I have a racer that's lately been showing signs of calcium deficiency (weak scales cracking easily) and I've put it under uvb lighting in case this is the reason since they're a diurnal species and it may be that some need it. But recently I was running my fingers along the tail of the snake and just after the vent it felt like several of the "rib" bones just snapped and I heard a soft cracking noise. I wasn't pressing terribly hard but I'm afraid that the bones were fragile because the snake's calcium deficient. It feels like a length of maybe half an inch is softer and you can feel where the normal ribs are not broken. I don't think the bones in the vent are hurt at all but I'm almost positive the bones after the vent broke. The tail doesn't seem to be caved in or irregular at all like you'd see with a broken rib in the body. The snake is acting perfectly normal but that's not much of an indicator. It's not like the vertebrae were affected and it was just the riblike bones. Is there any chance the bones will heal back to normal? And could the broken ribs have hurt the snake internally because they were around the hemipenes? I'd hate for him to be hurt permanently and be unable to breed. Should I take him in to a vet or is there not much they'd be able to do? I feel terrible about it.
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1.0 sumatran short tailed python
1.0 ball python
1.0 woma
0.1 rosy boa
0.1 corn snake
1.1 mexican king snake
1.1 buttermilk racers
0.0.1 texas rat snakes
0.0.2 broadbanded watersnakes
0.0.2 yellow bellied watersnake
0.0.1 diamond back watersnake
0.0.1 blotched watersnake
0.0.1 ribbon snake
0.1.1 Texas brown snake
0.1.1 western cottonmouth
0.0.2 southern copperhead
0.0.1 rattlesnake
1.0 bearded dragon
1.0 leopard gecko

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• Broken Tail Bones - RainDrops, Sun Jan 17 20:49:09 2010
• RE: Broken Tail Bones - joeysgreen, Fri Jan 22 19:21:20 2010
• RE: Broken Tail Bones - raindrops, Sat Jan 23 21:43:41 2010