Tail Drop pics (Warning)

[CDN-Cresties]

Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later but im still bummed about it. After slaving at my computer typing up an essay I went to my room to get some shut eye. I quickly took a look at my cresties and noticed that one male decided to drop his tail for some unknown reason. He lives by himself and no one was in my room to spook him out. I had to move a few egg crates to find his tail. Anyway here are some pics I took, although some may not be the best quality it gives you an idea of what it looks like. I will continue to post pics on this thread as the healing process continues.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/IMG_0818.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/IMG_0817.jpg

[CDN-Cresties]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/taildrop4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/taildrop3.jpg

[CDN-Cresties]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/taildrop1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/taildrop5.jpg

[CDN-Cresties]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v727/futebolsteven/taildrop2.jpg

[untytled]

sometimes i wonder why they're even born with a tail... ha ah. sorry trying to bring some humor to this. i get just as bummed out when i see that too.

[Powergeckos]

I wonder what the physiology is behind this process. Interesting how the muscles are in that star shape.

Has any one seen them do it? Do they grasp and pop it off - or can they just pinch it off with some sort of sphincter-like muscle?

[NiceRhac]

I'm with Power on this one...it is really interesting to see the muscular structure in the tail. Certainly something I've never seen before. I don't know exactly how they do it...but its gotta be something they can control, obviously. And, there must be some unknown something-or-other that we don't know about that affects cresties. My Rosca just up and dropped her tail one evening...and I presume she ate it, because I never found it. To boot, I think I like cresties without tails better. It seems to me I don't feel so...well...like I'm gunna break 'em. They're easier to handle when they don't have a tail, if you ask me. Anyway! Great pictures! The crestie isn't too hard on the eyes either :p

Sam

[Gecko Brothel]

As of yet, I have not had any of my cresties drop their tails and I know for a fact, I will be very upset if and when it happens. I was speaking to my vet and she has cresties as well. Hers dropped it tail and within 10 minutes of doing so, she tried to stitch it back on as her daughter was distraught thinking she had caused the accident. It did not take. The vet says that it starts to heal immediately so the stitches wouldn't take. I was amazed at such a speedy healing mechanism they have.
Just thought I would share that tidbit.
Nice crestie Steve. :)
Betty

[NiceRhac]

That IS interesting, Betty...the attempt to close the would is almost immediate by a geckos body. It's also quite amazing to see how quickly they heal--I'd estimate that within 2 weeks of losing her tail, Rosca was completely healed--no flesh to be seen. It's really neat to see all of these characteristics that help them in the wild, shown in our captive cresties. It's also quite interesting that your vet/friend tried to sew the tail back on...I've never heard of that. Does make me wonder what the tail would have been like sewn back on tho--I doubt it would have been really usable for balance. Guess the world will never know, lol.

Sam

[CDN-Cresties]

Thanks for the comments. Im also interest in how exactly their tails drop. Hopefully someone who has witnessed it from start to end can enlighten us.

[gecco]

I saw one autonomize its tail. I was trading with a friend of mine so I brought over this adult female to his house. She was really nervous when I took her out of the container to show her off. The trip over or could she smell his other critters?? My friend put her in a bare glass tank untill we completed our wheeling and dealing. While we are talking I look over at her she runs up the glass and starts wiggling her tail. I say "man she is jumpy, I hope she doesnt drop her tail." On que the tail is off and twitching. She just stopped ,wiggled and dropped. I think it must be muscle that just pinches down and seperates. One drop of blood was all that was spilled. Another thing I thought was interesting was after she dropped it we moved her into a cage with two other females and they went bananas. Some kind of fear phermone or something???? Kinda cool kinda wierd. :eek:

[Little_Dragon_00]

Very good pictures Steve. Sad event but there has to be a logical explanation to why he dropped his tail? On a conscious level maybe your crested gecko realized he no longer needed his tail? Sounds strange but he would no longer have a use for it living amoung egg cartons. He could move much easier through the crates without having it drag behind. Or maybe he got really excited while being alone and while he was releasing sperm he triggered a tail drop? What do you guys think?

[rhaco]

Yes, I’ve watched my female dropping her tail two weeks ago. I was in our Gecko-room with 3 of my friends and my brother. I wanted to get my male out of the terrarium to show my friends. Every time persons want to see a crested, I show him, because he already dropped his tail, before I bought him from the breeder. The female has eggs and stayed next to him in the plant. I get the male out, WITHOUT touching or even contact the female. I turned around and gave the male to one of my friends. Suddenly one of the girls cried “was macht denn der andere da?!?” [“What does the other one do there?”] Turning around I saw the female sitting on the ground tremble like having a cramp. I recognized that on one area of the tail base the tail got detached from the gecko’s body. It was just a small wound, and the tail didn’t shiver. We went out of the room at once. Coming back after five minutes to look after the female, I saw she just drop the whole tail.
So, this shows, that first: the cresteds can regulate the tail-dropping and secondly: that it need no touch to make them dropping the tail to much stress is enough.

Sorry for my poor English style…I hope u all understand what I mean.

Greetings from Germany, Rhaco.

[CDN-Cresties]

I dont think it was because of living amongst egg cartons. If that were the case I would expect to see more tailless geckos from keepers who use cartons. I just thought of this right now. Maybe the sound of another gecko jumping around in there own enclosure startled him causing him to drop the tail. I dont think I'll ever truly know why though.

[Little_Dragon_00]

I meant general living condition. Egg cartons are a good example of hides in nature like a tree hallow, shedding bark. In the rhac book it was stated they like thin branches. and more appeared to be tailless gorillas then monkeys.. A tail might be more of a nuisance then a tool while fleeing from predators or hunting prey. What I'm getting at is could it be possible crested geckos can deliberately shed their tails with the purpose of more efficient mobility? Something along those lines...Sexual stimultion could have also possibly triggered it. Maybe it’s not fear at all in some cases but a natural occurrence. A tailless crested could be an evolved form.

[CDN-Cresties]

I can see what you are saying :) . It would seem to me though that something must have startled him and thus causing him to drop his tail. Who knows??? :confused: I dont have any experience with dropped tails so Im going on limited info here. I think the answer might be found if we compare cresties to gargoyles. Why does a gargoyles tail regenerate and the cresties does not. After all they are similar and live in a similar environment.

[untytled]

i looked a little into this and most lizards that have the abilty to drop tails share similar characteristics. first there are multiple vertabrae that continue from the spine into the tail... with spaces between them getting larger as you continue to the end of the tail. on one side of the tail (side that is dropped) are muscles that shake the tail flagrantly after seperation.. on the side that remains as the stub of the tail are muscles that immediately collapse inward resulting in at most a drop or two of blood loss. unfortunately i have forgotten the names of these muscles. now the tail will begin to regenerate from the base of the last vertabrae before the wound. as the tail muscles grow the bone is not produced as it was with the original tail... this results in a shorter tail never reaching the original length and girth.. the star shaped muslces in the pics provided by Steven show the loose connection of fiborous muscle tissue that was at one point interwoven with a similar muscle pattern at the base of the geckos rear end. the muscles on the side of seperation seem to shoot outward causing the seperation while the muscles on the stub that were interwoven with those collapse inward. My assumption as to why cresties tails don't generate is that the tail may be comprised more of muscle tissue rather than vertabrae (bone) throughout the tails length.. not leaving a good base from which to generate as other lizards have. i'm waiting for the day one of my geckos drops it's tail so that i can dissect it and looked more closely at the muscle pattern and bone structure then i could come up with a better answer for yall. as for now i'll leave you with this.. cause i ain't gonna go pluckin tails anytime soon. ha ha :D