Gecko's tail wounded/rotting

[Christywoowoo]

About your leo:
-Name: Amber
- Sex: F
- Age & Weight: about 7 months, small 45g
- How long have you owned your leo: I've had her since September
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend): I bought her at an expo

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: Daily for at least a few minutes.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. : She's not acting different, always in her hot hide.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. : She seems to have a bit of a sight problem as she touches everything with her nose and walks off edges of beds and tables. She also hatched with very loose wrinkly skin, supposedly due to incubation temperature spikes
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal): normal
- When was the last time he/she went: today
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on
The very tip of her tail was black, we soaked it thinking it was constricted shedding. We tried to rub it a little with a Q-tip but it started bleeding and the underside of her tail has scabbed up. it's been 3 days since we noticed the original black tail tip.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20 gal (long)
- Type (ex. glass tank): glass
- Type of substrate: Green reptile Carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind: 3 hides, a plastic humid hide, An upside down deli cup with a hole in the middle of the tank, and a plastic pagoda on the hot side.
B) Heating
- Heat source: Heat mat
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side): Cool side is at 70 F and warm side is at 91 F (ground temp)
- Method of regulating heat source: thermostat (shut off kind)
- What are you using to measure your temps: (Very old) Temp gun.
- Do you have any lights (describe): Only the room lights
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): 1 Female cage mate, same age, Removed after the tail was noticed.
- Describe health, or previous problems:
She's always been friendly and healthy. She never showed any interest in the gecko in question. She always kept to her side of the tank and has been housed successfully with many geckos in the past.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Mealworms mostly, Was raised on Crickets before we received her. She is fed 8-12 mealworms every other day. (as she's still growing)
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect): We take her out and feed her with tongs.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): Zoo med repti calcium (with D3) and Zoo med's Reptivite.
- What are you gut loading food with: Old veggies, collard greens, celery, carrots, potatoes, etc. (We breed our own Mealies)

I'd like to know what the problem looks like it was caused by, whether she could lose her tail, and what we can apply to the open wound so it won't get infected.

 

[Neon Aurora]

I think it's pretty likely that the wound was caused by her tankmate. Unfortunately keeping geckos together can sometimes go sour even if they've done well in the past.

Once, when I went out of town on a trip and my sister was taking care of my leopard geckos, she accidentally left two of the tubs slightly pulled out. They were both males and both escaped into the room and viciously fought. One guy came out pretty unscathed but the other one had a lot of wounds. Torn skin everywhere and open wounds. I cleaned his tub daily with isopropyl alcohol and laid down fresh paper towels at least once a day. He healed up just fine and doesn't even have any scars. These guys are pretty hardy. He was injured much worse than yours is.

Honey is a good antibiotic, so you could apply some of that. Alternatively, I'm sure some Neosporin would also be fine. Keep her tank exceptionally clean. I would remove the reptile carpet temporarily and lay down fresh paper towels every day until she's healed up and then the carpet can go back. She may lose the most damaged bit (the tip), but I think the rest will probably heal, I think.

 

[Christywoowoo]

when it started bleeding I instantly thought it might have been a bite, but I kind of think it might have been our fault.

It wasn't bleeding when we first saw it or even looked like a wound at all. She just had a black tail tip and what looked like crusty stuck shed.
Would a burn look something like that?

Thank you so much for the advice on keeping it clean, never heard of honey being used. Is it safe if they lick it?

 

[Neon Aurora]

I can't think of a way for a tail tip to get burned, especially since your UTH is regulated by a thermostat. If I saw burns on a gecko caused by a UTH, I would expect them on the belly or feet.

A lot of times leopard gecko bites are more crush injuries rather than tears. I assume my male was so torn up because they were actively fighting. The only time I personally have had my skin broken by a leopard gecko was when I yanked my hand away and tore my own skin. I think the tankmate may have bit her tail and caused a crush injury. You may have aggravated it with the Q-tip and made it bleed. The tissue on the tip might just be too damaged and come off.

I would think honey would be perfectly safe for them. Something like Neosporin would definitely be more toxic than honey. I also doubt she will try to lick it off. I've used honey in the past for all kinds of wounds on animals. It's especially nice for horses for minor scraped and surface wounds because it's very sticky so stays on wounds in awkward places much better than a lot of other antiseptics. It's not something I would recommend for severe wounds, but it's my go-to for minor wounds. I don't think your leopard gecko is too bad off, it just looks bad because it is right on the tip. My thought is that she will heal up just fine with a bit of supportive care.

When my males battled, it was the first time I had dealt with any wounds on leopard geckos and wasn't sure what to do. I ended up not putting anything on them. I just gently cleaned the wounds with warm water and kept everything really clean. But if something like that were to happen again, I probably would rinse with warm water and apply a bit of honey. He seemed to shed more often after being injured, and he looked better with each shed until there were no more wounds.

 

[Christywoowoo]

Thank you so much for everything! I'm definitely going to take good care of it.

I've discovered that the female that was her tankmate is very excitable all of a sudden and will go after anything that's moving, so now I'm pretty convinced it was her ;-;

Well at least my mind is at ease now. I was worried it might be some sort of tail-rot, but I've never heard of that in geckos.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

 

[Neon Aurora]

It happens. I was pretty appalled when my males fought. I felt very irresponsible (not to mention mad at my sister!). But that sort of thing happens to everyone. Your girl will be just fine, even if she loses the tip of her tail. =) Good luck and keep us updated.