New tegu, tail problem

chrisroth1 · New Member Joined: Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 4

Hi, i just purchased my tegu on sunday from a reptile show and he has the end of his tail broken about an inch. The broken part is barely hanging on and it looks like a little bit of shed left next to the broken part of the tail. He is also missing two toe nails but they looked healed up already. What should I do with him about the tail. It is not bleeding or anything. He keeps burrowing under the mulch i have in the tank and I don't want to disturb him too much since I just moved him in a 4 hour road trip. Should i snap the rest of the tail off and apply some anti-septic to it or leave it to fall off on its own?

I don't think I can get the shed off without irratating the tail where it is broken. I was hoping since is he under the mulch the humidity levels under there will help with the sheding. It looks like most of the shedding is done.

I started him off with some dusted crickets incase some of the broken parts are due to MBD. I am hoping to take care of the tail without having to take him to a vet, but there is one in my town i can take him to if need be.

I can take some pics of the tail but he is currently burrowed and I don't want to dig him up and stress him out more than he needs to be. He is currently housed in a 40 gallon breeder until he grows larger. His basking area is around 90-95 degrees ground temp (which i am currently rasing the the ground level with a platform to get him closer to the light so he can reach around 100 degrees), the hot end is around 83-87 ground temp, ambiant 84 degrees and a cool side of 75 degrees ambiant with two hides and about 3 inches of susbrate for digging.

holygouda · Member Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 48

Not really sure what you should do about the tail since you don't have a clear pic of it. I think your best bet would be to take him to the vet if you are really concerned. If not, I probably would not try to break it off. Somehow in nature they seem to heal without humans sitting there breaking off the damaged ends for them.

As for dusting the crickets I would always dust anything that is not a whole prey item(mice, rats, quail, chicks etc)!

As far as MBD, I have never encountered it before but I cannot imagine it happening to a lizard that young(I could be wrong). Also, there isnt any bone in their tail so I doubt MBD was the cause of the broken tail(and the toes). Keep him on a proper diet and you should not have a problem with that(MBD).

Good luck, mate.

chrisroth1 · New Member Joined: Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 4

I figured I could just the bad part of his tail just fall off. I didn't think about how young he is and MBD shouldn't have set in yet. (I was just worried because a friend of mine had an iguana that i think got it because he always had broken toes and his jaw seemed broken).

holygouda · Member Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 48

I believe iguanas are far different from tegus. They are vegetarians. If they don't get properly supplemented food, they are screwed.

You are much much better off with a tegu. I wouldn't take a green iguana if someone gave me the lizard, cage and everything, and 2 years supply of fresh lettuce. haha Surely it was a green iguana because those are the most readily accessible and impulsively bought...

Good luck with him, if you haven't fallen in love with him yet, you will soon enough!

chrisroth1 · New Member Joined: Feb 25, 2007 Posts: 4

Yeah, it was a green iguana. I had one also back in highschool and they are cool too, he grew to about 6 feet fortuantly I worked for a supermarket and had bags full of veggie clippings to feed him

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848

I wouldnt leave it attached, in case it ends up causing necrosis or something. Neither would I just yank it off - if the risk of extra injury isnt high enough, your tegu wont forget. Take him to a vet - at the worst it will be amputated, at the best he will suggest to you what course of action to take.
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