Brick's thread- no more surgery hopefully!

We've had our dragons since the beginning of August and Brick has been at my house for about 2 weeks; it's about time His Highness got his own thread!
For those of you who don't know, my fiance and I got Lady and Brick from his mom's friend's son (or something along those lines) who was moving and couldn't keep them. He gave us the vivs and lighting too, which was awesome! Their setups are great (except for the crushed walnut substrate! It didn't cause any problems but I don't want to risk anything so I switched to shelf liner when Brick moved in with me. Lady is still on walnut because my fiance thinks it's fine. :|), and they were well taken care of. So we got two healthy, happy dragons. They didn't have names, but we fixed that. The female is now Lady Fromage, and the male is Captain Brick Bordeaux (fromage is French for "cheese" and Bordeaux is a type of wine. Get it, wine and cheese? I'm a dork I know ).

About two weeks ago I finally convinced my dad to let one of the lizards live here (Yep, I'm 26 and I still live at my dad's. For now anyway. I do kind of like it though, since it's good food and cheap rent and sane company, plus my younger sisters are here as well). Anyways. My fiance is already quite attached to the sweet, cuddly, sociable Lady; so I got Brick. He's kind of a grump but I love him all the same. And without further ado, pictures!

Coming to my house! I waited til after lights-out and burrito'd him up, and he slept through the whole car ride and moving process. Sorry about the bits of scale and substrate lol-

Showing a bit of (shedding) sexyleg. I feel bad for moving him during a shed though. All that stress! I totally wasn't thinking. Luckily he's handling everything like a champ.

And a few pics of him exploring (the walls look extra-bright green in these pics! I definitely didn't paint them or choose that color, haha)

And here is my current favorite picture of him. It was his first bath in the bathtub instead of his shallow rubbermaid container, and at first he acted like I was trying to put him in a tank full of sharks! Of course I had to get a picture

He's still going through a bit of relocation stress, but is doing great overall! And now I have to go make dinner. I'll post more if I think of something, thanks for reading! <3 <3

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad to hear that lump won't have to be treated for awhile. Looks like it's full of fluid, so that should be easy to remove. and what is one great harness, he does look dapper in it!

 

[ohmybandit]

When I saw the pic of you showing us his bump, I thought it was your finger and I was like "Oh my God, that's a huge wart!" :shock: And then I saw the actual lump :lol:

He's so handsome in his harness.

Lol! That was my first thought. I like the colors of the harness! Have you used it out yet?

 

[snazzyglasses]

Lol! That was my first thought. I like the colors of the harness! Have you used it out yet?

Thanks! We haven't actually gone anywhere with his harness on yet, but he's worn it around the house and out in the yard so he gets used to it. I thought the harness would freak him out, but turns out he couldn't care less when it's on him! Strange little guy

So confession time: I'm a terrible lizard mama. Turns out there was some embedded old retained shed that I didn't know about on the last couple inches of Brick's tail (from his previous owners, not from me!). I cross my heart and pinky-swear it looked like normal tail skin! :shock: The area was a little stiffer than the rest of the tail, but not by much. I thought it was supposed to be like that... Big dummy.
It hadn't been causing problems, but right now he's shedding that area of his tail and it's not doing so well. I tried everything I could find to try and help the old skin come off, but only a couple of layers are gone so far and it still doesn't look right. So I called the vet on Wednesday, they said it wasn't an emergency yet but he should come in soon. Took him to the vet on Friday and she said he might lose the tip of his tail because the old scales are constricting his circulation. I feel so awful!
The old scales are too stuck to the current scales to remove anything right now; vet said we have to wait for the new scales to develop before anything will un-stick itself and release its grip on his tail. All I can really do right now is give him extra baths and make sure he stays hydrated to help with the current shedding process. (Nothing is currently infected, inflamed, discolored, or otherwise unhealthy besides those old stuck-on scales though thankfully). I sincerely hate not being able to insta-fix my baby

Technically, the majority of the fault is with his old owners and not me. But I still feel bad because the consequences are happening under my watch. I know I'll eventually realize there's probably not much I could have done and I'll get over my guilt, but at the moment I feel crappy.

Bleh. It did feel pretty good to vent about it though. Thanks for listening! <3 I have to go do boring things like grocery shopping but then I'll be back to creep on everyone else's scaly babies

 

[zandi202]

Poor Brick. Jace has a terrible time with tail shedding and I'm always afraid of retained shed on him. Hope everything works out on your end.

 

[snazzyglasses]

Poor Brick. Jace has a terrible time with tail shedding and I'm always afraid of retained shed on him. Hope everything works out on your end.

Thanks Zandi! <3 I hope so too. He's been such a trooper through this whole thing, and was even an angel for the vet and her techs when they were trying to get more of the dead skin off his tail

One thing I found that helps is gently flexing their tail, especially the last half of it, at a bunch of different angles after they've been in the bath for a bit (don't have to bend it terribly hard, just enough to help water get under any stuck-on scales and loosen up any dead stuck patches). The scales either float off or they're easy to gently brush off.

 

[zandi202]

That's a neat tip. Will try it with Jace tomorrow

 

[BlueDragon09]

I had to do the same thing with Vash's tail a while back cuz after he turned 9 and shedding the 8 yr old scales
from last year, some got stuck on his tail, I had to flex and bend the last 2 inches of his tail. It came off in the bath but nothing was causing his distress. Stuck him in the bath for 20 mins and water got in and loosened
it up and eventually came off his tail...he does however have a bit of digestive issues but nothing that causes
yellow fungus.

