Kinked Tail?

[Cookiek93]

Nubbins tail has been kinked since I got her in August I believe. She has UVB 35" T5 HO 10.0 39W, calcium dusted dubia... but it seems to have worsened. I am calling around to find a vet in the morning but we are in rural North Carolina and exotic vets aren't common. She did have a smaller UVB lengthwise but same output, it was 18" or 24" I don't remember. I've had her on the full tank length light for about a month. Temps in basking are 105°-110°, warm 95° and cool 80°-85°. In the attached pics, the hammock fell but it is normally attached fully.

 

[xp29]

How old is she? If she is still pretty young that is probably from some injury she suffered or is genetic. If she is older the previous owner may not have given her proper uvb and calcium. Either way a kink that bad will probably be life long. As long as she still has good blood flow the kink itself shouldn't cause issues. If you stay on top of lighting and calcium/vitamins it shouldn't get worse. (Provided it's mbd, if it's genetic there no way to say for sure)

 

[Cookiek93]

How old is she? If she is still pretty young that is probably from some injury she suffered or is genetic. If she is older the previous owner may not have given her proper uvb and calcium. Either way a kink that bad will probably be life long. As long as she still has good blood flow the kink itself shouldn't cause issues. If you stay on top of lighting and calcium/vitamins it shouldn't get worse. (Provided it's mbd, if it's genetic there no way to say for sure)

I estimated her age to be about 9 months when I got her, so she'd be just over a year now. I am not sure exactly, I went based off weight and length and don't know if it's accurate.

 

[AHBD]

I was thinking the same as xp29, she was either born with it or there was an abrupt injury that might have caused it . It might have developed over time but with any of those scenarios it is likely to be permanent . As long as you take good care of her now she should be fine.

 

[Cookiek93]

I was thinking the same as xp29, she was either born with it or there was an abrupt injury that might have caused it . It might have developed over time but with any of those scenarios it is likely to be permanent . As long as you take good care of her now she should be fine.

She does have 3 legs, and I am not sure what happened to her front left leg. They told me but I don't remember. They had taken her to a vet and she underwent treatment for an eye infection, so I'm hoping the vet would have said something about her tail if it was incorrect care or something?

 

[AHBD]

A missing leg is almost always from a tank mate biting it off , sad to say. But they do survive and adapt pretty well as it looks like she has. With a missing leg and crooked tail she might have SOME balance problems but it shouldn't affect her too much. Does she get around O.K for the most part ?

 

[Cookiek93]

A missing leg is almost always from a tank mate biting it off , sad to say. But they do survive and adapt pretty well as it looks like she has. With a missing leg and crooked tail she might have SOME balance problems but it shouldn't affect her too much. Does she get around O.K for the most part ?

Yeah she does. I feed her roaches in a bowl so she doesn't have to try to chase them around too much, but she climbs her branches and everything fine. Is the tail something that should definitively be seen by a vet. I'm worried about a potential tumor or bony growth. Let me get a picture of her with her tail as straight as it goes.

 

[Cookiek93]

Yeah she does. I feed her roaches in a bowl so she doesn't have to try to chase them around too much, but she climbs her branches and everything fine. Is the tail something that should definitively be seen by a vet. I'm worried about a potential tumor or bony growth. Let me get a picture of her with her tail as straight as it goes.

The pet store told me it was an infection that caused her to have to have her leg amputated, my wife just woke up so I asked her.

 

[AHBD]

A leg would get infected after a bad bite, stores don't want people to know they bite each other but if you Google it you'll see it's pretty common.

As for the tail, it's best to do what you feel but just be SURE the vet is well qualified. Many an " exotics " vet is still not very knowledgeable about reptiles. Do you have pics from when you first got her to show that it's worse ? It's understandable that you'd be worried.

 

[Cookiek93]

A leg would get infected after a bad bite, stores don't want people to know they bite each other but if you Google it you'll see it's pretty common.

As for the tail, it's best to do what you feel but just be SURE the vet is well qualified. Many an " exotics " vet is still not very knowledgeable about reptiles. Do you have pics from when you first got her to show that it's worse ? It's understandable that you'd be worried.

These are from the first days she was home Aug 20 something. The last pic is today

 

[AHBD]

It might look slightly worse, not sure if her body is just depositing extra calcium there as it would with a break at times.

 

[KarrieRee]

www.arav.org please type in a zip code of a bigger city closest to you if your in a small area / town

 

[Cookiek93]

www.arav.org please type in a zip code of a bigger city closest to you if your in a small area / town

Thank you

 

[AHBD]

Some info from Anapsid
"
Acquired Skeletal Deformities
As a result of severe or prolonged metabolic bone disease, many lizards end up with permanent deformities even after the MBD itself has been successfully resolved. With MBD, bones may actually break, or they may be bent by the force exerted on them by the pull of muscles attached to them. If broken bones are not properly set, or the bent bones heal quickly once proper calcium and environment is provided to the lizard, there may be left a residual lump or bump in the bone that broke and knitted crookedly or that remained bent during the period of time that missing calcium was restored to the bone (see photo of Rugwort). When this happens along the spinal and tail vertebrae, bends and kinks may result.

Deformities may also be the result of traumatic accident. Adam Britton, a zoologist currently working for Wildlife Management International in Darwin, Australia, sent me a photo of a wild blue-tongue skink he examined. The skink had sometime previous suffered a traumatic spinal injury, but despite the dramatic deformity that resulted from it, was flourishing and so returned to the wild.

SOURCE :

Kinks and Bends in Tails

 

[xp29]

I completely missed that she was missing a leg this morning, that poor baby well just from your post, it looks like she got a lucky break and found a great home. I agree completely with AHBD, she was probably bitten by a tank mate at some point and it likely wasn't treated correctly or quickly. They are tenacious lil guys though. Hopefully you get to spend a lot of years with her.