nataliekenyon
Member
Hello,
Around April 13th our bearded dragon Pancakes developed necrosis in the tip of his tail. It was spreading up the tail so we had the vet amputate it - she took off about 2 inches. That was on April 18th. We thought all was well but then the necrosis took hold again, at the new tip of his tail.
It has consumed about 1 inch of his tail but at a much slower rate. He is on broad spectrum antibiotics, injected every 72 hours. We will likely do another amputation soon.
However, the underside of his entire tail seems to be shedding irregularly. There is a hard, crispy layer of scales that has slowly been coming off, scale by scale (not in sections like a normal shed), with pale and soft scales underneath. A large section of his scale has recently been preparing to shed, and some of those scales have come of individually with pale soft scales underneath as well.
We did have an x-ray done. There appears to be a 'kink' in his tail but we are unsure if that is a natural kink and a coincidence, or if it is related to the tail rot/weird shedding...
We were thinking he had a shed that didn't slough off and that that's what caused the restriction of bloodflow to the tip of his tail, but now I am unsure, with all the weirdness going on on the entire underside.
The dark section towards the tip (see photos) seems to be tender/painful (he twitches his tail a little when you touch it), as are the pale soft scales once they are uncovered. He has been his usual spunky self all the way through. The last 2 days he has been a little less energetic; I don't know if that is because he has had several sections on his body shedding or not...
We have been keeping him and his tail clean, soaking the tail in povidone-iodine solution at least once a day for 15 minutes, and we apply silver sulfadiazene cream once a day or every other day.
Any ideas?? Causes or tests we can run? Should we do a blood panel? Tissue sample? Our vet is eager and helpful but not very experienced with reptiles or bearded dragons.
Thank you so much for your help, we are so worried about him.
Sorry about the orientation of the photos, I tried to fix them but to no avail.
Around April 13th our bearded dragon Pancakes developed necrosis in the tip of his tail. It was spreading up the tail so we had the vet amputate it - she took off about 2 inches. That was on April 18th. We thought all was well but then the necrosis took hold again, at the new tip of his tail.
It has consumed about 1 inch of his tail but at a much slower rate. He is on broad spectrum antibiotics, injected every 72 hours. We will likely do another amputation soon.
However, the underside of his entire tail seems to be shedding irregularly. There is a hard, crispy layer of scales that has slowly been coming off, scale by scale (not in sections like a normal shed), with pale and soft scales underneath. A large section of his scale has recently been preparing to shed, and some of those scales have come of individually with pale soft scales underneath as well.
We did have an x-ray done. There appears to be a 'kink' in his tail but we are unsure if that is a natural kink and a coincidence, or if it is related to the tail rot/weird shedding...
We were thinking he had a shed that didn't slough off and that that's what caused the restriction of bloodflow to the tip of his tail, but now I am unsure, with all the weirdness going on on the entire underside.
The dark section towards the tip (see photos) seems to be tender/painful (he twitches his tail a little when you touch it), as are the pale soft scales once they are uncovered. He has been his usual spunky self all the way through. The last 2 days he has been a little less energetic; I don't know if that is because he has had several sections on his body shedding or not...
We have been keeping him and his tail clean, soaking the tail in povidone-iodine solution at least once a day for 15 minutes, and we apply silver sulfadiazene cream once a day or every other day.
Any ideas?? Causes or tests we can run? Should we do a blood panel? Tissue sample? Our vet is eager and helpful but not very experienced with reptiles or bearded dragons.
Thank you so much for your help, we are so worried about him.
Sorry about the orientation of the photos, I tried to fix them but to no avail.
The scales are shedding irregularly, but that's not a real problem. Is it very dry where you live ? If so, you may need to just spritz his tank twice a day to help raise the humidity a bit. But the real problem is of course the tail rot. It will need to be amputated very soon, and your vet will need to go beyond the dark area that's spreading under his tail. In the 4th pic, where you show the dark patch creeping up, that looks about 3" long....the cut should go at least 1/2 - 1" above that area so it may encompass about 4 inches or more. Don't wait because it will spread every day that goes by, even if it is slowly. If you can find a very qualified reptile vet, that would be ideal. Best wishes for a good outcome !
