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I recieved a milk snake today that its tail was hard as leather up to a certin point of course,it had been like the snake had shed so many times and the person neglected to take it off the tail part of the snake. I soaked the snake for a couple hours but no change in condition i even put vasline on it but still was hard does that mean the tail will eventually fall off?

Put the snake in a pillow case that's been soaked in the sink with room temp water, then put the snake into it, tie it off, and then put the snake(and pillowcase) in ANOTHER small plastic container(with air holes of course), then put 1/8 inch of water in THAT container, this will allow the old skin to constantly stay very damp. Leave snake in there for at least 24 hours, and the old skin should fall right off afterwards. Hopefully, it hasn't been let go for so long that there's a blood constriction problem with the tail.

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

the vaseline was probably not a great idea, now the petroleum based ointment will probably hamper the water's ability to soak into the old shed skin. I would get rid of ALL the vaseline with a soapy dish detergent and water solution BEFORE you soak it.

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

doug i believe it is to the point of blood constriction.

Well, that's definitely NOT good at all, but that old skin has to still come off, and I mean PRONTO!, if it dries out one more time now, it will become even tighter!.........whatever it takes, do as I mentioned, and GET IT OFF!,.....then you can take things from there.....VERY important!

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

If/when you DO get all the old shed skin off, and any flesh should come off with it in the process, you should immediately put an antibiotic oitment on it such as Neosporine, then put the snake in an enclosure that only has clean paper towels as substrate to keep the chance of infection to a minimum.

Should this happen though, I would STRONGLY suggest that a qualified vet visit be your next move.

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

well i operated on him my self and like i thought the piece of tail was dead and completely dried up but hes doing fine now, well i took your advise about cleanness but as they say Lesson to be learned never buy anything without looking at it first! which stupid me did from reptile auctions. the add had no picture. but don’t get me wrong it still is a nice looking snake its a 3 ft sinalone milk snake nice colors for what will be left of him at least. By the way this might be a stupid question but do tails grow back? i mean its only about an inch thats missing.

no the tail wont grow back. and to add to what doug said use neosporin but make sure your not using the pain medicated kind it will make your snake sluggish for days.
adam
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
hybrid breeders association
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1.2 pyroxgreerixruthvenixalternaxcampbellixholbrooki
0.1 hypo pyroxgreerixruthvenixalternaxcampbellixholbrooki
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1.0 house snake
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Adam, I think I've heard about that from somewhere before as well. Didn't you have an experience with the "pain relief" ointment a while back?

Anyway,(to the original poster) it sounds like everything is now under control, and it only being approx. one inch, isn't quite as bad as I originally thought. As Adam mentioned, the tail ain't growin' back, but until it DOES fall completely off, dab some "regular" Neosporine on it, and continue for a bit AFTER it falls off too, and that'll be the end of it. This happens to snake's fairly often that are neglected, and not given the correct environment,....low humidity being a typical cause, and secondly, shed's never checked to see that they come off completely.

BTW, while we're on this shedding subject, in the future, make absolutely CERTAIN that any future sheds the snake makes, come off completely, paying close attention to the eye-caps(ocular scales), and of course, the tail tip(or what's left of it..LOL!)
if the eye-caps do not come off with every successive shed, HUGE problems can arise!

Good luck with your new Sinaloan!

~Doug

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

i had a kenyan sand boa that was drunk for about a week as i did not realize that the ointment my gf (will be wife next week
end) bought for me was a pain medicated version!!
my sand boa had no ill effects after i stopped using it but the snake was very slow and sluggish and it was still eating but very slowly and had a hard time moving throughout its gradient.
in hind sight it is quite comical but at the time i thought i was losing my ksb.
adam
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

LOL!,....yeah,...I bet you were very concerned there for a while..LOL!

BTW, I like your new "signature"!

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

yeah the old one was too large and it was hard to keep it up to date. and i like the quote instead
adam
also it was a toss up between the one i used and this one
"Energizer Bunny arrested, charged with battery"
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

If you remember the ingredient or the specific rand of ointment I would love to know what it was. thanks

the active external analgesic(painkiller) is Praxomine HCI 10mg
adam jeffery
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.