Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone....my mom has liked My Bearded Dragon so much that a few days ago when i got my 60 gallon tank for mine she decided to get one of her own.......
She saw one that she really liked....but it's tail was bent....so she picked out another......while the guy was getting it out my mom mentioned the bent tail one and the guy decided to throw it in for free since it was "Damaged" although he didn't tell us what had caused the tail to be like that.
It's tail looks like normal at the base....it has a slight stump....then the rest of the tail shoots off at almost a 90 degree angle from there.

Since bringing these babies home my mom has been keeping them together.....they are almost the exact same size and seem to get along perfectly......the only problem is that the one with the bent tail has only been eating about 4 tiny crickets a day....tiny as in just above pinhead. .....and the other one has been eating around 20 or so........

So i was wondering if the tail and not eating might be related in any way.....like a desiese, or being picked on for being diffrent.....or anything?

Thanks for any help or advice......i know that if the eating continues and the bent tail one lives long enough on the small ammount of food he's eating....we'll have to seperate them once the one that's eating good gets too big.....and my mom really hopes we don't have to do that.

-Matt-

at the least they should be seperated for feeding as one may be intimidated. Seperating them for a week or two to see if there is a difference in feeding habbits would be a good idea. You should get a fecal done on both of them regardless.

the bent tail could be a result of interaction with other beardies or maybe getting caught in a cage door. probably not a factor in appetite.

good luck
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Some dragons come out of the egg with bent or curled tails. I have a wonderful bent tail beardie, 3 yrs old. She's a little small 15", but sure makes up for it with personality.

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TheClassyLizard

yeah! that's almost EXACTLY how it looks....except that her bend is a little closer to the base......but yeah....
so she's that small at 3 years?......hmmmmm i still wondering if there's any ocnnection then to not eating enough....since when they don't eat enough they won't grow...and ours looks the same and hasn't eaten alot...so she may end up the same size?...hmmmm i dunno.....anyways how much food is neccessary for her to at least survive?

cuz she's only been eating around 3-4 tiny crickets a day...and the other day i got her to eat 2 waxworms......will she be ok at that rate?

-Matt-

I would bring him to the vet ASAP. This could be a couple of problems. How long have you had him? Has he ever had fecal sample for parasites? This could be the cause of his not eating. If he is brand new, like you have had him less than a few days, he may just be getting used to his surroundings. Either way, a vet check up is good idea.