Tegu Swallowed Own Tail

[DeathbyLol]

So my house is infested with fleas and I had to move my menagerie of pets over to my parents' house while I bug bombed it. I expected them to be there only around 7 hours while the bomb went off and I cleaned up after it. However, the bug bomb only seemed to anger the fleas and a day turned into two. After the second bug bomb I felt the flea numbers were down enough for me to bring at least my reptiles home. When I went to my tegus container, I saw it was empty and she'd left a trail of destruction behind her. Luckily, everyone else was okay and accounted for. I went to look for her and eventually my mother came home and helped me find her under a book shelf. I used my worried mom strength to lift the bookshelf off and away from her only to almost vomit seeing that my beloved tegus tail was missing, leaving an open wound. My mother assured me there was no way removing the shelf had done it before I went into a full panic attack and her statement was affirmed by the tip of her tail sticking out from my tegu's mouth. That gave me a new reason to panic, thinking she had bitten off her own tail which one of my leopard geckos has already done (I literally caught my leo with her tail in her mouth still attached). My mother calmed me down enough for me to catch her and put her in the travel tank I have for her. I got my mom to call the vet for me as I was shaking and stuttering too much to talk on the phone. We drove her over and after what seemed like an entire day the man came in. He told us we should let her try to digest it because no one believed that I'd seen it hanging out of her mouth moments before. My mom luckily got him to agree to put her under and remove the tail. He was amazed to find that, as I had said, literally half her tail was down her gullet. After what seemed like another forever she woke up in my arms and groggily began trying to find a place to hide. This morning she is home asleep after eating a bit of food covered in oral antibiotics last night and I'm dreading leaving her for class but I thought I should share this story as much as possible because we believe her falling from the table her tank was on was what broke the tail so if you have a tank your tegu could possibly escape from, put it on the floor. Thanks..

 

[Deac77]

Why was surgery needed to remove it?

 

[TheTeguNovice]

Craziest story I've heard suggestion well taken.

 

[bfb345]

I would have left it reptiles that drop there tails are know to eat their tails and others as well and there going to need to have extra food to regrow it and the tail is a great source of stored nutrients. For future reference if you ever have a Leo drop it's tail and it's still squirming a lot feed it to that one or another instead of throwing it away or paying for costly veterinarian services!

 

[DeathbyLol]

It wasn't surgery, they just anesthetized her to pull the tail out of her tummy.

Why was surgery needed to remove it?

 

[DeathbyLol]

The leo didn't drop her tail, she chewed it off straight from her body even though she had plenty of food. We removed the tail because it was extremely long and very rigid, as their tails are, and she was unable to eat or drink past it. I don't have a picture because I was on the verge of fainting but the tip of her tail was stuck in the back of her mouth. She was having trouble trying to swallow it and it seemed to irritate her a lot. She wasn't cut open or anything, they just pulled it out by the amount of the tip that was in her mouth.

I would have left it reptiles that drop there tails are know to eat their tails and others as well and there going to need to have extra food to regrow it and the tail is a great source of stored nutrients. For future reference if you ever have a Leo drop it's tail and it's still squirming a lot feed it to that one or another instead of throwing it away or paying for costly veterinarian services!

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

If it was too long to fully swallow and digest, and was sticking out of her throat. I understand removing it but if that wasnt the case then pulling it back out of her stomach may interupt digestive enzymes and so it would be a good idea to give a probiotic.

 

[DeathbyLol]

It was seriously like half her tail and at least an inch was sticking out into her mouth. I was thinking that too, especially since she's on antibiotics right now. Do you know of a good way to go about that? Thank you

If it was too long to fully swallow and digest, and was sticking out of her throat. I understand removing it but if that wasnt the case then pulling it back out of her stomach may interupt digestive enzymes and so it would be a good idea to give a probiotic.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

just go to a pet supply or feed store, probiotic of a dog is fine, it could come in a pill form or a liquid. if pill, then just hide it in some food or crush it up.

 

[DeathbyLol]

Thank you so much! I'll get right on that

just go to a pet supply or feed store, probiotic of a dog is fine, it could come in a pill form or a liquid. if pill, then just hide it in some food or crush it up.

 

[DeathbyLol]

An update: So she's almost completely back to normal already. It's scabbing up well and i'm making sure to keep it clean. She's lost weight but that may be a good thing because she had quite the belly. She's lethargic as well but not terribly.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

hmmm losing weight and being lethargic is not normal for such a simple thing to happen to her. :/ Is she not eating? she really should be eating as her body will need nutrition to help itself heal.