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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:34 am Post subject: Columbian Tegu eating own tail ?
Anyone any ideas why? anyone experience this before, came home from work to find he had bitten off 6 inch of tail. He was feed day before, humidity around 70%, temps around 80 with basking spot, on soil with logs etc, in 8 foot x 3 foot x3 foot run. He just finishing a shed and had the
usual tail end shed to come off, his behavior to me is as normal and he is OK and back to normal, i'm very puzzled any ideas?
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 7:56 am Post subject:
Quite possibly he chewed it due to the remaining shed on the tail annoying him - I've had a Colombian Gold which on a few occaisions I caught him chewing on his tail during sheds.
He too chewed off some of the tail when I was not home, however only about 3/4 - 1 inch off the tip... _________________ 1.0.0 Ball Python "Albino"
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:21 am Post subject: Re: Columbian Tegu eating own tail ?
MDFSCUN wrote:
Anyone any ideas why? anyone experience this before, came home from work to find he had bitten off 6 inch of tail. He was feed day before, humidity around 70%, temps around 80 with basking spot, on soil with logs etc, in 8 foot x 3 foot x3 foot run. He just finishing a shed and had the
usual tail end shed to come off, his behavior to me is as normal and he is OK and back to normal, i'm very puzzled any ideas?
regards MDF
He managed to take off about 6 inch, as it was he already had 3-4 inch missing before i got him maybe he's done this before. He must of been around the 3 foot mark at full length, if he carries on there will not be alot left of him, thank you for your reply.
Are you sure he didn't have a stricture of shed cutting off his circulation to his tail? You see this with dry-kept lizard toes mainly, but a tail wouldn't be out of the question. the restricted blood supply may actually make the tail hurt to cause him to nibble at it. just a thought. too bad for him (for you, really. it's cosmetic) ... the lizard will be 100% fine with a stump tail.
Are you sure he didn't have a stricture of shed cutting off his circulation to his tail? You see this with dry-kept lizard toes mainly, but a tail wouldn't be out of the question. the restricted blood supply may actually make the tail hurt to cause him to nibble at it. just a thought. too bad for him (for you, really. it's cosmetic) ... the lizard will be 100% fine with a stump tail.
Thank you for ideas, but not really a dry kept lizard at a humidity average of 70%, his shed came off really quickly this time just his tail causing the usual problems. I mist him every day when in shed and carefully rub any loose skin off every day or so, as per this site has advise at various times and not to pull the skin off. As i said everything looks right and i've had longer retained sheds on him that have not caused him any problems in the past, that's why I'm asking if anyone else has had this problem.I noticed on an old post on this site, some one's tegu had jump off them and the tail had snapped in two, the following remark i read was it will upset the owner more than the teg and the tail will grayback eventually. Most teg owner's have to build custom cages for their pets as I did, but before I built mine I box out and insulted a 8x8 room in the back of my garage to make sure they have the right environment. A lizard that chews off it's own tail gives me great concern, especially if i caused it.
Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 1354 Location: Denver, CO
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:17 am Post subject:
MDFSCUN wrote:
I noticed on an old post on this site, some one's tegu had jump off them and the tail had snapped in two, the following remark i read was it will upset the owner more than the teg and the tail will grayback eventually.
That was one of my Ameiva that I used to keep - like Tegu's they can grow back the tail as well, however when he keeps chewing it off will put a hinderance on things - As I posted, I had one that chewed it's tail, and even sometimes post shed - Not sure why, and I used to try and stop him, however he did chew off a piece while I was not home - No stuck shed on there either.
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