Broken Tail!

[Zorak]

This morning I picked up my Cyclura cornuta to find his tail was broken. The skin was broken and tendons and such were hanging out. I have no idea how this happened. I assume he must have freaked out in his cage and somehow damaged his tail. The break was about 3 inches above the end of his tail.

When I called the vet he had me verify the bone was broken. Then he told me something I couldn't believe. He said that if I was to bring him in that he would just pull off the piece of tail that was broken and charge me a couple hundred dollars for it. He then told me I should just pull it off myself and then wrap the end for 3 days. He also said do not apply any sort of antibacterial solutions because it could keep the wound from healing.

This vet is the only vet in my area that is licensed for exotic animals and iguanas. I had a hard time believing what he told me. But after sitting there looking at Zorak's tail I finally made the decision to pull the piece of tail off. I yanked it off very quickly. There was very little blood at all. My wife put a bandage on the end of the tail and we used vet tape to hold it on.

Has anyone else ever experienced this sort of thing? And how did your vet have you handle it? I'm very sad and it was hard to do this because I didn't want to hurt my buddy. But I didn't want him whipping his tail around in his enclosure and hurting himself any further either. Thanks for any replies

[Zorak]

I also wanted to add that the vet also asked what size Zorak is. I told him that he's 12" SVL. The vet then told me that there was something wrong with Zorak and that he's way undersized for being 3 years old. He said they are sexually mature at 3. I know this to be completely false.

Male Cyclura cornuta cornuta reach sexual maturity between 5 and 9 years of age. They do not grow the same as green iguanas and take much longer than many of the other species of iguana to reach sexual maturity. Why do I have such crappy luck with vets and my cornuta? I can't seem to find one that has a clue about anything other than green iguanas.

[prismwolf]

It's hard enough finding a vet for greens...so finding a vet for cyclura is even harder. You shouldn't be surprised.

I've done a total of 5 tail amputations myself on greens. As long as the break isn't too far up the tail that would require stitching it closed it is a relatively easy procedure if you know what you're doing. Tails are made for autonomy and this is why there was very little bleeding. The blood vessels and nerve endings are closed off and shut down very quickly. It's harder on us than them... .

Good luck keeping it wrapped...but the vet is right. You shouldn't need to put anything on the tail...but I do a 3-day 3x daily soak in a diluted betadine solution anyway when I don't know where it's been before I found it broken.

He'll be fine... ;D

[Zorak]

I have Zorak in a glass tank in the house until his tail heals. He's pretty inactive normally so I have not had any trouble with his bandage. I'm just hoping nothing gets infected. My wife almost passed out when I pulled off the broke piece of tail. All the tendons and stuff hanging out didn't sit well with her. Here he his recouping in his tank.

[prismwolf]

Poor baby. He'll bounce back in no-time...:-)

[ChamZilla]

you mentioned you kept him outside. Do you keep him outside all night long also? Iguana's are very inactive in the night time. And maybe some other animal bit him. A cat can take a pretty good chunk out of an iguana, or even break a tail off. Maybe something spooked him and he freeked out and did hurt himself. Just a thought.

And the tail will be fine. I would take the bandages off though. I have saw many tails fall off or be amputated and never wraped them. If there is any bacteria in there it could be accelerated by keeping the air from getting to it. I would follow with the dilluted betadine solution like Prism suggested and he will bounce back in no time.

A lot of vets that are even certified for exotics don't really know much when it comes to drastic different species of reptiles. One near me is certified reptile vet but he advised me to feed animal protein when a rescue of mine was severly underweight. I came online as soon as I got home and found that animal protein isn't the best thing to give them. But also like you he is the only reptile vet around here.

Wishing you luck and if you have any questions feel free to post again.

[Zorak]

I only keep Zorak outside during the day. Once the sun goes down I bring him inside for the night. It's not hot enough out yet. He needs 65-70 degrees F at night.

I really looked at his tail good. I don't think anything bit him. I'm positive he just freaked out at something and hurt himself. I keep his caged in a fenced in area so there are no other animals that could come wandering around. There are a number of roaming dogs in my area so I'd never leave him outside the fenced in yard.

The vet told me to keep the bandage on the end of his tail for 3 days. Then I'm supposed to take it off and leave it off. I put betadine on it when I first found him. That was before I talked to the vet. He insisted I don't put any type of antibacterial stuff on it. I would have thought at first that it would help cause it would be dirty from his enclosure.

EDIT: I just took the bandage off his tail a day early. Everything you guys have said is what I've found when researching how to care for a broken tail. Here is a pic of it. See how beautiful he is with the blue coloring throughout his body? I'm just glad the break was near the end of his tail.

[ChamZilla]

Hey there,

Yes you are lucky that it was at the end of the tail, breaks much further up can be more of a pain. Some vets don't TOTALLY know what they are talking about. Some of them are perfect and know almost everything but most can get by with the basics. This is why we gave you great information on proper care for the little guys tail

He does look good and the tail is coming along beautifully! Just carry on with the advice given until it is totally healed up and he should have no problems. He does look beautiful and he is really lucky that you are able to get him out everyday