Dark at the end of Chomper's tail..

[Chompster]

I'm mostly wanting to see if anyone else has had this experience with their beardies, as it's bothering me and I have no idea what's going on!!

- He has had a thick layer of stuck shed for ~6 months. He regularly gets 2-3 baths a week. His tank humidity fluctuates, anywhere from 25-50% (only that high on really bad days, typically during the spring). No water bowl in his tank as he doesn't like it and never used it.

- Since noticing the shed wasn't budging, he's been getting lots of extra care. We've tried soaking him with Shed Ease (no apparent effect), letting coconut oil sit on it for awhile), olive oil (seems the most effective), and finally we've started rubbing his tail down with olive oil and letting it soak it with a wet cloth wrapped around it for about an hour a night this week. I notice a few scales starting to shed (!!!) but there's a lot more to work on! We also use a soft bristle toothbrush on this area.

- NOW.... we came back from vacation to see that a large portion of his tail has gotten very dark!!! There is no noticeable damage on the tail itself and it is soft and he reacts when we pinch it. It is a few inches away from the area of thick stuck shed. <b>It is not poop or dirt</b> (which someone suggested, believe it or not. The vet has seen it and isn't sure what to think, so is sending pics to a colleague to look at and we might go see him if he thinks it is necessary.

- The stuck shed really bothers him. He flinches away when we touch it, though he doesn't seem bothered when we touch the dark portion.

His stuck shed:

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....I think that what happened is the tail absorbed all the oil you've been putting on it and is now just dark colored from that. His tail should be fine !! As an adult, they an carry a shed on part of their body for a very long time, and sometimes it sheds + then builds up new skin to shed soon after so you can't really tell how long each section took. Those sheds eventually come off if you leave them alone. The only time you need to intervene is if it's actually constricting + pinching off the blood flow. That usually makes the tail look very thin + brittle beyond that "pinched off" point. That and if the tail actually gets mushy looking with possible reddish sores....other than that, sheds will look uneven + take a long time and still be fine. But I'm sure that's just stained from the oil now. Try to get that off with a little soap + then let it dry out, it should be fine.

 

[Chompster]

Hi there....I think that what happened is the tail absorbed all the oil you've been putting on it and is now just dark colored from that. His tail should be fine !! As an adult, they an carry a shed on part of their body for a very long time, and sometimes it sheds + then builds up new skin to shed soon after so you can't really tell how long each section took. Those sheds eventually come off if you leave them alone. The only time you need to intervene is if it's actually constricting + pinching off the blood flow. That usually makes the tail look very thin + brittle beyond that "pinched off" point. That and if the tail actually gets mushy looking with possible reddish sores....other than that, sheds will look uneven + take a long time and still be fine. But I'm sure that's just stained from the oil now. Try to get that off with a little soap + then let it dry out, it should be fine.

Huh, okay. We've tried washing it pretty well. We only really applied oil to the area of stuck shed (which part of actually came off tonight!!!), not the darker part, which are separated by a good inch or two. I was really concerned about it because it seemed obviously painful. I'll go back to our normal 2x a week bathing routine and see how the tip of his tail improves. Thank you.