Skip to main content

Questions tagged [autotomy]

Autotomy, or self amputation, is when an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. Species that do this include some geckos and lizards (tails), salamanders (tails), some spiders (legs) and bees (stinger).

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
2 votes
1 answer
3k views

Leopard gecko tail injury question (harsh pictures)

My little buddy ran away from me yesterday and ran next to a little statue of the Statue of Liberty and it fell and hit his tail. He dropped the tail and that was a clean snap. There's this bit left ...
Epsilon's user avatar
  • 21
8 votes
2 answers
93k views

My leopard gecko's tail fell off! What should I do?

Thankfully, this has never happened to me. But if it does, how should I treat it - both immediately, and in the longer term?
starsplusplus's user avatar