Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am somewhat concerned. I was checking over my bp today, something I do once a week or so in order to catch any problems that might crop up. I noticed that one of his spurs is missing. The area around were the spur was does not appear to be sore or infected, there's just a missing spur. This is the first time I've seen something like this in the two years I've had my bp. Should I be worried about this? I don't know what happened or exactly when. Will the spur grow back? (You know, like us losing a fingernail or something.) If not, will this cause problems for him?

Thanks to anyone who can give me a bit of info.

It is not something to worry about. It will not grow back but it could have easily been born without it thats why it is not sore. Not a huge deal and it should still mate and do anything other ball pythons can do. I have seen and heard of many being born with one or no spurs at all.

Actually it will grow back, probably after a few sheds.

About six months ago my male shed. When I got the shed skin out I noticed a small amount of blood on the shed vent area. Checked my snake and a spur was missing. Has not affected him so far, but has not started to regrow.

GONE. It won't grow back. Males use these spurs during breeding, although the snake's libido is more important as to its future breeding capability.
Scott J. Michaels DVM
Serpent City

I have an albino male that lost both of his spurs this year. They haven't grown back yet but Dave Barker assured me that they would with a few sheds, I guess we'll see.

This is the e-mail my brother sent to Dave Barker, With Daves reply.

A spur is comprised of a spur base and a spur claw. Your snake lost his claws. They are structures made from shed skin, much in the same way as the rattle of a rattlesnake is created from interlocking segments of shed skin. Spur claws are regularly shed if they get too long and aren’t worn off. With every shed, the claw will grow back.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Pcurtus@aol.com [mailtocurtus@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:10 PM
To: mailbag@vpi.com
Cc: APYTHON4U@aol.com
Subject: Missing spurs

Dear V.P.I.,
This was the first breeding season for my male albino ball python. During multiple breeding sessions with three females, I began to notice that his spurs appeared to be "loose". Shortly after his final copulation of the season his spurs completely fell off. Have you ever heard of this happening before? Is there any call for concern as far as his future breeding capabilities and finally, do you think this could be due to any sort of husbandry errors?
Thanks,
Christopher