Crested Gecko Tail Injury

[ramanth]

My usual crested gecko forum has vanished, so I'm imploring to other herp owners.

Last night I took the girls out to weigh/hold them and found Alice's tail looked like this:

Is that a bite injury or something fungal/parasitic?

Both geckos weigh the same (16 grams). Alice is eating, drinking, and seems generally well.

I wish she'd drop the tail. :\

 

[Nanci]

I don't know the answer, but the gecko forums at Pangea and Repashy seem to be pretty active...

 

[katieam]

is she housed with another gecko? if so then it could be a tail nip and i would separate them immediately.

has she shed recently? it could be stuck shed. what you can do is ake a tupperwear container with papertowel in the bottom. use warm (should actually feel cold to the touch to you) water and fill it just so that is covers their feet. put the gecko in and then mist with the same temp water. put the lid on (dont leave her alone!) and leave her in there for a couple minutes.

if it is a stuck shed, i would do this a couple times a week and it should get better.

she might not drop the tail, that part could just fall off.

if it doesnt get better, definately go see a vet.

 

[bekers71]

Looks like retained shed. I have one crested that had some thing similar happen. I did the water thing like Katieam suggested. But when I took her out, I also put a thick coat of Vaseline on the tail tip and reapplied as she needed. The shed came off in a couple days and her tailed healed up just fine.

By the way, what gecko forum are you trying to get on to? I can't get Pangea to work today for some reason.

 

[waldo]

You can make them drop their tails if you aren't too squeamish, I've done it to my moms geckos in the case of a tail injury or in severe cases of floppy tail. I read about the technique on pangea and it is the most acceptable way to induce tail dropping.
You get a pair of pliers, grip the tail close to the body and squeeze hard, the gecko will drop the tail instantly with no harm done.

 

[bekers71]

You can make them drop their tails if you aren't too squeamish, I've done it to my moms geckos in the case of a tail injury or in severe cases of floppy tail. I read about the technique on pangea and it is the most acceptable way to induce tail dropping.
You get a pair of pliers, grip the tail close to the body and squeeze hard, the gecko will drop the tail instantly with no harm done.

I don't think I'd want to make them drop their tail for an injury quit like this. Although they can function just fine with out their tails, this looks like some thing that can be fixed. Just my opinion.

 

[ramanth]

Thanks for all the input!

I don't know the answer, but the gecko forums at Pangea and Repashy seem to be pretty active...

I was trying to access Pangea this morning, but I was getting a site error message too. I'm at work now and Pangea seems to be back up. I'll be sure to post.

 

[katieam]

i really wouldnt recommend making a gecko drop its tail. its very stressful for them. a lot more than you would think, and can cause them to become more succeptible to illness. that is a last resort...after the vet visit.

But yea, what bekers said, I've never tried the vasaline thing, but you never know.

 

[bekers71]

i really wouldnt recommend making a gecko drop its tail. its very stressful for them. a lot more than you would think, and can cause them to become more succeptible to illness. that is a last resort...after the vet visit.

But yea, what bekers said, I've never tried the vasaline thing, but you never know.

I agree 100%.

The vasaline is a water based jelly substance and is non toxic if lightly ingested. When it is in contact with lets say a scab, it moistens and loosens it causing it to fall off. So the concept is the stuck shed is like a scab and if you cover it with the vasaline it will begin to get soft and come off as the gecko walks and climbs around. I've used this method on stubborn stuck shed on snakes before and it works well.

 

[katieam]

bekers: U never would have thought to use that, but it makes sense. thanks for the tip

 

[ramanth]

Thanks for all the helpful tips.

I've been soaking it every night and applying vasoline. The black tip hasn't fallen off yet, but it's not spreading either, so I'm just keeping a close eye on it.

 

[katieam]

It looks a lot better. It's definately getting there, good job I bet she's a lot more comfortable now, that looked painful.