tail problems

GoombaLover · New Member Joined: Feb 07, 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Texas

i am so glad to have a computer back to confer with you!!! about a quarter inch of the tip of goomba's tail had turned black. he has trouble with shedding his tail. i work it off the best i can, but obviously not well enough. i understand that the fact i can't get him to eat fruit could be causing the troubles. BUT what do i do with the tail problem now?? you were right when you told me months ago that the vet probably didn't know what he was doing. the sad thing is that the Univ. of Penn. states he is the top reptilian vet in PA. HELP!? so glad to have this site back at my disposal!!! thank you for being there.

Brisamen · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 5:36 am Post subject:

I would recoment placing a picture on the forum of the tail so that we can see what were talking about.
What did you do next to trying to give it fruit to help it shed properly?
There are some tricks such as oiling the skin (with sunflower oil) to try and soften it and get rid of the sheding. But its better to look at the overall problem to get rid of the problem as a whole.
And I think if the tail really is black its lost...But I hope I am wrong. But that can be seen if you can place a picture on here of that tail tip.
Is it moist enough in the enclosure and how has the ground turky mixed with truits go?
My Karel's (also a red) tail wont shed properly also and I sometimes use a commercial product (can't remember the name atm..the brand is T-rex tho) for it which helps but I rather have it come off naturally.

Edit: butterfingers
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Rick · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 8:44 am Post subject:

If the tip of the tail has turned black then it's dead tissue. This happens when a shed is left on at the tip of the tail and it cuts off blood circulation. I would bring the enclosure humidity up. If you let us know what your enclosure is made out of and how it was designed, we can try to help with tips. Mist the enclosure twice a day, make sure one time is right before bed. Keep a large bin of soaking water in the enclosure, this will also help with humidity even if they tegu does self soak. (more water surface area, more humidity) Make sure the tegu is eating fruits even if you have to mix it with turkey or stuff a grape inside the skin of a mouse to get it to be eaten. Soak the tegu for 15 to 20 minutes every week. These are some ideas to help..

As far as the tail right now, make sure to watch the 1/4" of black (dead) tail. It should just fall off and heal up. If it grows and you notice it's becoming more the 1/4", go to the vet and they will remove all bad tissue and allow the tegus tail to heal.

Rick
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GoombaLover · New Member Joined: Feb 07, 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Texas

i figured it was dead tissue and would need to come off. i am keeping a close eye on it. the skin at his tail tip was always too tight for me to remove without feeling like i was hurting him. i did use oil when i would work on it. the rest of his body sheds amazingly well. i haven't tried the turkey with fruit yet as i just got that last email from february yesterday. i am going to the store today to pick some up. i just found out he really likes scrambled eggs, so i thought about trying to sneak some fruit in there also.

i just got a digital camera so i will play around with it and see if i can post some pictures.

thank you for the responses!
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Thanks,
Goombalover

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