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Q: Physical deformity?
Posted By:

iashia

In Relation To:

Dinky
So, every few hours or so, i check on my collection (paranoia because of past occurances* and as a side not, half of my book collection is in my reptile room, mostly stephen king and school text books, haha*)

anyways, i was countin heads, and the last one, the runt female amel i named Dinky was cruising around and i noticed a kink in her tail.

I havent handled her at all, minus taking a few pictures and putting her in her new enclosure, so i dont know if it was there before and i didnt notice it, or what happened.

i picked her pu and let her cruise on my hands, no sign of agression or discomfort.  i let my finger run over her tail, no noticable sign of discomfort (or fleeing).  i lightly put two fingers on each side of it and applied slight pressure, and nothing, so i dont think its hurting her (that was the whole point of touching it, to see if it hurt her, so further action could take place)

shes active, uses the tail when shes movin around, rattles it when shes mad at me, and ill be feeding them on saturday, but from the way shes moving, i think shes gonna eat

so, after reading my small book, what do you think?  should i be concerned about the kink?  its quite noticable, like if her tail was a line concidered 180 degrees, the tip is bent at like 160 degrees.
do kinks in tails happen often?  non of the other siblings have it, but Dinky is very small and delicate compared to her brother and sister.

Points: 50
Topics: General Health
Tags: Cornsnake, Tail
Species: Other Colubrids > Other Colubrids > Elaphe guttata guttata
Administrative: Show/Hide

Member Comment 11/3/2009 3:16:53 AM

cerastesruber
id say shes fine, as long as the kink is below her vent, i dont see how it cause any problem.
especially if it doesnt seem to cause any discomfort or anything.
good luck with her!
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 9:41:57 AM

JohnJohn
I don't think it's terribly unusual.  It happens.  But probably good for you to keep your eyes on it as she grows and develops.
 
Accepted Answer 11/3/2009 10:00:37 AM

shellboa
Kinked corns are actually becoming more and more common, possibly an effect of inbreeding. As long as the kink is below the vent, the animal eats and defecates with no issues, and it doesn't appear to get worse, it shouldn't cause any problems. If this was an animal you were considering breeding down the line, you may want to reconsider that as it has been noticed that kinked parents can often produce more offspring with issues than not.

Kinking seems to result from improper incubation. Although I have seen kinked animals result from "perfect" incubation so it is very difficult to tell. Most of the people I know that breed corns will euthanise kinked animals or allow ones that are not severely kinked to become pets. No one I know has bred a kinked animal. The ones I have read about have weak clutches with young that often have feeding issues and seem to not thrive well.
 
Author Comment 11/3/2009 1:22:09 PM

iashia
well thats not good.  im not sure if the kink developed or her tail was broken.  like i siad, shes a runt compared to her brothers and sisters and the kink is well below the vent.

it kind of does look like she broke her tail.  ill be taking pictures later on tonight and maybe some vids too so you guys can really see whats going on,
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 2:18:57 PM

Geckofactor
I pretty much agree with Michelle whenever I got kinked tail corns I'd give them to a school teacher or feed them to the baby kings or catfish.  Should be ok if it eats and poops though I just wouldn't breed it.  It's not just corns though I've had kinked tail kings, western hogs, even burms.
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 2:18:59 PM

Katie M
With my special needs litter, I saw several kinks, presumably by gestational errors in heat, and in response to mama having an RI during early development.  I have a VERY kinked corn, Special Ed - I mean, he has dozens of little kinks all over his body.  He eats well, defecates well, and is a rock star
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 3:05:37 PM

shellboa
Hey Ken, I've had a couple of kinked Ball Pythons too...
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 3:13:39 PM

Geckofactor
I don't even count ball pythons I think any problem a snake can be born with I've seen in a ball python by this point.  I've had some kinked redtail green rats too but that was almost certainly from a broken tail and I didn't produce them. 
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 3:17:48 PM

Katie M
I've had two scenarios with kinked rtbs - ones I produced, I.e. Athenas litter, and ones I've caused (closing Ero's tail in a deli cup). I still feel horrible about that one....
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 4:05:04 PM

Carusima
I don't think it's a problem. I hatched out 19 corns, all perfect, and then about a month ago I noticed the runt of the second clutch had about a little over a 45 angle kink in it's neck, pretty high up. I'm sure she wasn't born with it, and it's not bothering her at all. She still eats and cruises, and touching it doesn't bother her. Since yours is by the tail, as long as it's not on the vent yours will be just fine.
 
Author Comment 11/3/2009 4:05:12 PM

iashia
oh man, feed them to another snake?  i would cry for days if i had to do that.  i could have just closed her tail in the lid, its a possibility, im checking with the lady i got her from to see if she noticed
 
Author Comment 11/3/2009 4:18:46 PM

iashia
no, its a half an inch or so downwards, i think i might have shut her tail in the lid, tho i always check before i snap the lids shut (paranoia)  
my kid brother did it once to your dog with the door and he got a knot in his tail, maybe the same concept?
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 4:37:07 PM

Katie M
That's what happened to Eros - caught his tail in his shipping cup and kinked it
 
Author Comment 11/3/2009 5:20:51 PM

iashia
yea, its unfortunate, but it happens.  that doesnt cause bad genes does it?

i have a vid im getting ready to post of her kink and the rest of the snakes (i think i might rename her from dinky to kinky, my grandma would get a kick out of that)
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 10:06:20 PM

Carusima
No, the kinks have nothing to do with genes. If I breed my girl who has a kink in her neck, she isn't going to produce snakes with kinks. It mainly happens with the ends of corns tails, which is pretty common, or boas who had problems during pregnancy. But it isn't genetic, and you can breed it just fine even if it was born with it.
 
Author Comment 11/3/2009 10:13:42 PM

iashia
kay, coz i really want to breed that little one, her red is striking
 
Member Comment 11/3/2009 10:16:06 PM

Geckofactor
I've obviously got to disagree it's long been commonplace amongst breeders to cull kink tailed animals or babies with other deformities and there's always an off change that those poor genes will pass on to other generations.  Plus with the amount of inbreeding in many species gene pools why take the chance and weaken things even more?  Obviously breaks in the tail happen due to closing the snake in a lid or whatever obviously not a genetic  problem but in the case of a baby born with a physical deformity I don't know any quality breeder that would ever breed an animal with a deformity.  I know turtle breeders that won't even breed an animal if it has an odd looking scute.
 
Author Comment 11/4/2009 2:37:41 PM

iashia

i will be monitering her closely, but in another few months, ill be taking her in for x rays and getting everything check out

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