Swelling at the Vent (AFT)

[Lena]

Posting here for a quicker response. She is an AFT but they are extremely similar and I'm sure there would be similar solutions for a leo with the same problem.

So, I rescued this beautiful little girl from an uncertain fate at the local pet store. They don't have a clue about taking care of herps and they obviously are not going any great length to educate themselves. When I saw this little girl in a 10 gallon tank on woodchips without any moisture or heat, I knew I had to take her home before it was too late.

I didn't get a good chance to inspect her before purchasing, but I was expecting there to be some problems. Here's what I found when I brought her home:

There is puss-like liquid coming out of her vent and it is obviously swollen and tender. I've been cleaning it out regularly with a dry cotton swab.

Unfortunately I haven't been called in for work yet and I did not anticipate having to pay an outrageous vet bill (though I probably should have). However, I should be able to afford a trip in a couple of weeks. So when I'm asking about this, I'm asking about immediate care and how to make her feel more comfortable.

Also, a few questions..
- Should I take her off of the bed-a-beast and switch to papertowels to prevent the substrate from sticking to the vent?
- Are there any home remedies I could use such as neosporin?
- Should I change her diet? She's currently packing away the superworms with great zealousness.

 

[Lena]

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[fallen_angel]

We have something similar going on with one of our babies. He was actually born with this, though, and it was covering his vent at first. We took it to the vet to get it removed, and there is still a bubble there even to this day, but it's biggest only when he needs to go to the bathroom. Other times, it's not really even noticeable. The stuff coming out of it should just be their waste, at least that was the case with ours (even though their urates are white blobs, there is still some liquid that comes out along with it).

The vet told us that it could either be one of the ureters not emptying properly into the cloaca, or a possible blockage in the cloaca. He did not really give us much feedback after removing the bubble from the vent, and there was still some bubble that was left. He did say that there wasn't much more that he could do without really risking it's life, so we have just left our baby alone ever since because he didn't seem to have any problems (and he is doing great). I do recommend a vet visit; they may not be able to do much either, but perhaps they could shed some more light onto the subject.

-I would definitely take her off of the bed-a-beast and keep her on moist paper towels.

-We were using neosporin on our baby, but this was after his "surgery," not before, and it was only for a few days. If anything, you could give him a warm water soak for 15-30 minutes. You can add a tablespoon of Peroxide to the water for initial disinfecting, just do not continue to add Peroxide to the water after a day or two, because continuous Peroxide treatment could start eating away at the skin cells.

-I don't see a need to change her diet. Just make sure that she can poop and urinate. For the first month or so that our baby was alive, I was assisting him with defecating, because I would constantly see things getting backed up inside of the bubble area. I basically gently pushed the stuff so that it came out. I only had to do this at first, he is almost 4 months old now and has had no problem defecating or urinating (he too also eats superworms).

Here's the thread about ours if you'd like to see pics and what not:
http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=20857&highlight=bubble

Good luck with everything, and keep us updated!