Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, my 7-inch baby had a shed. I noticed him pulling on his front leg (thought the entire leg would come off) to get the skin off. After a while, I went over to look at him. His left "thumb" toe (if you want to call it that), looked sore, red and bent outwards. I put some betadine with water on it for a couple seconds before bedtime and then rinsed it off again in the morning. It is no longer red, but still bent outwards. I don't know if there is a piece of skin still on it causing it to bend this way, or if he could have pulled his toe off a little or something when trying to get his shedding skin off. Anyone else experience anything like this? Is it something to worry about? I read that any skin left around their toe could cause it to fall off. Any help would be great.

I did bathe him for about 30 minutes and got some left over shed off, but maybe not all of it. Either way, it is still bent outwards and he is not using it. It’s as if he twisted it when he was trying to get the skin off. He was sick when I got him, loaded with pinworms and coxccidia, and also had mites, so he is on medication, and now this. I have had him only 3 ½ weeks and I am trying so hard to care for him and now he may lose his toe. And here, I decided to use tile instead of reptile carpet because I was worried a toe would get stuck in the carpet and get pulled off. And here, he hurts it himself while shedding. I just feel so bad for him. Maybe it will be okay, but I just have this feeling. He seemed fine yesterday and even ate some crickets (because of his parasites, he wasn’t eating real well).

I did talk to my vet, and she says it is not uncommon for many lizards to lose toes for various reasons and they will be fine, but I still worry about him since they can’t really tell us how they feel. Would you say that losing a toe is pretty common? She says I can bring him in Friday with no charge if I want her to look at it, but it is very cold here and he has an appointment next Friday for his second dose of pinworm meds. I would hate to take him out in the cold twice, but depending on how it looks by Friday… Thing is, if it is going to fall off, there really is nothing I can do about it, right?

I know beardies can live without toes, but how about their thumb toe? Do they use it like we do? Would he adjust? Anyone else have a beardie missing a toe who is fine? I have heard of someone’s beardie missing an entire foot, so I can only think that if he was fine, a missing toe is nothing compared to that.

He also appears to not have shed his back feet. Any suggestions? Currently, I am just soaking him for 20-30 minutes a day. I just want him to be comfortable and happy. Thanks for listening!

hello .

i own a beared dragon named Tang shes a tangerine .
anyways shes totally missing a limb heres a picture of her -

so yes they do ajust and have be totally normal without toes/ limbs .

heres Tang .

Oh, he is beautiful!!!! Thank you for sharing.

A friend of mine's boyfriend gave her a Bearded Dragon. His intent was to care for it for her. He was called to Iraq on 5/14/06 and told her she had to take it. She could'nt take it where she lived so she brought it to me. She took it back on July 4th. On August 25th she decided that she couldn't care for her and brought her back to me. She was missing 7 toes. 5 from one back foot and 3 from the other. Of course she has no idea how.

Well, it doesn't seem that dragons really have much control of their toes anyway. They just seem to stick out from their foot and have a claw on them. Dragons lose toes from retained shed. Where an old shed constricts the blood supply to the toes and causes them to die and fall off. This doesn't seem to be your problem since regular baths usually solve this. I'm a little surprised at how aggressively your dragon goes after his skin. Mine generally try to rub skin off but have never seen them use their mouth to pull it off. Next time if you see him doing it maybe mist the skin so it tears more easily.

Dragons also lose toes from calcium deficency. At 7 in, I'd dust his crickets every meal with Calcium w/ D3 (No Vitamin A, No Phosphorus) and once a week with a vitamin suppliment. And make sure you have a good UVB supply.

I wouldn't worry about the toe too much. I think it may be fine but even if he loses it he'll be perfectly fine without it. Mine with 7 missing toes doesn't seem to know their missing so she'll slip sometimes when climbing. Her foot with 3 toes works as well as a foot with 5 toes.

Thanks! He was tearing at it with his mouth. I see my geckos do it this way as well.

I do dust the crickets or put the calcium in babyfood, as he is not eating all that great due to pinworms (which are being treated). When he does not eat those, he eats pheonix worms. He has the UVB.

His toe is still on, but still bent outwards. Maybe it will just heal and stay this way. You said that bathes will help a retained shed. So just in case that is what it is, I should just continue to bathe him and it should come off on its own?

Yes. The baths make the skin soft. One of my Dragons doesn't shed that well. So rather than a bunch of baths. I just spray the parts or her that are not coming off completely.

Retained shed on the toes usually looks like a ring right behind the nail. I usually just spray this a few times a day and it will loosen up and come right off.

Well, this doesn't look like a ring, so I have no clue what he did. Must have broke the toe. He still has feeling in it because I touched it by the nail and he pulled his little foot back. I guess only time will tell what will happen to it, and I will have the vet look at it next week as well. I thought there might be skin on some of his other toes, but it looks more like the entire toe may not have shed yet. Could that cause a problem? I will just continue to bath him regularly.

I also have a dragon (not a beardie though) who has a missing toe. And I think that his fell due to an injury. It was about the same situation that you are in, in that the toe was bent out and red and sore for awhile, and yes, it did eventually fall off. But I've had absolutely no problems with it since. I'm sure that your beardie will be just fine!

Thanks! I just feel bad for him since it is his "thumb" toe. How long did it take before the toe fell off? If this is a retained shed, and doesn't come off, how long does that normally take to kill the toe? Any ideas?

My dragon's toe was still attached for a couple of weeks before it fell off. I used to monitor it closely and put antibiotic ointment on it everyday to make sure that it wouldn't get infected.

But I'm not sure about the shed question because my experience with toe loss wasn't from a shed. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

What type of ointment? I have bacitration that I used on my leopard geckos before. Would this be okay? What if he licks it and swallow it?

Just to clarify. I don't believe that the toe is bent because of retained shed. I think it's bent because he injured it while pulling off skin. You can see retained shed. Looks like white dead skin. Bad things happen when the caregivers don't help their pet out. I certainly don't feel you'll ever fall in this category.

Retained shed can happen really anywhere. It is just most often on the toes or around the eyes. But a patch of stuck dead skin anywhere will cut off the oxygen to the skin underneath and eventually kill it. Luckily this is very rare and would take weeks of bad husbandry.

Again, thank you. I worry about him so much. I had no idea I could love an animal like I love him. I have other reptiles, my ball python sometimes has retained shed on his eyes, and if it doesn't come off in the next shed, I have ways to help him out. I try my best to care for my animals the best that I can.

I feel terrible now though. After this injury, I bathed him and saw some skin hanging and I gently took it off. I was more concerned for him, so I didn't even look at the skin, but I can tell you that it was darker in color and not white. I really hope it wasn't actual skin that should have been left alone. Although, it was already loose, so it might have come off on its own anyway. Maybe his toe will heal and just stay bent. I just hope he is not in any type of pain.

I guess i will wait a couple weeks and see what happens to it. Wish me luck!