Tails and Impaction

[boyd1955]

I am very interested to know how many peoples tegus have lost their tails ? ... Is it something that is more common in young tegus ? ... What have been the reasons for the tail being lost ?
Also how many people have had trouble with their tegus becoming impacted ... Has it been overcome by yourself or has it required a trip to the vets ... Do you know the reason for the impaction ... Do you think it was a rodent/fur problem, ingestion of substrate, or other reason ... Dietary or external ?
We are in an ideal position on these boards to collate this sort of information and give people some realistic views on these worries, rather than the cliched answers we seem to get out there which often don't really answer our questions

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I've never had experience with either one and hope that things continue on that track so I don't have to.

Both depend on the situation, dropping it's tail can happen at any age. I think it's mainly because of something traumatic, how much stress and or in danger it may be feeling at that time.

Impaction, the reasons for it are the same dehydration plays a role, diet and just plain old opportunity in which they find something they like (look, smell taste or what ever)and eat it. The outcome or whether or not it requires surgery depends on the size of the tegu, what they ate, it's size and or how much they ate.

 

[omgtaylorg]

As far as tail dropping, I have not personally experienced it but theres a few things it can happen from. Either from being a baby in a tank with other babies and it was bitten off on accident during feeding time (popular with ends of tails and toes). Also like Bubblz said traumatic experiences and stress, possibly having it slammed in the cage door, etc.. As for impaction, I HAVE experienced this with my adult female, and it was due to me being in a hurry and feeding her in the cage and having a piece of mulch stick to the food and her swallowing it. It lasted for about a week maybe less and she passed it on her own with me using my own home methods to help ease it out (luke warm baths 2 times a day and I believe the cod liver oil worked as well). It really just depends on how serious the impaction is as to whether or not you need a vets assistance or not. They can also become impacted by too much fur from a rat, so on that note dont feed to many rats lol simple as that. You only need a whole prey item once or twice a week so no need to overdue it. Make sure they are always hydrated as well, I always have a big enough water dish for them to completely fit in and I spray the guus down daily, they like to lick the falling water