Wounded nose

[Pokersnake]

I have a sub-adult (less than a year old) male leo that I got back in August who has some sort of injury on his nose. It looks like some sort of a small cut between his nostrils.

The thing that bothers me is that I noticed an irregularity on his nose right before his last shed. Kind of like a small indentation or abnormal skin growth. At first I thought it was stuck shed, but this one seems to shed flawlessly and after a soak and a humidity treatment, I didn't see any signs of stuck skin. But now, the exact same spot has come open. If it weren't for my earlier observations, I would think that a giant meal worm managed to bite him at food time. But I'm not so sure about that.

He isn't all that interested in food anymore, not compared to his neighbor who would eat himself to death (they live in a divided tank with no contact to each other). He gets 5 giant mealies every day but often leaves one or two behind. Last night he left 4 of the 5 in his dish. I won't be surprised if he doesn't eat tonight. The temp is stable between 90 and 95 with an UTH. He's been spending time in the humid hide on the cool side of the cage. Sleeps a lot. Rarely comes out unless the lights are off. His last 2 poos were small in comparison to normal. Plain calcium is available to him. I dust with a multivitamin more often than probably necessary (twice a week) because my calcium with D3 doesn't stick to the meal worms very well. I'm use paper towels as substrate and moss for the humid hide. Since I don't have a scale... all I can say is that his weight looks good and his tail is fat.

I may be able to get a pic soon, but he's not too keen on me handling him. What do you think I should use to help the cut heal?

 

[Dog Shrink]

My son's ballpython had a really wrinkly nose from a bad shed and we treated it with mineral oil for about 2-3 weeks and we're finally seeing a vast improvement from his original state. That may be something to try even if you don't see stuck shed the damagecould already be done. Also the only other thing that comes to mind is some sort of infection like possibly mouth rot or sinus kind of infection that doesn't involve snot so not like an upper respratory thing but maybe a bite that did get a little infected. Until youpost a pic those are just my best guesses. If it is an infection a vet visit is in order to get type specific antibiotics unfortunately. You could try terramycin ointment in the meanwhile until you are abe toget to a vet. It can't hurt. It's a nice lubricant with antibiotics that I use to treat eye infections for my rabbits so at the very least maybe it can stop things from progressing any worse until you can have him seen.

 

[LZRDGRL]

I wouldn't put anything on it; just keep the cage very clean and let it heal by itself. Just IN CASE it came from the giant mealworms or superworms, I would suggest to feed crickets for a while, because those won't bite him in his nose! If he really got bitten, he might try to avoid big worms for now (* a little traumatized * ) :main_yes:

Chrissy

 

[Pokersnake]

Gotcha. I was thinking of neosporin for infection, but I'll see if Farm n Fleet has terramycin.

This one is a very lazy hunter. When he was younger, he'd snatch up crickets, but last time he just ate one and decided they were too much effort. I'll try them again. It can't hurt. And if he won't eat them, his brother will (Not actually related lizards. This one is a mack snow, the other is a TUG snow). Man, I hate crickets though. They seem to smell worse after they've been eaten than they do before. I wish my Dubias would hurry up and grow to feeding size!

I guess tonight I'll be checking out his entire mouth to see if there's any sign of mouth rot or other infections. I certainly hope not... if so the poor little thing is coming with me on my Thanksgiving trip to Iowa. Good thing I have a temp cage I can use. Do any of you have a tip on how to get the gecko to open its mouth?

I think I'm going to switch to filtered water now instead of using the dechlorinator drops. The water seems to get scuzzy really quickly. Should I change the water twice a day or should once be enough? Paper towels changed after every poop/ every day? Should I take out the moss and turn that into paper towels as well? It would keep the crickets from hiding in the moss.

Thanks for the advice all. I really appreciate it.

 

[Dog Shrink]

You pretty much want to do all you can to make a hospital tank. Prob. bottled water, paper towels everywhere insted of moss, remove anything that isn't a necessity imo.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I like distilled water, it doesn't spot up the enclosure when misting, or scum up in the water dish unless they splash around in it a lot. Also for incubating, it doesn't mold from bacteria. After breeding season I switched out all the hides from spaghnum to paper towel, for cleanliness. All the geckos were fine with it. As for the nose issue, remember anything you put on it's face will be ingested when he licks. Ours will occasionally get a bite wound from a superworm, but it heals on its' own without any human intervention. Your boy may just need a few days with no food to become interested in his worms again. It won't hurt him. The only way I will give a cricket treat is if they will immediately hunt it down and gobble it up. No strays are allowed. That way I know they won't eat poop and cause parasites. If you have some kind of needleless syringe or dropper, once you get his mouth open put that in and look inside real fast. He won't like it a bit. Good luck with him

 

[Pokersnake]

So now upon close examination, it looks like a cut. It's red, but not oozing or discolored. His mouth looks happy and pink with no sign of mouth rot.

I used a q-tip with just water to clean his nose after he ate. Only one cricket, but I left a few regular meal worms just in case he decided to eat when no one's looking tonight. There was calcium powder on his nose and I wanted to clean it off. He really does not like it being touched. Then again, he's twitchy when I touch him anywhere. I think I need to break him of that sensitivity.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Only way to break him of that is to handle him more. I always feed Eros before I hold him. He's in a better mood on a full belly. Glad it wasn't any type of mouth rot and is just a booboo.

 

[GeckoGurl]

I second on the feeding before handling... im careful not to stress them out on a full stomach but my Leo is feisty and she decides when to be handled on a full stomach she tends to be calm and lazy other wise she is jumpy and I do not take her from tank I just hover over tank and let her walk across my hands and lick me. Slowly she is coming around just takes time and patience. My African Fat Tail on the other hand is very tame and will sit on my shoulder she has fallen asleep on my leg a few times now Good luck hope all gets better!

 

[Pokersnake]

Looks like my dude is better. His nose has stopped being an open injury and is now closed. It's shined over like new skin growth tends to be. Yay no infection! Looks like he gets to stay home for thanksgiving break under the care of my roommate. No crazy traveling for him.