Thanks for replying. When I say cracking I mean more in the physical sense as in the scales are brittle and the edges get cracked and brown. They always heal with next shed but within a couple weeks start returning to previous condition. I have another racer that does not have this problem so I'm not sure why this particular male does. Both are feeding on mice regularly. I'm pretty sure that the bones in the tail are broken since I have felt his tail a couple times since and it still feels soft and I can notice a subtle difference when his tail is curled. He doesn't seem to feel any pain based on his activity and he shows no sensitivity when I touch his tail. I doubt the bones have had long enough to heal since they were broken though. I know of the "cracking" sound you are speaking of and I have heard it with snakes but never with this particular snake and the sound I referred to was not of the same nature. He's defecating fine and health seems perfectly normal but I just don't want to breed him until I know the bones are properly healed (if this could cause a problem since the break is right over the hemipenes).

Since putting uvb on the snake I believe his scale condition is improving a bit but it'll take longer until I can be sure of it.

Thanks for the insight!
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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