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"