Photos of a Tail being dropped..

[im faster]

Okay its a sad sad day.. but.. you will get some cool information..
ok just got home and somehow a leo got lose..

i walked in the door and 2 seconds later I hear a scream.. look over and see the cat runnig away..
this is what i found..

 

[TranceZ]

Yeah its catches ya off guard when you see a gecko lose their tail. How does your geckos get lose? Don't your tubs sit flush with the bottom of the shelves in the rack?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Bummer.

 

[BrightReptiles]

So sad. Weird coincidence though, one of our babies got loose earlier and we only realized it when it started hissing at the cat.. scary part is its tub was top shelf, 6ft off the ground, and we found it on the complete other side of the room..

 

[M_surinamensis]

Truly excellent photos of the segmented rings of tissue, clearly showing how it breaks away along pre-determined planes in such a fashion that the remaining portion of the tail folds inwards, as the broken segments fan out.

 

[Repkyle]

Thats a real shame. Lucky it's just the tail and not alot worse.

How long should you expect the healing process to take? And what measures do you take? Just curious thanks for shearing.

 

[LZRDGRL]

A good research article to read about this is the following:

Higham, T. E., & Russell, A. P. (2010). Flip, flop and fly: modulated motor control and highly variable movement patterns of autotomized gecko tails. Biol. Lett., 6, 70-73. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0577


Abstract:

Many animals lose and regenerate appendages, and tail autotomy in lizards is an extremely well-studied example of this. Whereas the energetic, ecological and functional ramifications of tail loss for many lizards have been extensively documented, little is known about the behaviour and neuromuscular control of the autotomized tail. We used electromyography and high-speed video to quantify the motor control and movement patterns of autotomized tails of leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius). In addition to rhythmic swinging, we show that they exhibit extremely complex movement patterns for up to 30 min following autotomy, including acrobatic flips up to 3 cm in height. Unlike the output of most central pattern generators (CPGs), muscular control of the tail is variable and can be arrhythmic. We suggest that the gecko tail is well suited for studies involving CPGs, given that this spinal preparation is naturally occurring, requires no surgery and exhibits complex modulation.


Chrissy