Blue-tongued skinks are generally considered low-maintenance animals and make great pets, even for children. However, you may be shocked that your pet stink has suddenly lost its tail without warning.
Blue-tongued skinks can shed their tail when threatened to avoid the danger which is normally unharmful to the skink’s long-term health. If the tail loss was voluntary, the skink’s tail show regrow.
Caudal autonomy is very common among certain species of lizards, including blue-tongued skinks. Still, some researchers also believe that this rarely happens in the case of blue-tongued skinks.
Fortunately, this guide will clear up any misconceptions about whether skinks can shed their tails and why this happens. You can also learn how to properly care for your pet blue-tongued lizard after losing its tail.
Do Blue-Tongued Skinks Shed Their Tails?
Generally, it’s common for blue-tongued skinks to shed their tails as a defense mechanism in the wild. This is called caudal autonomy, which refers to when lizards voluntarily shed their tails as an instinct. Many wildlife experts also believe that tail shedding is normal and causes the animal no harm.
In the case of a blue-tongued skink, larger animals can cause fear and distress, leading to a tail loss. When the animal senses danger, it has two options: drop its tail and run away. Or, the skink can lie still and play dead after it’s been bitten or harassed to trick the predator away.
Blue-tongued skinks are at the bottom of the food chain in the wild and are mostly at the mercy of predators who hunt them for fun. However, blue-tongued skinks in captivity are also known to shed their tails. This could be due to a threat from a bigger animal like a dog or a cat, even if it’s in an enclosure.
Additionally, grabbing a skink by its tail can also cause the tail to drop. Many handlers forget that lizards are quite sensitive and respond to proper care. Therefore, pulling or stepping on a lizard’s tail can cause stress and a tail drop. Another reason a skink may drop its tail may be due to the leftover shed at the bottom of the tail or abscess.
Do Blue-Tongued Skinks Regrow Their Tails?
When a lizard drops its tail in the wild, it intends to distract predators and avoid a dangerous situation. The detached tail starts to wiggle, and this can be quite a bizarre sight. But once a tail has been detached, it cannot be glued back to the body because the nerve endings and tissues at the opening will be destroyed.
Losing a limb is no problem for certain animals, and they can grow another one in its place. This is common in jellyfish, octopus, spiders, and also lizards
. Some species of lizards, including geckos and skinks, can grow a new tail after dropping the original one. Therefore, a blue-tongued skink that voluntarily drops its tail can grow a new one to replace it.
Once the tail has been disengaged from the body, the wound starts to heal and closes into a short stump. After a while, the tail starts to grow, and a new, fully formed tail will appear by the end of a year. However, growing a new tail requires a lot of energy and nutrients, so the animal needs proper nutrition to grow a healthy tail.
Meanwhile, a blue-tongued skink may not regrow a new tail if the tail loss isn’t voluntary. Some lizards have a vertical fracture plane, making voluntary tail loss and regrowth possible. Therefore, any damage to this plane structure can impact tail growth and cause the animal to be forever tailless.
Do Other Lizards Regrow Their Tails?
Like many animal groups, some lizard species have a unique regenerative ability to regrow their own tails. After detaching its tail, the lizard will immediately flee to safety, abandoning its old tail. When the tail does not completely fall off, the lizard will have to carry the tail around as the cells begin regenerating.
Certain species of geckos and lizards can easily their tails because they have a vertical fracture plane structure. This means that the blood cells, bones, nerve cells, and skin can be removed from anywhere along the limb. These lizards also have stem cells that aid in tissue repair and help to regenerate a new tail.
According to researchers, this can take about 30 to 60 days or even a year in some lizard species. Forming a new tail can also be stressful and requires a lot of energy.
So many geckos focus all their reproductive energy on creating a new tail. However, the tail may not be as healthy and functional as the old one.
You can also note that a new tail will have a completely different pattern and color from the rest of the lizard’s body.
The tail regenerates from the inside out, and the tail may resemble a short stump of lymph vessels for the first few weeks. In addition, there’s also little evidence on whether growing a new tail is painful for the lizard.
Meanwhile, lizards generally store food and extra energy in their tail, so losing a tail may also mean a loss of strength. For lizards like crested geckos, a new tail isn’t worth all the stress.
Hence, these animals have merely evolved to live the rest of their life without a tail and do not bother regrowing a new tail.
Are There Any Negative Effects of Not Having a Tail and The Act of Losing a Tail?
Generally, lizards are small animals and tend to fall prey to larger animals in the wild. You might have noticed your cat or dog eyeing your pet lizard in captivity. As a result, these reptiles have adopted some survival skills that keep them safe from danger. One of which is detaching the tail.
When a lizard falls into a predator’s trap, it can detach its tail from the body to get away. The tail starts to wiggle, and hopefully, this distracts the predator enough to allow the animal to scurry away. Tail dropping is very normal in lizards, and many lizards lose their tail at least once in their lifetimes.
Though some lizards can regrow a tail, it’s never as good as the original one. Some lizards also store nutrients and energy in their tails so that the loss can cause the animal stress.
Some lizards also have a prehensible tail type which is good for climbing and hanging from tree branches or grabbing objects.