 

[sweetiepie9]

A friend of mine told me about pure cocoa butter, she buys it at the dollar store in a tube. You just put it on the affected are and leave it on, check it the next day and usually the shed comes right off. I've used it and it really works, so ladies try that after bath.

 

[snazzyglasses]

A friend of mine told me about pure cocoa butter, she buys it at the dollar store in a tube. You just put it on the affected are and leave it on, check it the next day and usually the shed comes right off. I've used it and it really works, so ladies try that after bath.

Ooh I've tried aloe and vaseline but haven't tried cocoa butter yet. Thanks! I got the impression from the vet that the circulation won't be back to normal until everything sheds itself off though, because the old tight scales are kinda fused to the current scales. :? (These new scales need to hurry themselves up and develop faster! I hate waiting lol.)
But I'm willing to try it all the same. Anything for my little scaly hooligan! <3

Also- I've been reading up on retained sheds, and apparently it's not unheard of for a shed or two worth of old tail-tip scales to go unnoticed if it's on an adult? I'm still 100% positive that this problem had to have started with his old owners. This is his first tail shed with me, and there was/is more than one shed worth of scales on the end of his tail, poor baby... So I still feel awful, but maybe only 99.9% awful instead of 100% awful.

But the good news is, the vet said he seems perfectly healthy besides those pesky tail scales! The lump in his mouth is behaving itself as well, still doesn't need to come out yet. Yay!

 

[snazzyglasses]

I had to do the same thing with Vash's tail a while back cuz after he turned 9 and shedding the 8 yr old scales
from last year, some got stuck on his tail, I had to flex and bend the last 2 inches of his tail. It came off in the bath but nothing was causing his distress. Stuck him in the bath for 20 mins and water got in and loosened
it up and eventually came off his tail...he does however have a bit of digestive issues but nothing that causes
yellow fungus.

I actually kinda had fun flexing Brick's tail and making it look like a squiggly snake tail, hehe. Luckily he didn't mind!

 

[sweetiepie9]

It happens all the time, it's happened to me because I didn't know any better. Now when they shed their tails I watch very carefully and help the tip along if I have to, to make sure it comes off. If it gets too restricted it can cause tail rot, an infection that travels up the tail. That's what happened to Lonzo, but you can seriously see it travel up and that doesn't sound like what's happening to Brick. Sweetie had the same thing happen, about 1/2 of the end of her tail turned black and dropped off on it's own but never travelled. Only Lonzo had that & he came to us with it, so the previous owner was at fault. So try the cocoa butter, it's worked for me and Diane, so should work for you, too. It takes a few applications to work, but it does work if you have patience!

 

[snazzyglasses]

It happens all the time, it's happened to me because I didn't know any better. Now when they shed their tails I watch very carefully and help the tip along if I have to, to make sure it comes off. If it gets too restricted it can cause tail rot, an infection that travels up the tail. That's what happened to Lonzo, but you can seriously see it travel up and that doesn't sound like what's happening to Brick. Sweetie had the same thing happen, about 1/2 of the end of her tail turned black and dropped off on it's own but never travelled. Only Lonzo had that & he came to us with it, so the previous owner was at fault. So try the cocoa butter, it's worked for me and Diane, so should work for you, too. It takes a few applications to work, but it does work if you have patience!

Deb you always know just what to say <3 <3 <3 In a way it's reassuring that I'm not the only one. And if someone as awesome and kind and devoted to her beardies as you has had the same thing happen, then there's still hope for me! (though I'm sure it sucked for you at the time too :? )
Brick's "withering" tail is slowly traveling upwards and scales are loosening in the area as his tail shrinks, but nothing is black, or red or anything else I've been told to look out for. I can't quite tell where on his tail the circulation is being cut off, but all his scales are stuck on tight! I hope it stops soon! :shock: Getting cocoa butter after work today.

 

[sweetiepie9]

If the withering is travelling upwards, he needs a vet, honest, even if it's not black, it's not normal to be travelling. So can you get him to a vet asap?

 

[snazzyglasses]

Well shoot. The withering is pretty slow, like maybe 1 to 2mm a day at the very most, but I was under the impression that that was normal and we would just have to hope the retained shed works its way off before he loses too much tail? Argh I'm confused again :?
The vet called today to check on Brick and she left a voicemail; when I called her back 10min later I had to leave a message with the receptionist b/c vet was in an appointment already. I told the receptionist what was going on and she said she'd pass my update along to the vet, but she didn't sound concerned... then again that's the receptionist and not the vet. Receptionist seems to be under the impression that black or infected-looking is the only bad thing. I have a feeling she didn't pass along the tail-withering part of my info...

Definitely calling the vet back. And speaking to an ACTUAL vet, not leaving a message with the receptionist. (I know these receptionists mean well, but they aren't the ones who studied animals for 8+ years to become a vet :silent

I could use a "Severely Distressed" smiley face right about now.

Edit: think I found the band of scales that's constricting circulation. It's about an inch and a half further up the tail than the bad part but of course the scales aren't budging. Used extra cocoa butter there :/ This sucks so much. -insert severely distressed face here-

 

[sweetiepie9]

You mean this one? And don't forget this one which is what I do constantly with my crew.

I don't think it has to be black to be an infection, so you should take him in, the vet won't know over the phone what it is until she sees it. I wouldn't take any chances, if it's not an infection, then, good, if it is, it has to be stopped as moving even 1 mm up the tail can mean it's moving faster inside. I don't want to alarm you, but I've always felt, better safe than sorry when it comes to dragons.

So let me know, Lonzo is the only dragon I've ever dealt with tail rot, his was very apparent. Hopefully it's not what I'm thinking.