Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I have a little black ratsnake (he's still very yougn, got all of his pattern and quite small) who since I've gotten him never has shed well.

Well, he finally got everything off except for a millimeter of skin on the tip of the tail. In my overzealousness worrying about him losing that small tip I grabbed it and was going to let him try to slither out. I figured he'd jsut stop if it was being too stubbern for at least a second, he just kept going. Next thing I know, I'm looking at the tip, and the skin is gone, and so is the tip, with a slight amount of red so I know that I'm just not seeing things, I mean he's so small and the tip that was covered was less than a millimeter it is hard to tell.

He doesn't even seem to feel it or care that much. I don't think he felt it as he slithered out, I think it just kinda popped off, prolly already starting to rot from lack of circulation. He's a pretty sketchy snake and there was no reaction from him at all and he doesn't seem sensitive about it either.

Anyways, my question is, first of all, is neosporin bad for a snake. What should I do to keep it from getting infected?

Neosporin is perfectly safe to use. Also triple anti B. Sounds like the tip was ready to fall off...shouldn't hurt the snake except for a minor cosmetic flaw....Frank

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I was kinda wondering if it was too late to save the tail. He's been shedding really horribly since I got him. I even stuck him in a damp pillow for a day or more and it still didn't help him. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't lose the tip, I suppose it won't be that noticeable but I liked that nice sharp end the tail came to, now it's a bit blunt.

I've got a moist hidebox for him which he dosen't like now in hopes that he'll at least soak himself before shedding and maybe I can get a good shed out of him (I think at least he has finally managed to get the rest of his skin off, at least I hope so). Do some snakes just shed badly genetically?

Gotta find a rock too, I took out his "rock" that had a fake tree branch attacked because it was freaking him out even more to have to take that out to reach him (he's a hatchling and acts as such).

There was a short thread a few days ago about a Luecistic Texas rat that didn't shed well and I know I had a WC Texas that never shed right in 5 years. Very wrinkled and dry skin when shedding regardless of humidity, damp substrate and soaking. I've got a little Mandarin rat snake that was probably the runt of the clutch. She's 1/2 the size of a snake her age and she gets really bad before shedding. The skin on her head got so tight she couldn't close her mouth! This is after 2-3 weeks of having damp paper towl substrate, 70% humidity, a damp moss filled hide and me soaking her twice a week. I tossed a handfull of low tech shed aid in the tank (rinsed rough gravel) and she has shed much better ever since.
Lora

Just wondering. My manager at the petstore I worked at said she had found these tiny heaters for small fish tanks and stuck them in a glass or something to bring the humidity up (Unfortunately the store she got them at was going out of business and no longer had them). I guess I could stick a small thing of water over the hot area in his cage maybe? Or a damp towel over the hot end?

When I need to raise the humidity I usually just dampen the substrate. Since I use paper, it doesn't mold or smell. I'll also cover portions of the top of the cage if I'm using a tank style enclosure and make sure the water bowl is on the heat source. I also add a damp moss or paper towel filled tupperware style hide box with a hole cut in the lid to give the snakes a moist place to hide. If the ambient humidity in the room gets below 50%-like in winter- I'll mist some enclosures to get more moisture into the air. Just a standard dollar store spray bottle works fine. I recently moved most of my snakes to rubbermaid/sterilite tubs and it's very easy to maintain humidity in them. I provide more or less air holes depending on the species' humidity requirement.
Hope that helps.
Lora