Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our dragon did not shed the skin off the end of his tail completely (about 1/2". I don't know how long it had been there because he belongs to my daughter. I took him out of the cage and misted him down and paid close attention to his tail and was able to remove the remaining skin. It was crispy in feel. I noticed that under the removed skin his tail was a dark color (dark smokey gray). It worried me a little but I thought it was just because of the old skin being on there. I noticed last night that he now has about 1" of the end of his tail a smokey gray color, but only on the top and sides. The bottom is the same color as the rest of his tail (flesh color). Is this something that I need to be concerned about and take him to a vet? I'm waiting on a call back from the vet now, but not sure when that will happen. We only have one reptile vet in out area.

Hi,

If he took too long shedding, it may have cut off the blood supply to the end of the tail. It's hard to say without looking at a pic. I would wait and see what the vet says....it doesn't sound like anything super urgent, you'll be ok. If part of the tail has died, it will either fall off, or have to be amputated. Wait and see what the vet wants to do. Hope everything works out!
-Nicky
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Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...

2.1 Bearded Dragons: Gordo, Layne, & Chiquita
2.4 Cats: Zeus, Remi, Kiki, Delilah, Sadie & Cheyenne
1.0 Betta: Mr. Purple

Yeah I have an adult male (my very first beardie) has the same prob from not being able to shed all the skin near the end of his tail. It has been like that for about 2 years now, shows no pain when you touch it and never has bothered him so after the vet gave the ok to just "let it be" I havnt thought twice about it since. See what the doc says and go from there. Nothing to really worry about too much though! Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your comments. Took Draco to the vet and she said that it definitely wasn't a burn, and it did not appear to be necrosis. The vertebrae were still moveable. She said to her it appeared to be color. Althought the "color" was never there before. Draco does have purple/gray stripes in his body and the same color on both sides of his neck. The vet says that color change can happen. I've never seen a dragon with a color secion on his tail like that, but then I'm definitely not an expert. We'll just wait and see what happens. The area is not withered and doesn't appear to be "sick". Thanks again everyone.