Hi Lo, I had my Ricki ticki snake not hold up either. I think that is because it had to be the favorite toy for all my kidz so they really put it through the ringer playing with it. It wasn't the tail that gave me trouble, it came apart near the head part,,,,and the squeak. so they coulda gotten hold of that. I love the toy. I just think like you said, heads up on it. I wouldn't recommend it being left in a cage all the time. Maybe just a supervised toy... or just check on it an awful lot (unless one kid tends to chew, thats not good). thanks for mentioning this. Wolfy Please visit: http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/ for information on ferret deafness: http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/deaf.html [Posted in FML issue 3829]