Is there something wrong with my iguana?

[xylew]

I've had Norman for years and when we got him the very tip of his tail was a light, stiff brown. We never thought much of it, we just watched it.
Nothing had happened for any of these years, but now, it's broken off. Not too conserning, but then the brown colour moved up his tail. It looks like it's dying.
Now, Norman is acting strange. He doesn't eat or even move from his little corner. We did have a week where he had a insufficeint lightbulb over him, until we got a new one. I'm afraid that like, he got too cold and couldn't digest the food he had eaten and it began to rot inside him. I hope not.
I don't know if his behaviours and all of this is ever normal.
I need to know if I should bring him to the vet or if he's just being... a moody Norman.

[Merlin]

You need a vet. What you are describing sounds to me like dry gangrene in the tail. If so this will progress up the tail and the infection will enter the ig's body, killing it. A vet trip is a necessity asap.

[crazybaby]

Definitely sounds like gangrene...As Merlin suggested, get Norman to a Vet asap. Let us know how it goes.

[xylew]

The tip fell off (like 1 1/2 inches) and it's moved up a bit. His tail is 8+ inches. It's gone about half way up his tail.

Is this what gangrene looks like? Or is it something else? We're taking him to a vet anyway, but I'd like to know if I should suggest that he could have dry gangrene.

[cile]

this is a copy of text what i get when my iggy had a problems... i hope it would help to you..

the tissue, starting at the end of the tail, begins to die, turning dark brown or black, becoming very hard and brittle, shrinking inwards, collapsing in on itself. the bony processes of the tail vertebrae are easily visualized as they create ridges under the skin of the tail. as the infection progresses, the tail feels mushy in that area. as the blood and nerve supply are disrupted in this area, the mushy area spreads down towards the tip and up towards the body. the tip may take a long time to start showing signs of the dry gangrene, but the tail should be dealt with, usually by amputation, long before it gets to the point of dying and becoming brittle. the dead, brittle section may be knocked off when the iguana whips its tail against something. waiting for detachment to happen on its own, however is not a good idea. if not amputated, it may continue to spread farther up the tail. this may happen rapidly, in a matter of days or weeks, or slowly, over the course of several months.

[prism_wolf]

A vet is the only one that can determine whether it's 100% positive for dry gangrene. There are tell tale signs, but if this is what it turns out to be the only option is amputation past he infected part. It's an easy procedure and and qualified herp vet can do this.
www.arav.org <---click "Members"
www.herpvetconnection.com
www.anapsid.org/vets