Tail coming off after attack?

[bambiraptor]

Hello, I've had a gorgeous female dragon (Thorn) for more than two years now. I'd like to imagine that she's perfectly healthy - she's a good weight, she eats well, she drinks in the bath, her stools are a good colour, she's alert whilst she's basking, and she's always moving around. Needless to say, I'm confident with her internal health. However, something happened yesterday that's gotten me completely worried.

My male bearded dragon (Buster), who I adopted on the same day, was put in with Thorn by my mother, because we had to replace his tank after a separate incident. I'd spotted a good tank on gumtree, so I was only gone a few hours (3-4 max). I came back, cleaned and prepared the new tank, put Buster in, and settled down for the night. However, half an hour before I was expected to turn their lights off at 10:00pm, I noticed something hanging down from Thorn's tail.

Thinking it was perhaps an old piece of rocket that she'd stepped through, I went over to clean her up before I noticed what it was. From the tip of her tail to around 2-3cm down was a bite, with the very top of it literally hanging off - I'd say at an 110 degree angle? The scales around it are messed up, but I don't think any of them have actually fallen off. They've also considerably darkened. Blood of course coated the wound, but thankfully there wasn't really any in her tank. Aside from the main area, around 5cm up is also a small indent that thankfully didn't do much harm, so I'm assuming Buster bit her twice or he was dragged down before he could properly cut through it.

I'll be sure to get a good picture of it tomorrow, once everybody is awake (it's 6:40 on a Sunday, right now).

Obviously I'm concerned, as I can't even begin to imagine her pain. What do I do? Aside from a vet check, is there anything we can do before it comes to that? Do we wrap it up, put cream on it, or will it fall off in the process? I'm also wondering what we should do afterwards. If the tip does come off, should we leave it, or get it professionally shut? As you can tell, I'm definitely a frantic mother bear at the moment Any advice will be much appreciated.

P.S - She's acting particularly normal - she still moves around a lot, and she ate a lot of the rocket and strawberries (as a treat) when I put them in today. The injury has also stiffened, so it's no longer just hanging off. We didn't put any crickets in just in case they smelt the blood and went in for a bite - I would have loved to give her some worms, but being in a remote part of Melbourne, we only get mealworms which are of course bad for beardies.

Again, I'd be tremendously grateful for any help. Thanks for reading.

 

[ancapper]

Cleaning it and using raw(healthfood store aka manuka) honey on it may help, but pics would tell the extent of the injury .

 

[bambiraptor]

The position I took this from doesn't really give justice to the angle that her tail is hanging on, but you can hopefully see how a portion of it is flattened. When I touched it to test the stiffness, she didn't react, so I hope it isn't as painful as I fear it be.

As for the honey suggestion, do I clean the wound with plain water or a disinfectant first? How much should I put on it - lather it onto the entire injury, or just a small amount on the worst problem area? Finally, how many times a day? Thanks for your quick response!

 

[ancapper]

Nasty bite, but doesn't look terrible, if it doesn't pain her, clean it really well and dilute the honey with warm water and dab it with a q tip. I'm no expert, that would be Tracie, but I think by the looks of it, that tip may come off, but many a beardy have survived much worse. I once read of a quadriplegic beardy and his doting owner on this forum, so don't worry about a bit of tail too much.

I'd do it twice a day if it doesn't stress her too much, and just watch that the live end doesn't turn black(tail rot)

update: I just saw a good point on another post, make sure there are no loose bugs to annoy your beardy

 

[AustinnKaine]

Unpasteurized honey is the way to go!

 

[Rankins]

The tip is most likely going to fall off, if its stiffened its probably dead and not getting good perfusion. Keep the wound clean and dry. I would avoid any antibiotic ointment unless you remove the substrate. Which I would do until the tail heals...
If it gets infected a vet visit is in order. But most times injuries such as your dragons heal up without vet treatment. I have amputated toes (even an entire foot once) and tails on my own, but I have injectable and topical lidocain in my reptile med cabinet. People tend to bring me animals for treatment because vets charge so dang much. 25 years nursing experience comes in handy for reptiles Just watch for infection (fungal or bacterial) and keep it clean and dry. You can use antibacterial soap a few times a day to clean it. Betadine is good for initial wound cleaning and for fungal infections. But since the wound doesn't look very recent or infected you shouldn't need to use it, its caustic to new tissue granulation anyway..