Abrasion on Tail Not Healing!

[Verdi]

My Leopard Gecko, Verdi has this abrasion on the tip of her tail that does not seem to be healing. I'm away at college, so my mother has been taking care of her, and about a week or so ago she noticed that, after shedding, there seemed to be a small scrape on her tail. The moist hide seemed moist enough when I looked at it once I got home, but the cut was likely due to a bad shed.

I had thought she ate all of the crickets in her viv, but apparently she missed a few as I saw one nibbling on her tail. I then got the rest out so it wouldn't happen again.

This all happened last week and her tail doesn't look too much better. I've been cleaning her with a Q-tip in a tupperwear container with a bit of lukewarm water in it, then applying Neosporin (without pain-relievers) to the wound, but I haven't noticed much change. It looks like it has healed slightly, but not much. She looks like she may shed again, so I'm a little concerned.


Sorry for the bad quality, this was taken on my phone.

Any idea what I should do?

About Verdi:
- Sex - Female
- Age & Weight - 7 yrs, unknown weight
- How long have you owned your leo - 7yrs
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) - Family owned pet store, (gets their animals from breeders)

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - Just about everyday that I can; she's comfortable with it.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. - No. Injury does not seem to have affected her behaviour.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. - Necrotic tail that had to be removed by the Vet. Tail grew back oddly at first, Verdi removed it herself, then grew back to what it is now. This was about two or three years ago.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) - Normal appearance
- When was the last time he/she went - Yesterday.
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on - Abrasion on tail that does not appear to be healing much/at all.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - WAS 36x18x18, but I accidentally and very stupidly broke the side panel while cleaning (Verdi was no where near this, and her injury occured long before this incident) so she is now in a viv about 1/2 the length.
- Type (ex. glass tank) - Glass
- Type of substrate - Repti-carpet in large enclosure, paper towels currently. (No repti-carpet to fit small enclosure)
- Hides, how many, what kind - 1 Moist hide filled with a type of sphagnum moss, which is now filled with moist paper towels. 1 plastic Waterdish/under hide. 2 plastic aquarium-type tree trunk formations, and one dinosaur skull plastic aquarium-type hide. Also have one of those three-leveled split hides that goes up against the glass so you can see inside.
B) Heating
- Heat source - Heat lamp on far left side , UV lamp in center
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) - About 80* on left side, 70-75ish on the right side.
- Method of regulating heat source - Lights on during the day, off at night
- What are you using to measure your temps - Thermometers on sides of tank
- Do you have any lights (describe) - Yes, 100w Repti Basking Spot Lamp (Zoo Med), and a 26w Repti Glo 10.0 UV(B?) bulb
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - None
- Describe health, or previous problems - N/A

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) - 4-6 Crickets every other day
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) - Usually drop a few into her viv, but since her injury, I have begun to place the cricket container in the cold garage for an hour or so to slow them down so that Verdi can eat them quicker. I tilt the container on its side so that only one or two gets to the edge, and Verdi attacks them that way. This is so that I don't have any extras running around munching on her tail.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) - Calcium w/ No phosphorus in a small dish. T-REX brand.
- What are you gut loading food with - Fluker's Cricket Feed and apples. Also give them Fluker's orange Cricket Quencher.



Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me!

 

[Emily Castro]

Poor thing. Unfortunately I'm a new leo owner and can't give you advice. I hope someone here will be able to help. If not try calling a vet that specializes in reptiles and ask their opinion. Good luck and I hope your pet gets better soon!!!

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Reptiles heal slowly. I wouldn't be too concerned about not much healing occurring in only one week. Hopefully someone else can give you a better idea of how long it'll take.

However, there are a few things to do in order to help the process.

1) Your temps are way too low. You need the warm side 88-93. Keeping temps too cool will decrease metabolic rates.
2) Are you only providing calcium? No other vitamins?
3) What are the temps at night? If you turn the lights off at night, how do you keep the enclosure warm then? Nighttime temps on the warm side shouldn't be allowed to drop below 80, but, honestly, you can't really go too warm. Some people don't provide any temp drop at all. I personally only allow about a 5 degree drop and keep the warm side night temps at about 85.

~Maggot

 

[Verdi]

Thanks, Emily!

And Maggot, I have a multi-vitamin at home, so I will definitely start giving her that. I was under the impression that leos only needed the calcium. Should I put the vitamin in a bowl like the calcium is in?

Also, I typically keep the viv at about room temperature at night, though I will work on getting some kind of heating in the enclosure.
Thank you for your advice!

