Chewing his tall

[carynbarlow@yahoo.com]

Good  day, maybe some one caan help me.
I am very new to this, my baby is only about 3 months old.

His cage is 100% correct and he gets his crickets and salad everyday, but just last week he has started to chew his tall!!!!! Everyday he chews a little more. Is he bored, hungry or just dumb? How do I stop him. I am disinfecting it everyday, but the tip is looking like a dried up sausage, do I cut it off or just let it fall off? He was perfect when I got him, no toes missing or tip of his tall missing, no he is foing it to himself! What must I do to stop him?

Please help!

[lqdragon]

maybe he has some shed left on the end & it bothers him

[Scarloc]

You should be able to see a retained shed on a tail fairly easily. This is a really odd issue. If he keeps it up maybe you could make one of the cones they give dogs to stop them from chewing/licking themselves.

[carynbarlow@yahoo.com]

Thank you perfectly_flawed for answering. Sadly I've seen him chew it myself and had to rush to stop him

Please remember that I am in South Africa so we are limited to a few bands.

Basking area: 38 degrees Celsius.

Cool area: 28 degrees Celsius.

Thermostat: It is one of those stick on ones. Got one stuck on both ends of the tank.

UVB light : CH lighting F18 T8/ reptile 2.0 I am not sure of all the ratings, it is the one the pet shop sold me. The bulb is about  25cm away from him. I am busy varnishing his new cage which means that the bulb will be about 50cm away.

Bugger gets live crickets every day; I put about 20 in his cage when I leave for work. Plus he gets some green. The greens are: Watercress, butternut, cucumber, green beans and mint. I sometimes give him two earthworms as a treat. My husband thinks that maybe he thinks his tail is an earthworm? When I first got him he wouldn’t eat anything but earthworms, he really loves them! I have also given him daga worms.

I give him a calcium supplement in his salad every day.

I am using a synthetic plastic floor for the bottom of his cage, almost like plastic tile flooring.

I try and bath him every Friday.

[jbnery6465]

you also might want to layoff the disinfectant. if you use disinfectant on the dragons tail there is  a good chance that there may be some chemical residue left over. Which means that the next time he licks and bites his tail, he'll get some of that chemical residue in his system which obviously is not good.

[ladyknite]

I'm assuming the poster is referring to antibacterial wound care, not a cleaning product.

Biting ones self is a high indictation of a vitamin deficiency.  It's also been noted with some infections.
PF gave you some great advice to search out for your area and I'd see if I could locate a vet to assist with a diagnosis on the tail.