Tail Trouble

Enzynom · Jul 25, 2017

The tip of my bearded dragon's tail is turning dark. I've been making sure that he sheds completely but I suppose it still ended up getting the blood supply cut off somehow. But suddenly, almost over night, the darkness seems to be moving up his tail. I've tried soaking it and it doesn't look like any shed is stuck. But the scales also look different than the rest of his tail. I'm at a loss of what to do. Any ideas? I would add a picture but I don't know how.

Edit: Adding photos

AHBD · Jul 25, 2017

Hi there, here's how to post pics :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload pics

AHBD · Jul 25, 2017

Hmmm...keep an eye on it. You can get some betadine, mix with water until it looks like iced tea. Soak the tail for 10 minutes every day [ don't let him drink it. Or you can apply raw honey to it, it's a powerful antimicrobial + healing agent. Just be sure you don't have any loose bugs in the tank [ crickets hide, then come out at night ] The crix would go after the honey. If it gets worse you should find an experienced reptile vet to have a look.

Enzynom · Jul 26, 2017

I was afraid it might be tail rot so I decided to take him to the vet today to be safe.

AHBD · Jul 26, 2017

O.K, hopefully it's nothing serious + will heal up easily.

EllenD · Jul 26, 2017

Good call on the reptile vet, it does look like tailrot, and it looks like it is spreading up her tail. The portion of her tail at the end that is already black and shriveled is necrotic, meaning it's already dead tissue, and it will eventually fall off, but the problem is that the infection is spreading up towards her body, and without antibiotic intervention she will eventually not only lose her entire tail, but the infection will spread to her bloodstream and she'll become septic, which is pretty much the end. So I'm very glad you didn't wait!

Let us know how she did at the vet!

Enzynom · Jul 26, 2017

EllenD":2fluw75e said:
Good call on the reptile vet, it does look like tailrot, and it looks like it is spreading up her tail. The portion of her tail at the end that is already black and shriveled is necrotic, meaning it's already dead tissue, and it will eventually fall off, but the problem is that the infection is spreading up towards her body, and without antibiotic intervention she will eventually not only lose her entire tail, but the infection will spread to her bloodstream and she'll become septic, which is pretty much the end. So I'm very glad you didn't wait!

Let us know how she did at the vet!

We went to the vet today and the vet said that the end of his tail can't be saved but the rest can. He only wants to do surgery as a last resort so he put Betelgeuse on an antibiotic regimen with some topical cream to try and stop it from getting worse. If it's still spreading upward after we are done with the antibiotic regimen then we will talk about an amputation. He said that it was possibly caused by genetics or too much humidity because it didn't have the look of retained shed or injury. He said other than that, Betelgeuse looks completely healthy with a good weight.

EllenD · Jul 27, 2017

Keep an extremely close watch on this, typically oral antibiotics and topical don't stop the spread up the tail for some reason, I'm guessing that their tails are just not very vascularized, so without much blood supply the antibiotics don't really help. I hope it does help, but the second you see that infection move even a smidgeon you need to get him back there and have the tail amputated, because they get very, very sick from this very quickly.

Tail Trouble

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