Ive never seen anything like this?

[Rainnovice93]

Went to my boyfriends moms house and his little sister has a leopard gecko. She ran up to me cause she knows I have a lot of geckos and was like OMG MY GECKOS TAIL LOOKS LIKE ITS FALLING OFF AND HAS SAND ALL STUCK TO IT!! (yes I know i've told them sand isn't good and why...they haven't had it very long) Anyway I was expecting it to be dropping its tail and where it was open for the sand to be stuck to it but...its the tip of the tail...It looks like its been like ran over by a car or mummified...its completely flat..nothing ozzing from the tail. The rest of the tail looks fine. She said it had just eaten some crickets and it looked full of energy..looks fine other than the tail. Anyone know whats up with it? BTW sry about the photo quality. All I had here to take pics with is my ipod.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

It's tail rot, it's in the process of falling off. It's important to observe the gecko and make sure the tail does fall off, otherwise it'll become necrotic (which can lead to death). Usually if the tail stays that way for more than a few days, you'll want to take the gecko to a vet to have the tail tip properly amputated.

By the way, that gecko does not look very good. It's likely there's husbandry issues, and the gecko may not be getting properly supplemented. Tail rot often can be caused by dirty living conditions, or improper temperature which leads to the gecko's immune system getting compromised. You also want to check to see if the gecko is properly hydrated, as in the gecko having clean water & access to moist hide.

 

[Rainnovice93]

okay thanks!! I know she has an under the tank heater for it..I told her she needs to get rid of the sand for sure...Ill let her know.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

+1 to what onlinegeckos said. The guy probably tried to drop his tail and it didn't
come off fully so it is still attached but not connected to an adequate blood supply to keep the tissue alive. A trip to the vet is probably in or if the tail doesn't fall of in a few days.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[GreatGeckos]

Do you know how long the tail has been like that?

 

[Rainnovice93]

It was like that for 2 days while they went out of town. I started questioning her about care and she was doing literally EVERYTHING wrong.....People at petstores are ignorant...They never give people proper care instructions...she was using lights with no UTH. No calcium!...Sand...and then when her friends gecko got something wrong with its eye she took the lights off and was like wellll he probably gets heat from the window....Got everything fixed now...His/her Tail fell off and looks good where it fell off at...She got some calcium and reptile carpet instead of sand. I also gave her one of my old UTH and got it hooked up to a lamp dimmer...Should be all set now *smh*