New tegu, tail problem

[chrisroth1]

Hi, i just purchased my tegu on sunday from a reptile show and he has the end of his tail broken about an inch. The broken part is barely hanging on and it looks like a little bit of shed left next to the broken part of the tail. He is also missing two toe nails but they looked healed up already. What should I do with him about the tail. It is not bleeding or anything. He keeps burrowing under the mulch i have in the tank and I don't want to disturb him too much since I just moved him in a 4 hour road trip. Should i snap the rest of the tail off and apply some anti-septic to it or leave it to fall off on its own?

I don't think I can get the shed off without irratating the tail where it is broken. I was hoping since is he under the mulch the humidity levels under there will help with the sheding. It looks like most of the shedding is done.

I started him off with some dusted crickets incase some of the broken parts are due to MBD. I am hoping to take care of the tail without having to take him to a vet, but there is one in my town i can take him to if need be.

I can take some pics of the tail but he is currently burrowed and I don't want to dig him up and stress him out more than he needs to be. He is currently housed in a 40 gallon breeder until he grows larger. His basking area is around 90-95 degrees ground temp (which i am currently rasing the the ground level with a platform to get him closer to the light so he can reach around 100 degrees), the hot end is around 83-87 ground temp, ambiant 84 degrees and a cool side of 75 degrees ambiant with two hides and about 3 inches of susbrate for digging.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/chrisroth1/DSC00500.jpg

[holygouda]

Not really sure what you should do about the tail since you don't have a clear pic of it. I think your best bet would be to take him to the vet if you are really concerned. If not, I probably would not try to break it off. Somehow in nature they seem to heal without humans sitting there breaking off the damaged ends for them. :)

As for dusting the crickets I would always dust anything that is not a whole prey item(mice, rats, quail, chicks etc)!

As far as MBD, I have never encountered it before but I cannot imagine it happening to a lizard that young(I could be wrong). Also, there isnt any bone in their tail so I doubt MBD was the cause of the broken tail(and the toes). Keep him on a proper diet and you should not have a problem with that(MBD).

Good luck, mate.

[chrisroth1]

I figured I could just the bad part of his tail just fall off. I didn't think about how young he is and MBD shouldn't have set in yet. (I was just worried because a friend of mine had an iguana that i think got it because he always had broken toes and his jaw seemed broken).

[holygouda]

I believe iguanas are far different from tegus. They are vegetarians. If they don't get properly supplemented food, they are screwed. :)

You are much much better off with a tegu. I wouldn't take a green iguana if someone gave me the lizard, cage and everything, and 2 years supply of fresh lettuce. haha Surely it was a green iguana because those are the most readily accessible and impulsively bought...

Good luck with him, if you haven't fallen in love with him yet, you will soon enough!

[chrisroth1]

Yeah, it was a green iguana. I had one also back in highschool and they are cool too, he grew to about 6 feet fortuantly I worked for a supermarket and had bags full of veggie clippings to feed him

[Johelian]

I wouldnt leave it attached, in case it ends up causing necrosis or something. Neither would I just yank it off - if the risk of extra injury isnt high enough, your tegu wont forget. Take him to a vet - at the worst it will be amputated, at the best he will suggest to you what course of action to take.