Bearded dragon tail hanging

[Trashboat69]

I bought a bearded dragon about 2 weeks ago he had a small kink his tail when i got him. The people at the pet store told me he was just going through a shed. So after a little his whole body shed except for his tail, i tried soaking it several times and it didnt look any better. So i decided to take him to a local vet, they told me he just went though a bad shed and they would give me ointment called silvadene cream to put on his tail and it should loosen the skin and help it come off. Ive been using this ointment on him for about 4 days now and his tail looks like its breaking off, its just hanging there and i dont know of this medicine is making it worse?

 

[CooperDragon]

Silvadene works as an antibacterial agent so It was probably prescribed to help prevent infection which is good. The tail wound may have been due to a stuck shed or it may have been due to previous injury. It's relatively (sadly) common for them to lose bits of their tail and fingers/toes due to this. As long as it doesn't appear that the wound is spreading further up the tail and you are able to keep it clean and dry, it should heal over and be OK in the long run.

Can you post some photos of your dragon and his injured tail? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

 

[Trashboat69]

Silvadene works as an antibacterial agent so It was probably prescribed to help prevent infection which is good. The tail wound may have been due to a stuck shed or it may have been due to previous injury. It's relatively (sadly) common for them to lose bits of their tail and fingers/toes due to this. As long as it doesn't appear that the wound is spreading further up the tail and you are able to keep it clean and dry, it should heal over and be OK in the long run.

Can you post some photos of your dragon and his injured tail? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

 

[Trashboat69]

Silvadene works as an antibacterial agent so It was probably prescribed to help prevent infection which is good. The tail wound may have been due to a stuck shed or it may have been due to previous injury. It's relatively (sadly) common for them to lose bits of their tail and fingers/toes due to this. As long as it doesn't appear that the wound is spreading further up the tail and you are able to keep it clean and dry, it should heal over and be OK in the long run.

Can you post some photos of your dragon and his injured tail? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

It just hangs like this but he seems overall healthy do you think it looks like hes gunna lose the tail?

 

[CooperDragon]

It's hard to tell, it may continue to just have a kink like that, or it may fall off. They get around OK with stubby tails so do your best to keep it clean and try to prevent infection for now.

 

[Reptrillian]

It does look like a break rather than a bad shed, but as CD says, it's difficult to tell if he'll lose the tail. I've looked after stumpy dragons as well as ones with bent tails. Keep us updated, post pictures if you're worried. It's very obvious when a tail or limb has died, it turns black then dries out and falls off. If that happens, it's worth him seeing a vet to check it fell off cleanly, there's a high chance of a bone infection if the bone is exposed. Right now the end of his tail looks healthy, apart from the angle, so worth keeping an eye on it.

 

[Trashboat69]

It does look like a break rather than a bad shed, but as CD says, it's difficult to tell if he'll lose the tail. I've looked after stumpy dragons as well as ones with bent tails. Keep us updated, post pictures if you're worried. It's very obvious when a tail or limb has died, it turns black then dries out and falls off. If that happens, it's worth him seeing a vet to check it fell off cleanly, there's a high chance of a bone infection if the bone is exposed. Right now the end of his tail looks healthy, apart from the angle, so worth keeping an eye on it.

Ill have to post more pictures when i get home from work but there was a small amount of blood underneath the tail this morning /: i called the vet and she said its because sensitive from healing and to keep putting the ointment on, the bottom half of his tail looks good though so i hope he doesnt lose it /:

 

[Trashboat69]

It does look like a break rather than a bad shed, but as CD says, it's difficult to tell if he'll lose the tail. I've looked after stumpy dragons as well as ones with bent tails. Keep us updated, post pictures if you're worried. It's very obvious when a tail or limb has died, it turns black then dries out and falls off. If that happens, it's worth him seeing a vet to check it fell off cleanly, there's a high chance of a bone infection if the bone is exposed. Right now the end of his tail looks healthy, apart from the angle, so worth keeping an eye on it.

