# Please Help, serious or not, just need HELP



## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 12, 2008)

Recently, my red tegu has been coming out, and it looked like he was done with his hibernation, so I went up to his enclosure, and looked in side, I noticed that he pooped about 4 times, I don't know how long this has been going on for, but I really didn't have a chance to look into his enclosure in detail because of my homework, i really didn't bother either, because i cleary thought that he was hibernating, 
well, like i said he's been coming out since thursday, so i thought that i would clean his enclosure, and make a video of how to set it up, so i took Vegas out, and put him in a box, and made the video, as i took him out, and talked a bit about him, then right in middle of the video, i noticed one of his toes
it looked like a bad shed or whatever, then when i looked closer, i realized that it was completely coming OFF!!! it was basically hanging from a piece of shed
i really didn't bother feeding him anything during the winter, because i thought that he was hibernating, and sleeping for the whole time, then today, i noticed that he was in shed, and hibernating at the same time, and now his toe is coming off, i tried to feed some fruit while he was in hibernation, but like most tegus, he didn't eat it
so what do i do now, should i really care about it? or do i do something about it, i live in a very Asian cultured area, so i don't know any vets that will take care of reptiles


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## COWHER (Jan 12, 2008)

whats your humidity like? When i got my tegu he had a few toes that were white and fleshy like they were rotting off because of poor humidity and a bad shed. i soaked him everyday in a warm bath and then let him sit in a Tupperware box with a bit of olive oil in it just enough for him to slosh it around his toes i also kept his humidity up and by the end of a week or two of doing that everyday i was able to rub extremely gently and get the ring of shed off and now his toes are doing fine. no claws on those toes but he has toes none the less. maybe some pictures of it would help us.


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## nat (Jan 12, 2008)

Is his toe almost completely off or is the toe tip still alive? (is it black and dead looking for still a regular color). I would at least definately soak him to get a better idea of what's going on. If his toe is black and shrivled (i.e. dead) don't try to remove it but let it come off on its own. If its not, gently use a q-tip, luke warm water and perhaps even mineral oil to soften the skin and get it off (you may have to reaply over a couple of days, if its a really bad shed you probably won't be able to get it all off in 15 minutes). 

pictures would help to assess what needs to be done exactly. 

also, Vancouver has several excellent reptile vets, I can try to find a list of contacts for you and I know a couple of reptile rescues in Vancouver / Richmond area and I can ask them what vets they use. I know they are there though!


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 12, 2008)

the humidity is around 50%, but i spray his enlcosure everyday, and give him a bath every sunday, of course i didn't do this while he was in his hibernation, i wasn't so sure at first, so i touched the toe to see what happened to it, then what i realized it was just hanging from a piece of shed
as for the colour, it's like brown, i have heard of the olive oil method before, but i thought that warm bath, and misting would help, so didn't bother, but yes, i thik i'll do that


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 12, 2008)

oh, and a list of reptile vets in Vancouver would be awesome


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## COWHER (Jan 12, 2008)

I think you should keep the humidity up a little higher like around 70% and also you should still keep up with the misting even when he is hibernation. In the wild it doesn't stop raining just because a tegu is sleeping. The humidity thing is hard to keep up with. I still have issues with humidity and I still haven't found a method I like for keeping it humid but we get better as we go.. Any way sorry to hear about you tegus toe.


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## olympus (Jan 12, 2008)

When my tegus toe was coming off I put bacitracin on it daily after cleaning it with water and new skin started to form and I saved the toe.


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 12, 2008)

thanks for the info and the help guys, i think i'll give him another warm bath tomorrow, and see how it goes, if not, i'll try the olive oil method


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## VARNYARD (Jan 12, 2008)

This is what is called ringed toes in lizards by a few of us. It is when the shed rings the toe and does not completely shed off. This causes a lack of blood to the toe, and the blood flow is often completely cut off to the toe. 

In your case, I would think the toe is dead; you said it was just hanging. Do you see the ring of shed that cut off the blood flow? This toe will either fall off on its own, or it will need to be removed by a Vet. 

It is best to check all toes and the tail on an animal after shedding. However, the tail is one of the last body parts to shed. You might need to assist in the shedding process if you see the rings starting. I also agree, the humidity needs to be higher and not kept any dryer during the hibernation period.


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