Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone. I bought my first milk snake to add to my king and corn snake stock. It is a very young Sinoloan Milk, about 13 inches long. However I have one concern. When I bought the snake I noticed it recently shedded. Its skin was very soft and new looking and it had its old skin in the tank. However I noticed that the snake did not complete it shed. It still had old skin at the tip of its tail. When I got home I put her/him in a bag with a wet paper towel. Within a few hours I was able to remove the old skin at the tip of the tail. But I am concern because the people in Petland did not know when it shedded and I am concern that the snake may lose the tip of its tail if the old skin has been there too long. Do you think I should be concern? How long must the skin be there before the snake loses the tip? THanks for your time.
ELvy

You shouldn't be that concerned, unless the skin is still on. As long as you got it off and it looks "connected" (not a thinner middle inbetween tip and rest of tail), you should be fine. To help aviod this, add a patch of LFS (Long Fibered Sphagnum) in the cage, and when he starts going blue, mist the moss to boost humidty.,
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Zach Lim
Carnivorous Plant Grower and Herper
http://www.geocities.com/sf_snakes/index.html

If he was going to lose it, it would look very dead. However, even if he did lose it, there isn't much function to the tip...just a little fat storage space. It's nothing to fret about.

Now that he's alone, he may not have any trouble though...Sometimes, the skin sticks because another snake bit the tip of the tail an the skin sticks to the wound.

Also, as someone else suggested, raising the humidity in the tank a bit will help him shed all in one piece.