# Corn snake retained shed issue



## Kupo (Apr 23, 2013)

My little corn is my first reptile and I love him dearly. 

I know corns have an issue with tail tip shedding so I was careful with making sure he shed completely.Unfortunately I don't seem to have been careful enough. I've had him since January and he's shed 3 times with me. Both times he's had good sheds apart from the last inch of his tail so I looked up online and used a warm wet towel to help him with the last little bit. I guess I must have missed the very tip on the first and/or second sheds.

His latest shed (last week) had the same issue and I used the same method to resolve it but I was a little paranoid about that tip so I spent more time ensuring I definitely got it off this time. It all seemed okay but by the next day I'd noticed that the tip of his tail had gone from the gorgeous orangey/red to very dull red/brown. Now it looks kinda withered. It's only the last 4mm or so, so I'm sure he'll be fine if he loses it but I'm fairly sure it's dead and what I want to know is whether it'll fall off on it's own or whether he needs a vet trip to get it removed.


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## AraCyanea (May 30, 2011)

Kupo said:


> My little corn is my first reptile and I love him dearly.
> 
> I know corns have an issue with tail tip shedding so I was careful with making sure he shed completely.Unfortunately I don't seem to have been careful enough. I've had him since January and he's shed 3 times with me. Both times he's had good sheds apart from the last inch of his tail so I looked up online and used a warm wet towel to help him with the last little bit. I guess I must have missed the very tip on the first and/or second sheds.
> 
> His latest shed (last week) had the same issue and I used the same method to resolve it but I was a little paranoid about that tip so I spent more time ensuring I definitely got it off this time. It all seemed okay but by the next day I'd noticed that the tip of his tail had gone from the gorgeous orangey/red to very dull red/brown. Now it looks kinda withered. It's only the last 4mm or so, so I'm sure he'll be fine if he loses it but I'm fairly sure it's dead and what I want to know is whether it'll fall off on it's own or whether he needs a vet trip to get it removed.


Knock up the humidity a little more. This should help.


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## jayjay10125 (Apr 21, 2013)

Kupo said:


> My little corn is my first reptile and I love him dearly.
> 
> I know corns have an issue with tail tip shedding so I was careful with making sure he shed completely.Unfortunately I don't seem to have been careful enough. I've had him since January and he's shed 3 times with me. Both times he's had good sheds apart from the last inch of his tail so I looked up online and used a warm wet towel to help him with the last little bit. I guess I must have missed the very tip on the first and/or second sheds.
> 
> His latest shed (last week) had the same issue and I used the same method to resolve it but I was a little paranoid about that tip so I spent more time ensuring I definitely got it off this time. It all seemed okay but by the next day I'd noticed that the tip of his tail had gone from the gorgeous orangey/red to very dull red/brown. Now it looks kinda withered. It's only the last 4mm or so, so I'm sure he'll be fine if he loses it but I'm fairly sure it's dead and what I want to know is whether it'll fall off on it's own or whether he needs a vet trip to get it removed.


Does he have a moist hide? I would put something like a small Braplast box in with the small lid open and fill it with wet moss if he takes no interest in that you could always put him in it to aid with shedding and help loosen any old shed


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## AilsaM (May 18, 2011)

Sometimes my corn still has the tail tip on after shedding probably due to the old skin ripping, this may be the case with yours, all I did was wet my fingers, gently rubbed the tip of the tail and it came off no problem.

You could add a moist moss hide but it's up to your snake if it chooses to use it, also make sure it's got a nice big water bowl to soak in if it so wishes.


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## Spreebok (Jul 4, 2012)

Could you have hurt the last bit of his tail whilst trying to get it off?


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## Kupo (Apr 23, 2013)

He's got a nice big water dish and I put a moist hide in but he showed no interest in getting in. Next time I'm gonna take out is usual hide and see if it gets him to use it (though he likes to hide in his substrate so who knows). 

That's not really my issue though, I'm comfortable now with removing the retained shed if I have to but the thing is I missed some last time around so the tip of his tail looks wrong. The skin is gone now but the tail tip isn't looking good.

I suppose I could have hurt him when I was removing it but I was being gentle, there was no tugging/ picking at it, just running him through a warm, wet towel until it rolled off. I don't think he could have hurt it since, I'm always gentle when I handle him and I can't see how he could have done anything to it in his viv. It's just a few hide, his water dish, some loo roll tubes and aspen bedding.

I did try and take a picture but my camera is crappy and he wasn't feeling the whole holding still thing. Am I right in thinking that the retained shed can restrict blood flow? I think I read that somewhere and I'm concerned that's what's happened here.

I can always go to the vet but I just wanted some advice on the matter.


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## Ryanb0401 (Dec 21, 2012)

Sounds like it might be dying off. Does it look constricted at all? Does his tail look like there's a thread tied around it right at the very end? If it does, then don't panic! Put him in a tub with holes drilled in the lid for air and fill it partially with water. Only a little bit - As deep as you'd feel comfortable with him having in his water bowl, so he can hold his head above the water without straining too much.

Make that lukewarm water, and leave him in it in his viv for about half an hour. I, personally, put a washcloth in the bottom under the water so that they can work the shed off on their own. 

If he doesn't have it off after that, then you can try again. No more than twice a day or you'll stress him out.


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## Kupo (Apr 23, 2013)

Ryanb0401 said:


> Sounds like it might be dying off. Does it look constricted at all? Does his tail look like there's a thread tied around it right at the very end? If it does, then don't panic! Put him in a tub with holes drilled in the lid for air and fill it partially with water. Only a little bit - As deep as you'd feel comfortable with him having in his water bowl, so he can hold his head above the water without straining too much.
> 
> Make that lukewarm water, and leave him in it in his viv for about half an hour. I, personally, put a washcloth in the bottom under the water so that they can work the shed off on their own.
> 
> If he doesn't have it off after that, then you can try again. No more than twice a day or you'll stress him out.


Yeah, I think it's dying off. I've removed the retained shed I just don't know what to do about his tail now that it's gone.


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## Ryanb0401 (Dec 21, 2012)

If it's dying off, the odds are there's still some retained shed there. 
Recently I helped out with a friend of mine's corn. It had a retained tail tip - we managed to remove it. But the tail was getting worse. With some investigation we found out there was still some retained skin on there from a previous shed. 
Look at it very closely. With a magnifying glass if you can. Make 100% sure there's no shed left. It CAN still be saved.


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## Ryanb0401 (Dec 21, 2012)

If the tail tip falls off, then don't panic. Put him on kitchen towel as a substrate and dab his tail tip with an iodine solution every day. If it starts to weep at all, or if you notice it bleeding after a while, get to the vet right away.


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## ag90 (Jan 1, 2013)

When I first got my corn, he came from the pet shop with retained shed on his tail tip (my fault for not checking over properly in the pet shop, my first snake so just wanted to get him home. Schoolboy error) 
Anyway when I noticed it, I tried getting it off with a warm towel/bathing him in warm water. I thought I had got it all off, but the tip started to go brown/black. 
I had another go at it, but the first time he went through the towel the tail tip came off. I panicked and didn't know if it was going to do him any harm.....it didn't, It didn't even bleed when it came off. 
Now 5 months on he's healthy and has full sheds including the tail.


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## Kupo (Apr 23, 2013)

I'm 100% sure I got all the shed off. I bathed him just to be sure and nothing. I had him out under a lens too and it's not there. So I guess I just wait and let the dead tip come off on it's own? I suppose it's kind of like how they dock lambs tails so hopefully it's not gonna be too traumatic but I'm really upset with myself for letting this happen. Thanks for the advice though.


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