 

[DrCarrotTail]

If your temperatures are low, the leo will grow slower, shed less and heal slower. This will leave the wound open to infection and you may wind up with a bigger problem that you started out without heating the tank. Also, the crickets probably chewed on and re-opened the wound which is why it looks the same if not worse. I'm not sure I would soak her as it might be better for the wound to dry out and scab over than to stay moist and open like it is. To sum up: be super vigilant about the crickets, get a heater, and keep her cage SUPER clean (like wipe it out everyday and change all soiled paper towels) until that wound is closed.

 

[Verdi]

Okay, thanks, Lisa.
I'm staying on top of not having the crickets running around, and I'm closely monitoring her eating habits. I will also look into getting proper heating. As a correction however, I asked my mother to check the thermometer on the hot side of the tank and she said its at about 90*, not 80*, so I was mistaken. Regardless, I'll get what's necessary for proper heating.
Thank you for your help, Lisa!

 

[SC Geckos]

The thermometer you are using is mounted on the side of the tank which (without a probe) reads the air temp. I would suggest getting a thermometer that has a prob that can read the surface/floor temp on the warm side of the enclosure.
An UTH (under tank heater) is ideal for leopard geckos. I would also recommend getting rid of the 100w spot light heat bulb. Those things generate a ton of heat in one area. The one I tried using for my beardie could easily reach 105+ surface temp which is way too hot for a leo.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

The thermometer you are using is mounted on the side of the tank which (without a probe) reads the air temp. I would suggest getting a thermometer that has a prob that can read the surface/floor temp on the warm side of the enclosure.
An UTH (under tank heater) is ideal for leopard geckos. I would also recommend getting rid of the 100w spot light heat bulb. Those things generate a ton of heat in one area. The one I tried using for my beardie could easily reach 105+ surface temp which is way too hot for a leo.

I'm pretty sure the probes don't measure surface temps. An infrared temp gun would measure surface temps. Technically, you put the probe on the floor of the enclosure, it will measure temps of the air directly above the surface. I agree it's a better method though.

Thanks, Emily!

And Maggot, I have a multi-vitamin at home, so I will definitely start giving her that. I was under the impression that leos only needed the calcium. Should I put the vitamin in a bowl like the calcium is in?

No, the vitamins have to be given via dusting. What multivitamin do you have?

~Maggot

 

[Verdi]

Thanks for the quick responses, everyone. I'll look into getting an UTH. Any recommendations as to which one I should get?

Maggot - I'm not entirely sure which multivitamin I have, though when I first got it, I do remember dusting the crickets with it, so I'll continue to do that.

 

[SC Geckos]

I'm pretty sure the probes don't measure surface temps. An infrared temp gun would measure surface temps. Technically, you put the probe on the floor of the enclosure, it will measure temps of the air directly above the surface. I agree it's a better method though.

If the probe is attached to the surface of the tub it will read the surface temp. I use about a dozen of these probe style thermostats spread throughout my racks and they all read within a half a degree compared to both of my temp guns. Id say they are accurate at reading the surface temp.

Thanks for the quick responses, everyone. I'll look into getting an UTH. Any recommendations as to which one I should get?

When I had glass tank setups I used zoo med UTH's and never had any issues. The two most important parts when using a UTH is get one that covers around 1/3 to at most 1/2 of the floor space (1/3 is ideal IMO). and make sure you regulate the temp of the UTH with a thermostat.

I'm not entirely sure which multivitamin I have, though when I first got it, I do remember dusting the crickets with it, so I'll continue to do that.

The best thing to do with any vitamin/calcium supplements is to mix them in a small dish and keep them in the enclosure at all times. This way if the gecko feels it needs more supplements than what is on the feeders it can have access to them.

 

[Verdi]

Okay, I'll check out Zoo Med's UTHs. Any preferred thermostats? I see Zoo Med has one called the ReptiTemp 500R.

And as far as the Vitamin supplements and calcium, should I put them in the same container in the viv? I have the calcium in a small dish that she licks at.

 

[Emily Castro]

I have the zoo med thermostat. It's not the best but it was inexpensive and doesn't work too bad once you figure it out. Just be sure to do some research and read reviews. It doesn't tell you the temp it just kind of has a low to high setting so you should get digital thermometers to figure out the temp. It took me a couple days of fiddling with the dial but now it stays pretty much at the temps I want.

If you don't mind paying for a better one you may have better luck. Like I said just look at reviews before you buy so you can see how other herp owners feel about the product.

 

[Phoenix1115]

I use a similar zilla one, plus a separate zoomed digital thermometer. I adjust the temp dial based on that reading. For example, the temperature reads 90.4 right now on the digital thermometer, but I have the thermostat set to 98.