Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's a pic of the the most aberrantly marked baby I referred to as partially striped. This oddly patterned one is also the one with the kinked tail. I'll be honest here....my first thought was to euthanize it. I am considering docking the end of it's tail and keeping it. The other option is to sell it, but I feel unless someone was conscious of making certain that a shed wouldn't get stuck on it it may not be in the best interest of the little baby. If I decide to dock the tail it will need to be done asap....Friday. I will welcome any opinions good or bad.

Thanks,
Linda

Linda,
....I would dock it. I agree that doing it soon while the new babies natural abilities are strong to prevent umbilical infections will probably also protect it from post amputation infection. It may not even be very apparent that the snake's tail has been shortened after the wound heals. I would sell it for a reduced price to a face to face customer so that they can be fully and accurately apprised of the situation. I have a couple animals with shortened tails. When we used to keep so many wildcaught snakes shortened tails in collections were very common.
Jeff

>>Here's a pic of the the most aberrantly marked baby I referred to as partially striped. This oddly patterned one is also the one with the kinked tail. I'll be honest here....my first thought was to euthanize it. I am considering docking the end of it's tail and keeping it. The other option is to sell it, but I feel unless someone was conscious of making certain that a shed wouldn't get stuck on it it may not be in the best interest of the little baby. If I decide to dock the tail it will need to be done asap....Friday. I will welcome any opinions good or bad.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Linda
>>

I had two with Kinked tails two years ago. Both were basically folded over at the vent such that the vent was fully exposed. Kinda like the back end of the tail was folded up and over the body. I hung on to both for a while not knowing what would happen. Both of them relaxed the kink over time one to the point it was not noticeable. I agree with Jeff that hyou need to sell at reduced price to a fully informed buyer. Both of those and one with a jaw defect last year were sold that way to quite happy customers. Many buyers only want pets, not breeders.

Sorry to make your decision tougher.

P.S. looks like your kink is more sideways and past the vent, Mine were right at the vent and probably would have been difficult to amputate.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>>I had two with Kinked tails two years ago. Both were basically folded over at the vent such that the vent was fully exposed. Kinda like the back end of the tail was folded up and over the body. I hung on to both for a while not knowing what would happen. Both of them relaxed the kink over time one to the point it was not noticeable. I agree with Jeff that hyou need to sell at reduced price to a fully informed buyer. Both of those and one with a jaw defect last year were sold that way to quite happy customers. Many buyers only want pets, not breeders.
>>
>>Sorry to make your decision tougher.
>>
>>P.S. looks like your kink is more sideways and past the vent, Mine were right at the vent and probably would have been difficult to amputate.
>>-----
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"
>>
>>
>>0.1 Wife
>>0.2 kids
>>4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
>>1.1 Ball python
>>0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
>>1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
>>0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
>>0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
>>
>>lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

np
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Linda,
If it were mine, I would not crop the tail. I would either keep him myself or give him away to a biology class as an observation animal. A lot teachers would love the opportunity to have something like that in there classroom....I've donated rat snakes to classrooms.....the BRBs get bigger but it's not like they get unmanagable....just something to think about.

Chris O
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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com
Naked I see the camp of those who desire nothing

I re-evaluated the situation for about the 8th time on Fri am before going to work. I took her out and squished and observed and thought and then all over again. I choose not to do anything at this time. The muscles can and do pull the crooked tail in all directions and it doesn't seem to have any fusion. The end moves freely in every direction without my coercion (sp?).I agree 100 % that any purchaser needs to be made aware of the situation and will do so.

Thank you all for the responses and the emails of suggestions/advice.

P.S. I think the idea of taking a pair of cartlige scissors, holding the little bugger securely, hoping it wasn't male, and sewing it up with 2-3 sutures of PDS kinda hit my guts. It may not always seem like it...but I'll let you all in on a big secret....I'm a big wuss.

Thanks folks,
Linda

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