Tail Injury!

k9monkey

New Member
I came home yesterday and found Jabba had a large cut on his tail. He is a one year old veiled. Other than this he is perfectly healthy. He is eating well and climbs all over his cage. I would love your thoughts.
 

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Here is the rest of him. He puffs up when I go to take his picture.
 

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Ow. Any idea how that happened? Maybe fill out the how to ask for help form or post some pictures of his cage and someone can give some insight. If I were you I'd probably take him to a vet. Flushing it with H2O2 and using antibiotic ointment is accteptable I think, reading from another post. But it really looks like a whole bunch of skin was scraped off or something. :(
 
Yeah, I'm thinking severe burn or abrasion as well. I would use saline solution instead of regular water to "wash it out" if you can. You might want to put some antibiotic ointment (like Neosporin) on it.

You need to find out how that happened. I agree with filling out the form and posting pictures. People here are good at locating problems.
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - He is a veiled and I have had him about 8 months
Handling - I tend to leave him in his cage, he is a hisser and bitter so not a lot of handling.
Feeding - I feed him about 5-7 large crickets every other day. They are dusted with the calcium powder and are gut loaded with the dry cricket food from PetSmart.
Supplements - I dust the crickets with Rep-Cal each time I feed him.
Watering - I have a water pump hooked up to mister heads and a drip line. Each day I plug this in for between 2-5 minutes and it thuroughly soaks the plants and branches. He wanders over and drinks from the dripping water. I also hand mist Jabba each day. He doesnt like getting wet so he tried to hide from me.
Fecal Description - His droppings are oval shaped brown droppings, there are also yellowing white droppings
History - No really history for him. I got him as a very little guy from the local pet store. He is now about 8" from nose to start of tail. Much longer if you include his tail.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an 18x18x30 screen cage sitting up on a stand so the top is about 7' off the ground.
Lighting - Lights are on 12 hours a day. I have a UVA and UVB bulb in a hood sitting on top of the cage. I also have a normal 60 watt bulb for basking. It is on top as well and provides a good spot for him to bask. It is a good 6" from the nearest branch so he cant get too close.
Temperature - The cage stays at 72-75 degrees during the day. The basking area is closer to 80. At night the temps dip to around 65. I have small digital thermometers in the cage to measure the temps.
Humidity - This is probibly my most frustrating issue. The humidity in CO is low to begin with. In his cage it varies from 30% to 50% depending on how long since watering. I have a digital humidity meter in the cage. I use my watering schedule and misting to keep the humidity up as best I can.
Plants - I have a live corn plant in the cage and a live pothos hanging from the top for him to hang out in if he wants.
Placement - The cage is in my office. I have a redirector over the floor vent near him so it does not blow air on him. There is a ceiling fan in the room. Not high traffic but we like to go in and look at him. As stated above the top of the cage is about 7' off the ground.
Location - Colorado

Current Problem - As you can see in the photo he has a bad cut on his tail. I dont know of any way he would have burned it as suggested previously since there are not any lights that close to the cage. I am going to take him to the vet and see what they say. Anyone in the Parker area of Colorado have a recomended vet?

Thanks,
k9monkey
 
Aw man that looks pretty bad. I would try to keep it clean and keep an eye on it..apply ointment like the others said or bring him to a vet... that's definitely not something you want to leave alone.
 
Great news. I took him to the vet today and after some ointment and antibiotics he will be fine. The doctor thinks he cut it on something and it just spread from there. He is going to be fine. It also means I get to hold him more with is cool.

