Help, Potentially broken tail

[Leather_Kit_Kat]

Help I have a 2-year-old male veiled chameleon, I found him hanging from his tail for an unknown amount of time today. The tip of his tail is discolored and not curling like normal. Do I need to rush him to a vet?

 

[kinyonga]

Could it have been caught in the cage door or something?

Not sure there's anything the vet could do.

 

[addicted]

Hanging from his tail? Like tail wrapped around a branch and hanging his body without grasping? Or tail caught up in something? What does the rest of him look like? Does he grasp with his tail?

 

[Leather_Kit_Kat]

Hanging from his tail? Like tail wrapped around a branch and hanging his body without grasping? Or tail caught up in something? What does the rest of him look like? Does he grasp with his tail?

Like hanging with his caught wrapped around a branch hanging with his full weight on it. He was hanging and could not get himself out of it. The tip was folded under, he is not currently moving or grasping past the discoloration.
Everything else looks great

 

[Leather_Kit_Kat]

Could it have been caught in the cage door or something?

Not sure there's anything the vet could do.

No I think he fell and pined himself, he was perfectly fine earlier today

 

[CalamityCrow]

Not sure there's anything you'd be able to do. I imagine if it IS broken, it'll either heal, or not, and you'd need to keep an eye on it for necrotic damage (tail rot). At that point, a vet would be necessary. My dad had a panther and the end of his tail died off due to a stuck shed issue. He had the end of it amputated and Punk lived his best life for another 4-5 years after that without much issue, despite having lost ~1" of his tail.

 

[addicted]

When he sleeps is it still curling up tightly? I would probably take him to a vet if not curling to sleep and not grasping with that section. Could need amputation as @CalamityCrow said. The bones inside could heal, maybe a bit crooked, but likely won’t bother him too much, they’re surprisingly adaptable! If the skin there starts looking like it’s dying though, definitely needs vet attention!

 

[kinyonga]

I'm not a vet but...I don't think the tail needs to be amputated unless it becomes necrotic (dead, stiff black). You could give it a couple of days and see what happens.... or you could take it to the vet to see what he/she says...That would likely ease your mind.

 

[Mendez]

I agree with what everyone has said. There's nothing you (or a vet) can do unless the injured area turns necrotic. Most likely she will just live with a kinked tail unless the blood flow in the area has become disrupted. I have a WC female with the tip of her tail broken/kinked. I have no idea how the injury occurred, but I just know that the injury occurred before I got her, and probably occurred sometime in the importation process. At first, I was worried I would have to take her to the vet to potentially get it amputated should the tail turn necrotic. Luckily for me, the tail never turned necrotic so I never took her in. It's been three months and she still looks healthy as ever. She can't curl that part of the tail, but there's still more than enough blood flow in the area to keep it from dying.

For now, just relax. Keep an eye on the tail for necrotic tissue which may or may not develop. I would fix up the area in the cage where the injury occurred and see if there are other spots like it. Other than that, you still have your awesome chameleon friend.

Once/if you spot necrotic tissue, let the vet know immediately. You don't want to wait around until it turns the entire injured spot to black.

 

[Mendez]

Here's the female. She's a Canopy Chameleon (Furcifer willsii). You can really see the crooked part of the tail in the second picture and you can see in the first pic that she can't curl it up correctly.

@DocZ. I @'ed you so you can see more willsii pics.

 

[Leather_Kit_Kat]

Thank you all for the help, he is looking better today but will most like just have a kink i belive now