Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my females seems to have taken too much of her skin off when she shed last,at least that is my guess. I saw her about to shed and her tail was fine, then a few hours later ater she finised the tip of her tail looked raw. figured it would be ok she just took an extra layer off or someting. But now almost a week later it is hard to the touch(the whole tip) and the color doesn't look so good on the bottom of it. Should I put anything on it or just leave it alone? Has anyone seen this happen before and could she loose the tip?
Thanks in advance, her are a few pics I just took.

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Sara

It doen't really look that bad from the top, but the bottom does it is kinda translusent.

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Sara

If the tissue is hard it's probably dead. If it is dead, it should drop off in a couple of weeks. In the mean time you should watch for infection (any signs of red in the healthy tail adjacent to the wound). You can apply some neosporin to the area to reduce the risk of infection.

Don't give up on it though, maybe it's just hard due to the scab, because I agree that it does look pretty good from the top.

-Alice

Hmm not much you can do at this point. I guess you could puyt a dab of Neosporin on it each night, that may help a little bit. If it were me I would just keep her enclosure really clean and wait and see. Chances are she will lose her tail tip but you never know.
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

I really didn't think it was that bad till I looked underneath tonight. I not sure why it happend though there was no stuck shed or anything there and she has never had any problems. I am going to try a little neosporin and keep it clean. I guess i'll just keep my fingers crossed. Thanks.
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Sara

Hi Sara.

I had the exact same thing happen to one of my albinos. As much as you're not going to want to believe it, it is a retained shed.

I totally missed it as well when it happened to one of mine. Given the thinness of the sking and its small size, retained shed on the tip of the tail can be missed even by the most attentative keeper.

Mine looked exactly the same as yours. I put poly-sporin on it every day and eventually the piece fell off. Regenerated quite nicely though.

Good luck.

Joel
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2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.1 Ball Pythons
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake

Darn, I was hoping she'd keep the tip. I am putting the ointment on and keeping my fingers crossed,lol. I swear I never saw anything on there I check them a few times a day, but i counld see where it could be translusent. Thanks for the help.
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Sara