The juevenial i caught yesterday has a stubby tail, about an inch shorter than normal. At the end of the stub there is a hard thing that kinda sticks up to a point. It feels like a finger nail except thicker and stronger. Is it normal? What is it?
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Stubby eastern milk tail normal?
cito
Oct 03, 2003 07:46 PM
Replies (1)
jones
Oct 04, 2003 12:40 AM
Mine have that too. One of mine you can actually see and feel the bone with nothing but a really thin layer of skin over it.
No. This is not normal but it seems to be typical of the easterns found in my area. Like I said, I assume it is from repeated bad sheds in which the tip of the til is retained and kills the underlying tissue. I can't think of any reason why this is happenning since, being in central Illinois, we have no problem with humidity. Maybe it's some kind of genetic defect causing these bad sheds but they aren't really an isolated population. I doubt if there is too much inbreeding going on in the wild and I haven't hatched any so I don't know. At any rate, it doesn't seem to adversely affect them in any way. Except, maybe, that the ones with the really short tail can't shake it anymore. lol
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