Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I have a 1 year old female dragon who had all of her nails for the past year, but yesterday I happened to look down at her in her enclosure and noticed that the nail on her front right foot (on longest toe) was completely gone! - both the thick and thin part. The toe is still there, but the nail is not. I wonder what happened to it... Anyway, I was just curious if anyone knows if it will ever regenerate by itself? Thank you for your help.

I think it may come back as long as the end of the toe wasn't cut off. When lizards get their toes/nails stuck they keep pulling to get them free. Often this breaks the nail off where the growing starts.

My Iguana pulled one of his nails off a few months ago and there was a tremendous amout of blood. It is growing back now.

I've also had females dig so much that they completely wear their nails down and even their fingers. The nails always grow back.

If the end of the toe is gone it's less likely the nail will grow back.

Hi there,

Yes they do! I panicked at first too when I saw it, but both dragons that lost a toe nail regenerated them and it looked as if there was just a socket, no quick, nothing. So, no worries!

Katt

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1.0 Husband (Big Papa)
1.3 Bearded Dragons (Baxter, Ruby, Lela, & Twizzler)
1.1 BRBs (Skittles & Kiko)
1.1 Het Pied BPs (Memnoch & Persephone)
1.1 Het Clown BPs (Lrr & Ndnd)
2.5 Het Caramel Albino BPs(Hennessy, R. Kelly, Moo, Aurora, Phobos, Mimas, & Midori)
1.1 Het SK Axanthic BPs(Pongo & Perdita)
0.1 Lemon Pastel BP(Kyra)
1.0 Ghost BP(Kaa)
1.0 Pinstripe BP (Armani)
0.1 Spider BP (Lana Lana)
0.1 Nice Normal BP (Seraphin)

You guys were right! So far her nail's regenerated about 75% and still going. Never thought it'd happen since it was completely gone. I'm happy for her...