K9Monkey
 
Just a couple improvement you might want to make to your husbantry.
1.Cage is way too small, me needs a 24x24x48
2.You need to make a decent gutload, the store brands aren't all that good.You can get "cricket Crack" at Tiki tiki, a site sponsor, but you still need some greens. Search on "gutload"
3. he needs more food variety than just crickets. Search on "food"
4. Your temps are to low Search on "temperatures"
5.You need to mist a lot more

Hope this helps

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - He is a veiled and I have had him about 8 months
Handling - I tend to leave him in his cage, he is a hisser and bitter so not a lot of handling.
Feeding - I feed him about 5-7 large crickets every other day. They are dusted with the calcium powder and are gut loaded with the dry cricket food from PetSmart.
Supplements - I dust the crickets with Rep-Cal each time I feed him.
Watering - I have a water pump hooked up to mister heads and a drip line. Each day I plug this in for between 2-5 minutes and it thuroughly soaks the plants and branches. He wanders over and drinks from the dripping water. I also hand mist Jabba each day. He doesnt like getting wet so he tried to hide from me.
Fecal Description - His droppings are oval shaped brown droppings, there are also yellowing white droppings
History - No really history for him. I got him as a very little guy from the local pet store. He is now about 8" from nose to start of tail. Much longer if you include his tail.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - I have an 18x18x30 screen cage sitting up on a stand so the top is about 7' off the ground.
Lighting - Lights are on 12 hours a day. I have a UVA and UVB bulb in a hood sitting on top of the cage. I also have a normal 60 watt bulb for basking. It is on top as well and provides a good spot for him to bask. It is a good 6" from the nearest branch so he cant get too close.
Temperature - The cage stays at 72-75 degrees during the day. The basking area is closer to 80. At night the temps dip to around 65. I have small digital thermometers in the cage to measure the temps.
Humidity - This is probibly my most frustrating issue. The humidity in CO is low to begin with. In his cage it varies from 30% to 50% depending on how long since watering. I have a digital humidity meter in the cage. I use my watering schedule and misting to keep the humidity up as best I can.
Plants - I have a live corn plant in the cage and a live pothos hanging from the top for him to hang out in if he wants.
Placement - The cage is in my office. I have a redirector over the floor vent near him so it does not blow air on him. There is a ceiling fan in the room. Not high traffic but we like to go in and look at him. As stated above the top of the cage is about 7' off the ground.
Location - Colorado

Current Problem - As you can see in the photo he has a bad cut on his tail. I dont know of any way he would have burned it as suggested previously since there are not any lights that close to the cage. I am going to take him to the vet and see what they say. Anyone in the Parker area of Colorado have a recomended vet?

Thanks,
k9monkey
 
Interesting feedback.

I am building him a new cage. It will be 48h 24d 36w. I knew he needed a new cage as he got bigger.

As for the temps. I have been reading the forums and 72-75 is what I found for him with the upper 60's at night. He basks in an area at 85+. What temps are you recommending?

Water I know is an issue. He gets plenty to drink but the cage is not staying humid enough. As I build his new home I hope to solve this by adding more plants, adding a fogger and placing some plexiglass around the top portion of the enclosure to help keep some of the humidity in with him.

As for food, I am reading up on as much as I can so I can vary the diet a bit. The vet says he looks great, other than his poor tail.
 
Maybe helpful advice? It is wonderful that you are doing a new cage for him. For now wrap 2 or 3 sides of his cage with a shower curtain, it helps hold humidity. i missed that you had the basking spot, I thought his cage only got to 75. I am glad the vet thinks he looks good, that always makes we owners feel better don't you think?
I wasn't trying to be less that helpful, I just had to go to work. I volunteer at the local hospital. I wanted to give you info as fast as I could.


Interesting feedback.

I am building him a new cage. It will be 48h 24d 36w. I knew he needed a new cage as he got bigger.

As for the temps. I have been reading the forums and 72-75 is what I found for him with the upper 60's at night. He basks in an area at 85+. What temps are you recommending?

Water I know is an issue. He gets plenty to drink but the cage is not staying humid enough. As I build his new home I hope to solve this by adding more plants, adding a fogger and placing some plexiglass around the top portion of the enclosure to help keep some of the humidity in with him.

As for food, I am reading up on as much as I can so I can vary the diet a bit. The vet says he looks great, other than his poor tail.
 
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