Tip of Tail Severed

[skoram]

Had a friend over for dinner with his family last night and let his daughter hold and hand feed my panther chameleon. She wanted to put my panther back in his enclosure and shut the door before his tail was fully inside. About 1 cm (2/5 inches) at the end of his tail was severed.

I cleaned the end of his tail with warm water and applied some antibiotic ointment. Luckily the injury is fairly minor and he looked OK this morning. Has anyone here dealt with similar injury to their chameleon? If so, what steps did you take for treatment and how did your chameleon fare?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Not sure amputation falls under the “fairly minor” types of injuries.

Post pics, continue the ointment.

 

[kinyonga]

Putting the antibiotic ointment on and keeping an eye on it may be enough. Please post a photo.

 

[skoram]

You're right, I guess I should have said "fairly minor amputation." It's the difference between getting the tip of your finger sliced off versus losing it at the knuckle. I don't think this injury will have any practical impact on my chameleon or his health, but am worried about possible infection. Will post pics later after I get home from work.

 

[skoram]

Just asked my wife to take and send a photo ... she doesn't like touching reptiles so this is the best she could do:



Full body shot:

 

[skoram]

Here's a closeup I took after returning home from work. Reapplied ointment just before taking this photo.

 

[Hashtag ChamLife]

Here's a closeup I took after returning home from work. Reapplied ointment just before taking this photo.

View attachment 253680

I'd be pretty confident calling this "minor".

Just be careful with the ointment. You need airflow to the wound to prevent bacterial infections at some point. Honestly, I >PERSONALLY< would cease the ointment after 1-2 applications. You basically just need to keep the area from getting infected, while allowing it to heal(which ointments can actually take longer to heal trapping excess moisture and lead to infections). Not sure what kind of ointment you have specifically, so it could be that if yours isn't like "neosporin" then you may be fine.

You can use something like cornstarch and dip the tip of his tail in it to stop the bleeding if necessary.

Just remember to try and keep it clean, to my eyes, seems pretty minor and should be fine.


***I'm not a vet or medical professional***

 

[nightanole]

I just leave it dry. As long as it doesnt swell, its not infected. And the end will get "people skin" tip and you will be fine.

 

[skoram]

Thank you all for the replies. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly after the accident and the exposed end seems to have clotted well. I will stop applying ointment and keep observing for signs of infection. I just thank god it was only 1 cm. If she had closed the door even one second sooner it could have been much longer...