Black tail tip

[jonny5]

Hi guys about 4 weeks ago we noticed our male panther chameleon had a black section on the bottom half of around 6mm of his tail tip.

We searched online and found that it could be caused by not shedding fully and it cutting off his blood supply. I called our local reptile vet and took him in to be checked. £100 later I came away with a small bottle of antibiotics and some cream to put on the tail.

The vet said he didn't think it was caused to blood supply loss and was most likely a burn or cricket bite? We gave him (the chameleon not the vet) the antibiotics for one week and applied the cream twice everyday.

After the week it had not got any worse but it had also not got any better either. It has now been around a month and the very tip of his tail is still black.

Does anyone know what else this could be??

Also not sure if connected but today I caught him trying to climb on the cage around his ceramic lamp, he was clinging onto the side and appeared quite happy, however when I tried to touch the cage I found it almost unbearable so am unsure how he didn't burn himself.

 

[carol5208]

Can you post a picture of the tail? Is the skin still soft or is it like crusty and dry looking???

 

[jonny5]

Hi Carol, I have literally just gone to get him out of his vivarium to get a picture of the black part and as I lifted him out he tried to grip some vine with his tail and the black bit fell off.

The end has not fallen off as such just the bottom half. It now looks like a smooth section amongst his scales almost kind of like a hotdog if that makes sense with the bread being the original scales at the top and then the smooth section showing in the middle like a sausage and the bit missing is like the opening of the bun (I never thought I would explain a lizard problem using a hotdog

I will try and get a picture in the morning to show you as I have just put another bit of the antiseptic cream on.

 

[carol5208]

Ok, I was just wondering if it was possibly necrotic. If you can get a pic up, that would be great.

 

[junglefries]

Make sure to stay on top of this. Black tails can lead to serious health issues and even death if left untreated. You probably should return to the vet asap. I know it is expensive, but obviously necessary. Sorry for you and your little guy. Make sure to really investigate the ceramic emitter. They can most definitely burn your cham. You may need to raise it.