# Kinky tail



## Aidenb (Jul 21, 2014)

What would've caused this? She has proper UVB and gets lots of calcium.


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## Logan (Jul 21, 2014)

did her tail get shut in something? it looks kinda cool


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## Derek Doel (Jul 21, 2014)

Mine has the same thing with his tail. It was like that when he arrived last year


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## Roadkill (Jul 22, 2014)

Not trying to be a smartass, but definitely trying to make a point: what is proper UVB and how much calcium is "lots"?
In other vertebrates, kinking to the tail like that can have other underlying causes, but typically in reptiles, repeated kinking of the vertebral column is a sign of bone disease, and typically improper calcium levels at that.


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## Aidenb (Jul 22, 2014)

She has a powersun mercury vapor bulb on at least 11 hours a day that she's with 12" of as well as gets mice with every meal and all food is dipped in either a liquid calcium supplement or coated in a powdered supplement.


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## Roadkill (Jul 23, 2014)

Ok, that's a good start. However, it doesn't mean that her UVB and calcium levels still are not possibly part of the problem. I hate to say it, but these days, knowing how important UVB is and how unreliable the products on the market are, it is a very good idea to have a means of measuring the actual UVB exposure at the reptile's point of view. It's also being argued that one bulb is simply not enough (especially if that one bulb is basically the basking bulb).

However, beyond this, there are a number of factors involved in the UVB/Vitamin D3/calcium metabolism axis that many people seem ignorant of. Giving UVB and hopefully supplementing with sufficient calcium is not going to ensure that you're tegu has healthy calcium levels. First off, in the whole Vitamin D3 production-calcium metabolism pathways, there are 4 key organs involved: the skin, the intestine, the kidneys, and the liver. Disease in any of these organs can disrupt Vitamin D3 synthesis, and that will affect calcium uptake. Likewise, neither are these processes instantaneous or independent of other variables. Your tegu doesn't just get a UVB exposure and in seconds produce bioactive Vitamin D3, the photoisomerization takes some time, and there is a subsequent step where thermal levels have to adequate to promote another conformational change.

And if this isn't enough to make your head swim, getting back to my original statement, we are unsure what is enough UVB exposure and enough calcium intake in a tegu to gauge accurately without taking a blood sample and measuring these things directly to say "whatever you're doing is sufficient/insufficient". So before settling on the idea that it can't be UVB or calcium related, it would be prudent to get a blood workup to make sure that is indeed the case. 

It's also possible that this condition was representative of husbandry earlier in her life. Has this developed while she's been under your care or did you acquire her with it already like that?


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## Aidenb (Jul 23, 2014)

She's had it since I got her. No leg or jaw issues, she feeds daily with gusto and sheds great. I have outdoor pens built for my tortoises and she should be big enough to go outside in one of those for some real sun.


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## Aidenb (Jul 23, 2014)

She also basks under the bulb a good 6-7 hours a day. She rarely goes over to the cool side of her enclosure.


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## Roadkill (Jul 24, 2014)

Believe it or not, that's not really a good sign. In the wild, tegus bask for only a few hours each day. To spend most of their waking hours basking is a pretty good indication that your temperatures are probably too low. Secondly, more basking under the UVB bulb, particularly of a higher intensity UVB, does NOT mean more vitamin D3 is photosynthesized in the sense that people would think (it does, technically, but more takes place - follow along....). In the biological pathway of provitamin D3 to calcitriol (the biologically active form), there are a number of steps, as stated previously. The step that takes place in the skin with UVB is the photochemical synthesis of previtamin D3 from provitamin D3: this is a relatively rapid process. The next step is the conversion of previtamin D3 to vitamin D3, which is a thermochemical reaction that takes time and heat (ie. a slower process). Once sufficient levels of previtamin D3 are attained, however, that UVB continues to photoreact with it (the previtamin D3) to further photochemically convert it into inert tachysterol and lumisterol. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, this is how the animals regulate the vitamin D3 levels (it's lipid soluble basically meaning that it can build up in the body until toxic levels are attained). Unfortunately, if there isn't sufficient *time* and heat available then what can be happening is an endless cycle of previtamin D3 to tachysterol/lumisterol and back again without letting the cycle break to go on to finally producing sufficient calcitriol. This is why in academic circles they're beginning to argue for low level background UVB, and multiple heating opportunities, both with and without UVB.

This may be moot however, as maybe your tegu is just exhibiting a pre-existing condition that you have remedied (you will NEVER lose that kinking, now). To be certain, though, you really need to get a blood work up done.


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## Aidenb (Jul 27, 2014)

I guess basking might be the wrong word. I've got a strip light for UVB over most of her enclosure as well now and she spends most of her time on the warmer end of her enclosure when resting. Which is directly under the mercury vapor bulb. I use a temp gun and basking surface temp is 120 in the warmest spot with lower temp areas around it to bask between 95 and 110 as well.


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## Aidenb (Jul 27, 2014)

She's growing well and not exhibiting any more tails "waves" and has access to outdoors now in the tortoise pens when they're inside so she seems good, healthy, and active.


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## Roadkill (Jul 27, 2014)

Ok, that sounds a lot better, however, you point out something I see a lot in hobbyists that kind of boggles my mind. Not to be mean, but....if you have a temp gun, and you're potentially concerned about a health issue....what's with measuring the temperature of the enclosure and not the tegu? I realize most people give stats on the enclosure but it is erroneous to think enclosure temperature = tegu's temperature. What's most important is your tegu's body temperature: they typically like to regulate their temperature pretty much like a mammal during active hours (albeit with a little more variance): a good healthy active range is 34-38 degrees Celsius.


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## brica (Aug 6, 2014)

My tegu had recently got a link in his tail and I'm not gonna lie I didn't think much of it, but by this post I'm guessing I shouldn't leave it completely unattended


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