Retained shed question/concern

[Melondropsie]

Hello all! I've had my beardie, Jeff, for exactly one month now. When I brought him home, he seemed to have a bit of damage or possibly a retained shed on his tail. I was monitoring it closely to make sure it wasn't tail rot, but I haven't seen any open wound so I'm sure it wasn't that. I'm now 100% convinced that it was a retained shed, and I was hoping to get some advice on how to alleviate this? We've been misting him daily, his BM are normal and from what I can tell he is very hydrated, and we've been giving him soaks every 2-3 days. When I was worried about the tail rot, we gave him tail soaks with betadyne water and put neosporin on his tail. He just completed his first full shed and is growing fast, so I'm worried about this retained shed. :/ I read about using olive oil to help with sheds, so I applied some last night, let it sit overnight and wiped off his tail with a wet paper towel this morning and it seemed to get off just a tiny bit of shed, but it was minuscule pieces.

Should I continue with the olive oil? I thought I read that you should apply it after lights out, is that true or can I do it during the day? Should I stick to aloe during the day? (I feel like maybe oil left under heat for too long would fry the little tail end.) I'm also going to try and soak him tonight and brush his tail with a soft toothbrush. Any other advice is appreciated, thanks! Pictures below for reference!

His tail on February 23rd

After his first full shed, yesterday March 14th

His tail yesterday, March 14th. You can see where his tail has grown in girth and it seems like the very end of the tail is still getting some sort of blood flow but the retained shed is very visible.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I'd have a reptile vet check the tail tip. As it appears like to me this is the result of tail nip by another hatchling (before he was bought by you) and the tail tip may be dead and necrotizing.

It may be necessary to have the dead part of the tail a little above the the constriction (actually looks like an area of tail was degloved) amputed under a general.

In the mean time soak the tail tip in Betadiene for 10 minutes per day and apply manuka honey to it daily - make sure there is not particulate substrate in the tank , and no insects (crickets/ roaches/ locusts) are left in his tank as they will be drawn the honey.

 

[Melondropsie]

Thanks for the response! How long does it typically take for a tail to start necrotizing? Isn't that the same as tail rot? We've had him for a month so I would have thought that if that was the case it would have started spreading up the tail, but I understand that it can get worse the longer the skin constricts the tail. If I don't see any improvement we will definitely be taking him to a vet. Poor babe.

I'd have a reptile vet check the tail tip. As it appears like to me this is the result of tail nip by another hatchling (before he was bought by you) and the tail tip may be dead and necrotizing.

It may be necessary to have the dead part of the tail a little above the the constriction (actually looks like an area of tail was degloved) amputed under a general.

In the mean time soak the tail tip in Betadiene for 10 minutes per day and apply manuka honey to it daily - make sure there is not particulate substrate in the tank , and no insects (crickets/ roaches/ locusts) are left in his tank as they will be drawn the honey.