This is the best picture i could get of it its all red and cracked and theres some blood underneath his tail really starting to scare me

 

[Reptrillian]

Firstly: don't be scared. Absolute worst case, he'll lose that tip, and the vet will probably put him on a course of antibiotics. My vet would charge about $100 for that appointment.

Right now continue following your vet's advice, I'm assuming she's experienced with reptiles?

The tail probably isn't bothering him a great deal, but be gentle with him, it's probably not comfortable to have it moved.

I have a rescued beardie who lost a leg after an injury caused by cohabiting, he's fine and healthy, gets around with no issues. He also lost his tail tip sometime before I adopted him, and is fine.

They're very hardy animals, they tolerate a lot and keep fighting! I've seen it so many times with beardies when I was working at a shelter who took in a load of them.

 

[Trashboat69]

Firstly: don't be scared. Absolute worst case, he'll lose that tip, and the vet will probably put him on a course of antibiotics. My vet would charge about $100 for that appointment.

Right now continue following your vet's advice, I'm assuming she's experienced with reptiles?

The tail probably isn't bothering him a great deal, but be gentle with him, it's probably not comfortable to have it moved.

I have a rescued beardie who lost a leg after an injury caused by cohabiting, he's fine and healthy, gets around with no issues. He also lost his tail tip sometime before I adopted him, and is fine.

They're very hardy animals, they tolerate a lot and keep fighting! I've seen it so many times with beardies when I was working at a shelter who took in a load of them.

Okay thank you that makes me feel a little better lol this is my first one so dealing with all this is very new to me. He seems happy and healthy and is acting like nothing is wrong but seeing blood on him was making me freak out, ill just have to keep putting the ointment they gave me on him and go from there, thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....can you post a clearer pic than that ? It looks like it was broken from the start [ when you bought him] then had trouble shedding in that area. It may have been good to have wrapped it to try to save it right when the vet saw it, but it looks like he will lose it. You'll want to be very observant for any signs of blackness like was mentioned because if an infection starts that high up it can travel fast to do damage more quickly. Even redness can indicate trouble. They certainly can survive a missing foot or part of a tail, but a tail injury that is down near the end is not as serious as one higher up, so be vigilant to watch for infection. Hopefully he'll be O.K

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, it looks like it was broken from the start & it just wasn't noticed.
I don't know if it can be saved or not, but you may need a vet to take a look. If it isn't completely severed they may be able to set it & save it, but otherwise, it will just finish breaking off.
As suggested, you will need to watch for infection.

Tracie

 

[Trashboat69]

These pictures show it a little better i guess. Its just cracked all the way around with some redness inside the cracked part and some skin peeling. It does look slightly better today than it did yesterday, today theres no blood and its less red. Theres no black parts in his tail the bottom half looks like it matches the top.

I just want to add that his tail didnt do any of this until after i went to the vet. When i got him there was just a tight part around his tail it didnt hang like this. After i started using the silvadene cream his tail started to hang

This is what it was like when i got him you can see in the middle a tight spot but his tail lifted up good and didnt hang or anything.

 

[AHBD]

I can see, that happened after you got him. The silver cream would not cause the break though, something pretty traumatic as far as impact or severe infection only could cause that, which must have started with the retained shed. It's sad because it's hardly visible in that picture but must have been very infected under the retained shed or else he hurt it [ some beardies will bite an area that hurts but I don't know if he could reach that high up. ]

 

[Trashboat69]

I can see, that happened after you got him. The silver cream would not cause the break though, something pretty traumatic as far as impact or severe infection only could cause that, which must have started with the retained shed. It's sad because it's hardly visible in that picture but must have been very infected under the retained shed or else he hurt it [ some beardies will bite an area that hurts but I don't know if he could reach that high up. ]

Oh okay i thought it was just weird that right after i started using the medicine on him that this happened. It mustve been from the skin being stuck on there for a while, because the skin was stuck on his tail when i got him so who knows how long it was like that for /: I wanna take him back to the vet sometime soon but i just wanna wait a little and see if anything gets better first. I called them yesterday and they said to keep using the cream i feel like if i take him there today im gunna pay for them to tell me the same thing as yesterday. Do you think theres any way this will end up healing okay since it hangs like this?