Therefore, a tail loss can leave the lizard vulnerable and open to more harm. However, in captivity, many lizards evolved to survive without their tails. In addition, the only long-term effect of losing a tail is that the lizard may grow a new tail or be tailless for the rest of its life.
Does Shedding a Tail Hurt/Harm the Blue-Tongued Skinks?
Tail shedding is very natural for Blue-Tongued Skinks when distressed or in danger. You may be alarmed to check the enclosure and see your skink without its tail, which often happens with Blue-Tongued lizards. The tail loss happens as a natural instinct and doesn’t appear to cause any harm to the animal.
In addition, caudal autonomy is an unnerving process, and it doesn’t seriously cause harm to the skin. However, the fresh wound can be raw and slow down the gecko while running or climbing away. Skinks also suffer from a loss of nutrients after losing their tails, but asides from this, the tail loss isn’t harmful.
Nevertheless, suppose a Blue-Tongued Skink loses its tail from a fight with a predator. In that case, this isn’t only traumatic but also quite painful.
A Blue-Tongued Skink cannot regrow its tail after it has been forcefully ripped off. This means that you have to be careful not to step on your lizard’s tail and avoid any mishandling that can hurt the tail.
Although many Skinks can recover from a tail loss alone, there are few ways to help your pet lizard through this. You can remove the lizard from the enclosure and place it on a clean, smooth surface while you clean the cage. This will help remove any infection and aid in faster healing.
For a complete breakdown of why crested geckos shed their tails, check out this guide. For a complete breakdown of why green iguanas shed their tails, check out this guide.
Do Blue-Tongued Skinks Eat Their Tails?
Blue-tongued skinks are generally known to voluntarily drop their tails in the face of danger to escape a predator. Or a skink may also drop its tail in captivity when it feels distressed or threatened. Still, it’s rare to find a Blue-Tongued Skink eating its own tail when it has been detached from the body.
However, there are about eight different subspecies of Blue-Tongued Skinks, and they have specific diets. Most Blue-Tongued skinks are omnivores, and their diet mainly consists of insects, flowers, fruits, and berries. In the wild, some blue-tongued skinks may also feed on leftover carcasses for more sustenance.
Meanwhile, all the energy and fat are stored in the tail, which is why most skinks lose all their energy with their tails.
However, when the skink is running from a predator, it will abandon its tail, making it hard to feed on the detached tail. But, regardless of how bizarre it seems, if you find a Blue-Tongued Skink eating its own tail for more energy.
All Causes of Tail Loss in Blue-Tongued Skinks
Blue-Tongued Skinks are a large species of Skink lizards that are generally used as home pets. Like many lizards, a blue-tongued skink can voluntarily lose its tail to escape predators when it’s in danger. However, this is not the only cause of tail loss in blue-tongued skinks. Other reasons include:
- Shedding: Lizards shed their skin as they grow older, a normal aging process for most animals. Rarely does the tail not completely fall off and hang on the back of the skink’s nail where the animal can’t reach. As a result, a skink may drop its whole tail to get rid of the dead skin to stop distress.
- Mishandling: Another main cause of tail loss in pet lizards is due to mishandling. Grabbing a skink by its tail or stepping on the tail can trigger the animal to drop its tail. If you also pull too strongly on a lizard’s tail, you can risk ripping the tail off from the body. Hence, it’s important to ensure that you handle your lizard carefully to avoid an immature tail loss.
- Distress: A stressed blue-tongued skink in captivity may voluntarily drop its tail as a sign of distress. Other signs of distress may also include closing an eye or biting. You can also watch out for other signs of stress like still movement or general lethargy to see if your skink is in distress.
- Infection: Some blue-tongued skinks may also lose their tails due to bacterial or fungi infection. This can cause an abscess or swell on the end of the tail, and it usually requires a vet’s attention.
- Illness or disease: Blue-Tongued skinks are generally low-maintenance animals, but a lack of proper nutrition and an unsuitable climate can cause illnesses. Where a skink is really sick, it may willingly drop its tail as a sign of distress. So a random tail drop is a good reason to see your vet.
Does A Lost Tail Impact the Health of Blue-Tongued Skinks (Or Reduce Lifespan)
Blue-Tongued Skinks can live for about 10 to 30 years in the wild, and the animal may lose its tail at least once during this period. It is needless to say that a voluntary tail loss doesn’t cause severe harm to the animal, and a skink may grow another one in its place. Still, a tailless skink can live a full life and survive despite this loss.
What Is the Function of a Tail in Blue-Tongued Skinks?
Like most lizards, a blue-tongued skink’s tail is useful for climbing and hanging from tree branches. Blue-Tongued Skinks also store fat and energy in their tails to regulate nutrients and ensure proper sustenance. However, a new tail may not be as healthy and strong as the original tail.
Conclusion
Ultimately, many blue-tongued skinks rely on the shock factor from dropping their own tails to escape from predators in the wild.
Luckily, skinks can regrow a new tail to replace the original one. However, the original tail remains unmatched, and you should do everything you can to ensure that your skin doesn’t feel threatened to drop its tail.
For a complete breakdown of why chameleons shed their tails, check out this guide.