Is it tail rot? Panicking!

Hi

I'm worried about my beardie, the end of his tail has suddenly gone dark over the last few days. It is only black on the top, not underneath. He is a rescue beardie and has MBD so has never been fully "healthy" I've had him for 5 years and he is not housed with another beardie, gets new 12% uvb tube changed every 6 months. He also refuses to eat live food so is often fed a protein slurry few days a week.

His tail hasn't experienced any trauma and he hasn't been black bearding, he just recently shed his face and thought the tail might be getting ready to shed but it hasn't changed colour or texture.

Really need advice ASAP as I will take to emergency vet tomorrow morning if needed but I don't want to put him under any unnecessary surgery especially when he is a special needs dragon. I hope the picture link works?

http://imgur.com/gallery/d1NXFbI

It looks like natural darkening toward the end. The very tip looks white but I'd guess that area may be about to shed. It is stubbed like it's been injured in the past but it looks healed over based on that photo. Keep an eye out for damaged or shriveled looking scales moving up the tail, but I don't see signs of that here so I think it's fine.

CooperDragon":3j8ztxoj said:

It looks like natural darkening toward the end. The very tip looks white but I'd guess that area may be about to shed. It is stubbed like it's been injured in the past but it looks healed over based on that photo. Keep an eye out for damaged or shriveled looking scales moving up the tail, but I don't see signs of that here so I think it's fine.

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Thank you for your reply. Yes I think he may have lost the tip before I got him, it's not normally that colour though which is why it's worrying me but it's on black and stripey on top.

That is not tail rot! My beardie had the same thing a few weeks ago, I panicked and took him in to the vet. He pinched it to see if my beardie felt pain (he did, which meant there were still nerve endings). It started peeling an hour later. And ours was darker than that. Another time our beardies tail looked just like that and it eventually went away.

Thomasthebeardie":39nquffi said:

That is not tail rot! My beardie had the same thing a few weeks ago, I panicked and took him in to the vet. He pinched it to see if my beardie felt pain (he did, which meant there were still nerve endings). It started peeling an hour later. And ours was darker than that. Another time our beardies tail looked just like that and it eventually went away.

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So if I pinch the end of his tail and he twitches it that's a good sign right?

Yes! The vet took a pair of very dull scissors and "cut" into his tail - didn't break the skin, of course! Just very gently pinched him. He jumped so that meant there were nerve endings since he felt pain. Tail rot means the tail is literally rotten and dead. Your beardie's tail isn't dark enough for it to be tail rot. And our beardie's tail was pretty black - much darker but not entirely through the tail (the underside of the tail wasn't dark). This meant it was about to shed. And on the way home from the vet the entire thing peeled - it was the scissors that got it started!

Another completly different incident - our beardie's tail got darker like that for a few weeks, never peeled, and eventually got lighter. We have no idea what it was, but it obviously wasn't tail rot.

Thomasthebeardie":2za54fpz said:

Yes! The vet took a pair of very dull scissors and "cut" into his tail - didn't break the skin, of course! Just very gently pinched him. He jumped so that meant there were nerve endings since he felt pain. Tail rot means the tail is literally rotten and dead. Your beardie's tail isn't dark enough for it to be tail rot. And our beardie's tail was pretty black - much darker but not entirely through the tail (the underside of the tail wasn't dark). This meant it was about to shed. And on the way home from the vet the entire thing peeled - it was the scissors that got it started!

Another completly different incident - our beardie's tail got darker like that for a few weeks, never peeled, and eventually got lighter. We have no idea what it was, but it obviously wasn't tail rot.

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Thank you, you've definitely helped ease my worries as I would do anything for this dragon who likes to give me near heart attacks several times a year haha!

I get it!! We were so scared about our beardie I actually almost postponed a vacation lol - luckily the vet was able to squeeze us in! Keep us posted!!