PLEASE HELP! THERE'S SOMETHING TERRIBLY WRONG!

You all may know me, PumpkinJelly & my Bearded Dragon Fiz. I can't stop crying and I'm freaking out because there's something horribly wrong with Fiz's tail.

This morning I turned on Fiz's lights and then I went downstairs to get him some food. I ran out of crickets yesterday so I fed him some Baby Bearded Dragon Bites by Naturezone. I picked him up and set him by his bowl and he started eating. I looked down and saw his tail.

He has a nipped tail, but that fell off over a month ago and has had no problems since.

Well now his tail is dark, there's greyish splotches randomly all over it without any color, the bottom of his tail has a red spot where there's blood under the skin or something, and the top around the tip has little areas around the scales where there's red, and I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure that's blood!

I rushed him to the sink and ran warm water all over the tail with hopes of getting whatever it is off, but with no luck. I am freaking out because I love Fiz so much.

This hasn't affected him behavior wise. He just pooped a few minutes ago, he happily ate his Beardie Bites, and he wasn't very happy with me when I took him out during his breakfast to wash him off. So he seems okay in that genre.

Yes he has a tank mate but he didn't bite him. I've been in the same room with them all morning and this didn't happen yesterday because his tail wasn't like this yesterday.

I'm so scared PLEASE help me. I can't stop crying and I'm so worried about him because this is NOT right. If a moderator or someone with tons of experience could answer this I'd really appriciate it!

I'll upload pictures soon!

I'm sorry to hear about his tail. Pictures would give us a better idea of what it looks like. Do you actually see blood dripping?

Do you have any Betadine? If not, I would recommend that you pick some up and give him a diluted bath, pour enough Betadine in to make it look like weak tea and let his tail soak in it. After that, blot it dry and put on some Neosporin cream. If you have a loose substrate in the tank, you will need to remove it so that it doesn't get on his tail.

I may be wrong but it sounds like your other beardie did nip his tail, either that or he got it caught between a log or rock, etc. How old are the beardies and are they 2 females, 2 males or male & female?

First, thanks so much for your reply.

Unfortunately I don't have any Betadine. Do you know where I can buy it? Is it like, a medical product that I'd find in the First Aid aisle or something? I could maybe get some today.

There is a possibility that it is a tail nip, but I'm not too sure because of the odd coloring going all the way up his tail. I gave him a quick warm bath and coated his tail with Neosporin when I saw what had happened. I use reptile carpet so I don't have to worry about loose things getting stuck to it.

My signature has a timer and it says how long I've had them. So, they're only babies. They're the same age, but I'm not too sure on their genders.

You should be able to find the Betadine in any pharmacy. Should be in the First Aid area near bandaids, First Aid cream, etc. I really suggest you get some today. Please make sure NOT to use Peroxide or Alcohol though, ok?

Can you post pictures? Do you have another tank on hand so that you can separate them? Or, is the tank big enough to put a divider between them?

Another thought that came to mind is that it might have been a constrictive retained shed and that he nibbled on his tail to try to get some relief. Had you noticed a retained shed on his tail? Even if that is the case, they still should be separated as you don't positively know for sure what happened and it's concerning that there may have been a conflict.

I'll try to pick up some Betadine today. I have to make a cricket run anyway so I'll see if I can go to Rite-Aid and pick some up. I wasn't going to use alcohol or peroxide because I know how badly it burns when you put it on a cut and I read on here that it was bad for them. The only "medication" i guess you could say I use on my Beardies is Neosporin.

Once I'm finished this I'll go dig to find my camera and upload some pictures of his tail. My tank is a 40 gallon breeder so I think that's large enough to divide in the middle. I was going to put the basking light in the middle by the divider so that they'll both have a basking spot, and my reptisun 10.0 goes all the way across the back wall of my tank so I don't have to worry about dividing the UVB. Would it be okay if I used cardboard to divide the tank? The cardboard won't catch fire or anything, right? I plan on using the cardboard so it's only as tall as half the tank so it won't be near the bulb.

I don't think that there is retained tail shed. Whenever they finish shedding I usually do a full inspection for any retained shed patches just in case. His last shed was probably two weeks ago.

They're being seperated on Christmas, since that's when I'm getting my second tank.

Good that you're going to get the Betadine. I just wanted to double check about the Peroxide and alcohol as some owners may not know that and I didn't want to take any chances.

I wouldn't think you'd have to worry about the cardboard catching fire. What wattage basking bulb are you using now? Make sure it is a pretty sturdy piece of cardboard so that it can't be knocked down and that you tape the sides to prevent either beardie from going to the other side.

Great that you'll be getting a 2nd tank so that they will each permanently have their own tanks very soon.

Okay, I'm uploading the pictures to photobucket now. When I walked in the room I found Fiz eating the Beardie Bites out of their dish, so I guess it's a good sign that it's not affecting his behavior.

My basking bulb is 150, I believe, but I don't think it's really a hot bulb. I can't even get my temperatures to get to a 100. The highest I've seen it at is 99. It's made by Zilla and the bulb itself is blue but the light it gives off is just regular bright light. Another reason why I don't think it gets very hot is because I have a regular household bulb running in there too as well as their nighttime bulb (I shut the other two off at night and the nighttime bulb runs 24/7). When I ordered my ReptiSun and a few other supplies a few weeks ago I got a nice big box made of thick cardboard so I'll use that as well as some white duct tape.

