Calling all experienced gecko doctors! (mildly graphic images)

[StatikStepz]

I got home from work today, and went to clean one of the racks, and saw that one of my het RADAR females got into a serious scuffle with the het RADAR male that i had paired in with her (i have separated them now). I'm guessing that he went to bite down on her tail to make his move, and she was having none of it, so squired and tried to get away, and he only chomped down harder, and wouldn't let her.

This is what happened to her... Her tail is pretty much almost detached. Luckily it didn't detach completely, but there is a crack that pretty much goes halfway through right to the middle of her tail. The skin was bent in from his bite, so i took tweezers and pulled the flap of skin back out, so it would heal properly, and in doing so, i could see straight into her tail.

My question is this... what kind of antibitoic or ointment or whatever could i use to put on it to help it heal, so bacteria and infection and all that doesn't set in? Is neosporin OK for use on a reptile or is something else better advised? I had pretty much the same thing happen 2 years ago with one of my females, but she completely detached her tail, which pretty much made all the eggs turn out not very much nourished at all, so alot of them went bad, because of poor nutrition, and her not having her fat reserves any more, so i am hoping for that to not happen again this time.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[roger]

I got home from work today, and went to clean one of the racks, and saw that one of my het RADAR females got into a serious scuffle with the het RADAR male that i had paired in with her (i have separated them now). I'm guessing that he went to bite down on her tail to make his move, and she was having none of it, so squired and tried to get away, and he only chomped down harder, and wouldn't let her.

This is what happened to her... Her tail is pretty much almost detached. Luckily it didn't detach completely, but there is a crack that pretty much goes halfway through right to the middle of her tail. The skin was bent in from his bite, so i took tweezers and pulled the flap of skin back out, so it would heal properly, and in doing so, i could see straight into her tail.

My question is this... what kind of antibitoic or ointment or whatever could i use to put on it to help it heal, so bacteria and infection and all that doesn't set in? Is neosporin OK for use on a reptile or is something else better advised? I had pretty much the same thing happen 2 years ago with one of my females, but she completely detached her tail, which pretty much made all the eggs turn out not very much nourished at all, so alot of them went bad, because of poor nutrition, and her not having her fat reserves any more, so i am hoping for that to not happen again this time.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

yeah same thing happened to my female.put her on clean paper towel and put some original polysporin on it.My girl healed pretty good.I've used it many times

 

[acpart]

I also had the same experience this season. I didn't use neosporin (but did make sure the cage tile was clean) and she healed without a problem.

Aliza

 

[StatikStepz]

I also had the same experience this season. I didn't use neosporin (but did make sure the cage tile was clean) and she healed without a problem.

Aliza

Well I just actually realized that I'm out of Neosporin, or I just can't find it, so I'm running to get some real quick just incase. I'm sure it will heal fine, just want to make sure that bacteria and all that is cleaned outta it just incase, and make sure it is sterile.

I'm just worried about the occasional superworm that escapes out of the dish and wanders around the tub and if it comes across her tail, don't want it thinking it can burrow in her tail and start eating it! LOL

 

[StatikStepz]

Update...

This is what her tail now looks like now...

Coincidentally enough, she was going into shed last night aswell (as you can tell from the pix from yesterday) when this bite originally happened to her, so when she was pulling off her skin from her tail today while I was at work, i guess she pulled off that chunk from her tail aswell, because now it is completely missing... So i'm guessing she swallowed it along with her skin that she pulled off... poor girl... she's eating herself and had no idea! lol

Anyway, It's pretty nasty now, and completely opened up now, so i'm going to dress it a little more. I hope that when it heals, it doesn't end up making a big bubble of regrown tail part sticking out...

 

[steve905]

I have a male enigma that crawled out if his tank and into a neighboring male carrot tails tank when he was a juvie. His wounds looked fairley similar to yours. As he healed he sprouted a small second tail off that spot. so now hes got a 2 tail thing going on....She should be fine....Just watch out for that second tail.

 

[StatikStepz]

I have a male enigma that crawled out if his tank and into a neighboring male carrot tails tank when he was a juvie. His wounds looked fairley similar to yours. As he healed he sprouted a small second tail off that spot. so now hes got a 2 tail thing going on....She should be fine....Just watch out for that second tail.

lol, thats crazy!

If you have a pic of if, i'd love to see it! I can't imagine what that'd look like!

Well, I'm just hoping that her's heals ok... 2 tails is better than no tail! lol

 

[JordanAng420]

The spot is looking good, Chris. Keep on doing what you've been doing and it should be fine.

On another note, i'd LOVE to see pictures of this two tailed gecko!

 

[CapCitySteve]

The spot is looking good, Chris. Keep on doing what you've been doing and it should be fine.

On another note, i'd LOVE to see pictures of this two tailed gecko!

Agreed, look healthy underneath and the portion of the tail distal to the wound still looks viable as well. That divet should granulate in and she'll just be left with a scar hopefully. I'm really surprised she just didn't drop her tail during the scuffle.

 

[TheCornPit]

I had the same thing happen a few weeks ago with one of my females neosporin is amazing you can no longer tell that her tail almost came off it healed really quickly.

 

[geckoluv2187]

you need a cream called silver sulfadiazine, available from any veterinarian. All dog and cat vets also carry this cream. I'm also pretty sure you can just buy it from an online health store. I work for a herp vet, this is the stuff we use for injuries like that.

 

[StatikStepz]

Hannah, I'll look for that stuff... Thanks!

 

[StatikStepz]

She is about to lay her 1st clutch of eggs here in about a week or so, can really see them good inside her belly... but my only concern is this now - I'm debating on whether or not to put a lay box inside her tub... because not only would all the coconut fiber stick to her wound, but now it especially will because of the neosporin on her. I'm tryin to keep it as clean as possible, but as it's healing, i don't think a whole bunch of coconut fiber stuck to it would be a good idea. But then again, on the other hand, don't want her to lay her eggs in her water dish or on the heat part of her tub or anything like that. I'm at work all day, so if they aren't there in the morning, then it'd be till about 11pm or so till I would be able to be back home to notice eggs in there... Oh what to do, what to do...

 

[acpart]

I know this sounds a little crazy, but why not put a bandaid on her tail just till she lays the eggs. I have a gecko with, believe it or not, a hernia and was using bandaids as a truss.

Aliza

 

[StatikStepz]

I know this sounds a little crazy, but why not put a bandaid on her tail just till she lays the eggs. I have a gecko with, believe it or not, a hernia and was using bandaids as a truss.

Aliza

lol, i thought about that, but figured that she would get irritated with it, with the feeling of something constantly on her tail, and might try to pull it off, or shake off that part of her tail off from thinkin something was trying to get her tail... and being that its already almost cut halfway though, taking the bandaid off might pull too much...? no?

 

[JordanAng420]

lol, i thought about that, but figured that she would get irritated with it, with the feeling of something constantly on her tail, and might try to pull it off, or shake off that part of her tail off from thinkin something was trying to get her tail... and being that its already almost cut halfway though, taking the bandaid off might pull too much...? no?

Chris, I was thinking the same thing as Aliza. You could put a temporary bandage on the area until she lays. I don't think she'll get too frightened by it as long as you don't wrap it too tight.

Just be SUPER careful when you take it off. You might actually want to soak it off rather than pull it, when it comes time.

Also, +1 on the Silver Sulfadiazine. That stuff is truly amazing. Here's a site that has it pretty cheap.
http://www.vetdepot.com/Silver-Sulfadiazine-Cream-1-Percent-50-gm.html