My 6 month old tegu appears to have a broken finger.  I noticed yesterday that it was bent backwords and it did not seem to be bothering her.  Today it is turning black and again does not seem to be bothering her.  What should I do?

Cisco at December 28, 2010 at 10:28 PM

My 6 month old tegu appears to have a broken finger.  I noticed yesterday that it was bent backwords and it did not seem to be bothering her.  Today it is turning black and again does not seem to be bothering her.  What should I do?

I would suggest a visit to the vets it is infected or swollen

The toe ended up falling off.  The toe next to it now has started to do the same thing.  The vet insists there was some sort of trauma, but I dont think so.  Blood tests looked good, She is eating and drinking and still does not seem to be in pain.  I am at a loss.  Now a toe on the other front foot is starting to look bad.  Please does anyone have any suggestions? 

Hey, im worried for your tegu, i had a tegu that had gangrene in its tail, and i feel like this could possibly be whats wrong with yours. their fingers are very small when young, and even a small trauma could close the veins. mine had a small kink in its tail that i bought it with, and it was doing fine for a while, then bam, it got gangrene that spread very very quickly. i couldnt get to any specialist vet i had to wait 2 days for a appointment on the second day it spread 3 or 4 inches up its tail, i removed the rotting section it was horrible and black inside, so i just took a deep breath and broke off less than a inch above the rotted part at a fracture point in its tail.. i suppose it was maybe 2 days later, i got the meds from the vet, he told me if i hadnt done that, he could have lost alot more tail or died. my point is, i think veins collapsed in its hand and a few fingers are falling off because they have no circulation... which can cause OR IS the cause of gangrene. my lizard needed antibiotics i gave it every day orally, and also the doctor gave him anti-biotic shots. please, get anti-biotics from your vet before this turns into gangrene.

Thanks for the info.  She has been on anti-biotics for one week now.  No other changes.  She has eaten one mouse (fuzzie) and drinking a little.  Not active at all while in her cage.

You are  right. But antibiotics and warm soaks are about all you can do. Most of the time, this is caused by a bad shed.

Good im glad you got it anti-biotics. Thats all you need cisco, it should be fine. If it spreads more the anti-biotics arent working (gangrene can be VERY powerful bacteria) and it may need to be amputated by a vet.  BUT I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT. especially for the fact that its been so long and theres been no other changes. the fact the lizard isnt very active could be that the anti-biotic dose is too much even... contact your doctor about that, it should be eating OK on anti-biotics, offer it its favorite food well its sick (usually mice due to it "tasting" better because of them being high in protein) more chance of it eating its favored food. Make sure it basks in UVB light and make certain it stays warmer so it can metabolise the anti-biotics. even if you have to make its colder side of the tank warmer. make certain the entire tank is at least 80 degrees for one week. the hottest side still should not be over 100-110, all im saying is dont have a spot where it can get too cold. it MUST metabolise the antibiotics to get better. Also, has your vet told you to take away its subtrate ?? When the bad fingers fall off it can bleed and get subtrate stuck in the wounds. make sure you sterilize the tank, and put down news paper instead of subtrate, and give it a hide it can fit in, so it cant dig in the subtrate and get subtrate stuck in its wounds.  If it doesnt hybernate, you can just keep using news paper after it gets better even (they do like to dig, so dont expect it to not tear it up) its alot cleaner, theyre easier to clean after if you give them news paper instead (thats what i did for all the monitor lizards ive owned), after the whole vet incident with my tegu when the vet told me i couldnt have subtrate in its tank, my tegu got over it real quick that it didnt have subtrate.. sometimes when i went to take him out for feeding, if his head was under the subtrate he would huff and whip his tail or get vicious, now, even if i remove his hide well hes in his hide, he kind of looks up, then see's its me and is fine. Sometimes i feel like letting them burrow and then going into their cage to clean, or take them out to feed them outside the tank, or anything like that, makes them feel like your violating their territory... if you have a hide for them, and DONT let them burrow, for some reason for me, that helped mine turn into a big puppy dog much faster. sorry for typing so much, need any help let me know..

I would take the tegu to a Vet  other wise the tegu may lose its toe .    warm soaks will help and topical antibiotics on the infected toe..

mangledsteel at January 20, 2011 at 10:02 PM

Hey, im worried for your tegu, i had a tegu that had gangrene in its tail, and i feel like this could possibly be whats wrong with yours. their fingers are very small when young, and even a small trauma could close the veins. mine had a small kink in its tail that i bought it with, and it was doing fine for a while, then bam, it got gangrene that spread very very quickly. i couldnt get to any specialist vet i had to wait 2 days for a appointment on the second day it spread 3 or 4 inches up its tail, i removed the rotting section it was horrible and black inside, so i just took a deep breath and broke off less than a inch above the rotted part at a fracture point in its tail.. i suppose it was maybe 2 days later, i got the meds from the vet, he told me if i hadnt done that, he could have lost alot more tail or died. my point is, i think veins collapsed in its hand and a few fingers are falling off because they have no circulation... which can cause OR IS the cause of gangrene. my lizard needed antibiotics i gave it every day orally, and also the doctor gave him anti-biotic shots. please, get anti-biotics from your vet before this turns into gangrene.

hi, can i ask what antibiotics and in what dosage you gave your tegu for the gangrene?  mine has what looks to be wet gangrene in its tail and i want to make sure i have the proper antibiotics before breaking its tail to stop the infection.  thank you very much for your help.  experienced reptile vets are virtually non-existent where i'm from so i need to be prepared to treat it myself.

jbmaca at April 29, 2012 at 6:07 AM

mangledsteel at January 20, 2011 at 10:02 PM

Hey, im worried for your tegu, i had a tegu that had gangrene in its tail, and i feel like this could possibly be whats wrong with yours. their fingers are very small when young, and even a small trauma could close the veins. mine had a small kink in its tail that i bought it with, and it was doing fine for a while, then bam, it got gangrene that spread very very quickly. i couldnt get to any specialist vet i had to wait 2 days for a appointment on the second day it spread 3 or 4 inches up its tail, i removed the rotting section it was horrible and black inside, so i just took a deep breath and broke off less than a inch above the rotted part at a fracture point in its tail.. i suppose it was maybe 2 days later, i got the meds from the vet, he told me if i hadnt done that, he could have lost alot more tail or died. my point is, i think veins collapsed in its hand and a few fingers are falling off because they have no circulation... which can cause OR IS the cause of gangrene. my lizard needed antibiotics i gave it every day orally, and also the doctor gave him anti-biotic shots. please, get anti-biotics from your vet before this turns into gangrene.

hi, can i ask what antibiotics and in what dosage you gave your tegu for the gangrene?  mine has what looks to be wet gangrene in its tail and i want to make sure i have the proper antibiotics before breaking its tail to stop the infection.  thank you very much for your help.  experienced reptile vets are virtually non-existent where i'm from so i need to be prepared to treat it myself.

Hey,

You can try Baytril for the infection..What size is the Tegu??