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I just recieved two Leos via UPS about an hour ago. One is perfect, the other has a huge crack at the base of her tail! How can I stop the tail from dropping completely? She can still move it and is active, but everytime she wiggles I'm affraid that will be it and it will drop! If it does drop I'll still love her, she's a beautiful baldy. But she's got about 1/3 carrot-tail and it'd be ashame if she lost it. Please help, I'm nervous and don't know what to do!!! Thanks.

Thats one I have never heard of... a crack in it's tail. When a gecko drops it's tail it is dropping the back part of it's vertebre, its either connected or not connected. When the tail drops the skin sort of "wraps" itself over the wound. The backbone never regrows but there is a cartilage that will somewhat grow back in it's place. Does it look like a bite from another gecko? Cause I can honestly say for the life of me I don't see how it's even possible for there to be a crack. I am not saying you are wrong because mother nature can be strange, I just don't see how that can happen. Can you supply pics?
Gene
gene@montezumasreptiles.com
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I would take pictures but I'm afraid to pick her up, it's underneath her tail. Lifting her enough to take pics might cause it to break off. I just recieved her this morning from UPS. I suppose it started breaking off due to stress. I can see why you're confused about this. It's a first for me too. What I think happened is it started to break off, but her vertebrae didn't actually break just part of her tail. It's by her vent, and is about 3mm deep. I don't think that's deep enough to reach her bone. And she can still move it. She'll walk around the cage and it will sway back and forth just like with a healthy tail. It's the weirdest thing. It's starting to scab over, so I'm hoping she won't lose her tail and it will heal.

For now just make sure it doesnt start to get infected, and since you said it's scabbing, it probably wont at this point. I dont think it will fall off at this point unless she gets scared again, but you never know. Good luck.
-Beth

neosporin should help alot, i know alot of people use it to help leo's dropped tails heal faster, so with a crack in it I am sure it will help it heal. you might want to clean it with a damp paper towl first, dry it off, then use neosporin. don't worry it's safe.

tell me if ti works please