incomplete tail break

[Bert-N-Sheila]

i was cleaning the cage last week and while i was putting everything back in i dropped a rock accidentally on the end of his (about 2 segements from the bottom skinny part)

the tail started to do it's wiggle thing and he wasn't hurt too bad as he was going after the crickets i gave him 3 minutes later. after he got done eating i put some neosporin on it. it was just barely bloody on two of the segements. if i had to describe it, his tail segment was about as wide as a dime and you could tell it was screwed up... not because of the blood, but because you could see pink. the incomplete 'break' was about as big as your letter "I" labeled on your keyboard. it's been about a week and looked alright but today i came home from work just now and everything from the bruise/cut/segment whatever to call it, is all black and you can tell it just isn't going to make it.

we're not too good financially right now, and i was wondering if this tail will just fall off completely by itself? he's alright no change in behavior, just as holdable and doesn't quite notice his tail at all when you touch it anywhere you would think it would hurt. it's as if he just said "oh well."

my only concern is it is black and i don't want it to become like an infection... any of you dealt with an incomplete break before? i really do not want to take him to a vet and pay an outrageous bill if this thing will just fall off by itself. i still put neosporin on it an everything and he's totally cool with it all. doesn't stress him in the least, even when the rock fell on him. the rest of his tail(the top 80%) is perfectly normal. he's never had a tail break and we've never had to deal with one so any insight would be appreciated. i can take a picture if needed. thanks

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Sometimes they heal up just fine, and other times it may fall off.... it depends on how deep complete the break is. If it does break off the rest of the way, it should regenerate. Don't worry about infection too much unless you have the gecko on a substrate other than paper towel.

 

[Bert-N-Sheila]

its zoomed reptile carpet. thanks for the quick reply! i feel a lot better with your response.

it looks "dried out" and not completely back but almost. like dead/dried blood. it's also COMPLETELY skinner than it ever was. like the segment before it is so thick and the bruised one is sooooooo thin now. was not like this in the morning. hopefully it just falls off.

 

[GoGo]

If i were you id try to fright your gecko into maybe dropping it so it could regrow a healthier tail.

 

[Bert-N-Sheila]

ok, update:

he ended up biting it off due to shedding. he shed overnight and now its a complete break bleeding. we cleaned it with childrens mild soap and water. and we took everything out of the terranium. its now papertowel, his dry warm hide, and his water on the other end of his 30gal. we put neosporin on it. we'll see how it goes... about how long does it take to heal to the point that we no longer need to maintain it?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

It may or not grow back if the end of the tail became necrotic and came off on it's own. If it was a clean break, it most likely would have grown back. If he does start to regenerate, you will se a small little pink nub starting to form on the end. If not, it will just scab/heal over.

You are doing everything right, and it should heal up in no time!

 

[Bert-N-Sheila]

thanks for your help! We GREATLY appreciate it. We also appreciate that this is possibly the best and only place to get information.

We called the vet and she wants us to come in and get an antibiotic for him. It's $20. Is that reasonable? The tail looks a lot better now as it started to clot a little. He is very calm too. Won't eat however and I expected that today.

Crazy little bit of info. When I noticed the "break" was missing I hurried and pulled him out and Chrissie cleaned the terranium down. We took the carpet and everything out. Layed the papertowel down after it dried out. Did the soap/neosporin thing on him... then as I put him back in I noticed a small black thing sticking barely out of the corner of his mouth like a cricket leg. After closer inspection I noticed it was the tail. He tried eating his tail or tried swallowing it and it didn't go down I guess considering he had about an hour to hour and a half of when I estimate he bit it off. He did a pretty good job also considering he got exactly to the good segment. The only thing he missed was the bottom portion of the top of the damaged segment. I ended up using a brand new pair of fiskers scisors and cut it off (sounds extreme but you would have had to been here to understand/see/know/agreed why. When I cut it off he showed no discomfort whatsoever as it was most likely dead. The break is very clean, I can see the bone down the center. I will upload pics of his tail, the segment I cut off, and the piece I had to pull from his mouth. The piece from his mouth he seemed to WANT BADLY as he fought me for it and didn't want to give it up. He sucked it and cleaned it dry. WEIRD and GROSS! He bit me multiple times as I tried to take it out but he fought like a dog and finally gave in and let go. The piece ends up being like an inch long.

More info not needed but thought it may be interesting to some. Sorry!


PS
Does the whole tail in his mouth thing seem weird to you? FOR AN HOUR+??? (the piece was smaller than some of the extra large crickets I feed him...) Maybe he wanted to show me it and that was his way of letting me know he bit it off, LOL, I don't know... just STRANGE!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I know it sounds gross, but what you are describing is actually par for the course under the circumstances. Since you cut the rest of the necrotic tail off, it will most likely regenerate. This is part of how lizards autonomize their tails from injury, and happens naturally.

 

[nicolenadia]

hows it looking now?

Melissa Kaplan goes over tail autonomy in great detail. I recommend Band-Aid Brand "No Hurt" cleaning antiseptic foam in the light blue tube like bottle. Recently, my large male was scared by a large dog who was not supposed to be in the room. He dropped his tail about 3 hours after the confrontation. Melissa Kaplan recommends Iodine, but I am allergic to it. I soaked my male
in a clean tub of warm water and a few squirts of the foam. I tried bacatracin, but he was visibly uncomfortable with me even touching the area...since it was pure nerve endings...so I soaked him every other day and its healing very nice. I will throw up a picture if i can, and a picture of my sunglow who I bought with a regenerated tail. Its stumpy and not as beautiful, but Im just happy hes alive.
http://anapsid.org/