As for the tank issue, I knew from the start that It's not good to have two Beardies in one tank. I never wanted two Beardies. The second one is my brothers, and my parents insisted on letting me keep his in my tank until Christmas.

Here are the pictures. My camera doesn't have very high quality pictures, so they're a little blurry. I'll do my best to describe where to look in the pictures.


*above* here's the tail. If you look closesly, you can see the greyish patches on the lighter stripes on his tail.


Here is the underpart of his tail. Look closely and you should see one bigger splotch of red and you probably can't see it but there is a smaller splotch. I tried wiping the red off but it seems to be under the skin or something.


Here's the little bugger. He's posing on the countertop for me despite his horrible tail.*That knife there was NOT used on him in any way, nor was that balled up paper towel or the newspapers. Those were just there! lol*



This is a picture of him a few weeks ago when he was sleeping. You can see how much I love this little guy and how much he means to me since I tuck him in every night in his favorite blanky.

Actually a 150 watt bulb is quite a bit for a 40 gallon tank. What are the wattages of the other household bulb and the blue bulb? What type of thermometer are you using to check the temps and where exactly are you checking them?

It's hard to tell for sure but it may very well be a bite. Was he already missing part of his tail when you got him or did his cage mate do that?

He looks a little on the thin side and the top of his head looks like he might be a little dehydrated. How many feeders is he eating daily? How often do you bathe him or offer oral fluids?

I have a digital thermometer with a probe, but the light I have doesn't get that hot despite it saying 150 watts. I think it gets the temps of a 100watt, or even a smaller wattage. The household bulb is a 75, but that's on the cool side just mainly for light.

When I got him, the tip of his tail was chewed up a little, and eventually dried up and fell off on his own, leaving him with the nub he has today.

Does he look thin? He eats like a cow! He eats around 15 crickets per feeding, and he gets about three feedings a day plus a salad of dusted collard greens and Bearded Dragon bites. Do you have any suggestions to fatten him up a little? As for the bathing part, I bathe him about once a week. Should I do it more frequently? I try to drip water on his nose daily but he rarely licks it off his nose when I do. It usually just rolls right off his nose and down his chin. I'll give him a bath now, if you think I should. His head has always been a little smaller than his tank mate's. His is a little flat, and his take mate's is more round. Is that a sign of dehydration?

When you check the basking temp, do you have the probe laying right on the basking spot and then wait at least 45 min before getting the final reading? What is the temp on the cool side. The reason I'm concerned about all the wattage in your tank is because one of mine is the same size and I only need a 60 watt household bulb for basking and a 40 watt on the cool side to get temps of 103 and 81.

How old is your beardie? He looks less than a yr old. Actually, 45 crickets a day isn't an awful lot. Are you offering him all he wants each time? Had you been feeding them both at the same time?

I would increase the baths to 3 times a wk at least as I do feel that the top of his head looks a little flat and yes, it should be fuller and more rounded as well as the fat store at the base of his tail should be a little thicker. I have a feeling that once they are permanently separated, you will see this one put some wt on and fill out more.

Were you able to get the Betadine?

The probe is always on the basking spot. I was told to keep it there to monitor the temps. Like I said before, the bulb I have isn't really a good quality one. I got my tank in a kit made by Zilla. It came with the 40 gallon breeder, a sliding top, reptile carpet, ReptiGlo 10.0 coil, three lamps, nighttime bulb, the basking bulb, and a few other things. I only bought the kit because of the cheap price with the tank and all the included lamps. Don't worry, I replaced the ReptiGlo with a ReptiSun. My temps are: Basking spot: 98 F. Cool Side: 82 F.

Yes, he is under a year old. He was only a few weeks old when I got him, so I've had him for almost two months so I'm guessing he's around 2 1/2 to 3 months old. I feed him until he loses interest in the crickets, and then I use my little "invention" and pick up any loose crickets and put them back in the cricket container. Yes, I feed them seperately (KD sits on my shoulder while I feed Fiz, and when Fiz is done I put Fiz on my shoulder and put KD in to eat). KD is a hog and will steal them all from Fiz, so yes I feed them seperately. But keep in mind they eat a whole salad everyday too, between the two of them. (Collard greens sprinkled with calcium with Beardie Bites mixed in and I add Dandelion Greens too).

I wasn't able to get the Betadine today, but tommorrow is my "shopping" day of the week so I'm going to pick some up tommorrow! I got their crickets today too, so they both had a nice meal of those too!

Diamc, I seperated them.

I found a sturdy piece of cardboard and cut it to the dimensions I wanted it to fit, and then reinforced it with duct tape all around the edges. Then I duct taped the sides to the glass walls on the tank. It's pretty sturdy, and I'm sure my Beardies couldn't knock it down even if they tried. It's only for... 20 days at most. I did my best to divide up the furniture to make it fair. Fiz has the ramp & hammock, KD has the cave and an empty decorative water bowl (he loves to climb on that). I put the basking light in the middle, like I had planned. I'm monitoring the temps too (I put duct tape across the top of the cardboard where it will be close to the basking light to make it less flammable). The ReptiSun is equally divided. I was thinking about giving one of them the household bulb for a basking light and the other one have the regular basking light, but I thought it would get too hot in there since they both need their hot/cool sides with their limited space.