Emergency help needed!!!!! Dying animal.

My son has several breeding leopard geckos.

He had an established breeding pair out cleaning the tank and for whatever reason the male just started attacking the female. she has a DEEP flesh wound on her back leg and is loosing a lot of blood. the male basicly ripped all the skin off down to the muscle on the underside of her thigh on her back leg. It looks horrible and is bleeding.

I doubt she will be able to handle so much blood loss. I put antibiotic on it, and I put in a clean tub with paper towel substrate. Is there anything else I can do? Would we be better off putting her down?

Please help asap my son is crushed.

take her to an emergency clinic or any vet that is open. if the bleeding doesnt stop she'll die.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...a/PICT0144.jpg

here is a pic. I have no vet to take her to now. should we attempt to cover it with a bandage? Not sure if we can though cause it is as much her body as it is her leg.

oh wow, if u dont have anywhere u can take her then just try to control the bleeding. thats the main threat right now. if u can stop the bleeding and let her rest she just might make it until u can seek further treatment

Do you have any steri-strips? They should sell them at cvs, clean the wound with diluted betadine solution pat it dry, close with steri-strips.

ok I put a little piece of gauze pad on it with antibiotic and wrapped it with medical tape. It is very weak adhesive medical tape so it won't be any issue taking it off. It basically looks like she is wearing a diaper. It doesn't look like there was any damage to the bone or muscle so if I can just get it to stop bleeding she might make it.

im glad the bleeding stopped, try and let her sleep or lay still as much as possible so the tape doesnt come loose and pull out that blood clot.

You can put corn starch on wounds to get them to stop bleeding.

Is there a cut vein that you can see? you need to try and close the wound as much as possible, if you use the steri-strips they will come off with her next shed.

It isn't something that can be closed. the male ripped off the patch of skin. My origional discription was not accurate... it is NOT deep, it is a patch of skin that is now gone. the entire red area in the pic is no skin.

ok, you can go this route then, clean with the diluted betadine, apply neosporin with a non-stick telfa pad then secure with the paper tape. the regular gauze willl stick to the wound and may cause bleeding when removed. Best of luck with her :)

Assuming she survives the night:

1) DRESS THE WOUND. I'm far from an expert on dressing small reptile injuries, but being unable to close the injury means you need to have it dressed. Hopefully there are good suggestions here for dressing reptile wounds.

2) Keep things STERILE. The gecko will obviously urinate and defecate on the ground, which is a problem for an underside wound. Keeping her cage clean will be essential to preventing infection, even with antibiotics.

Id say the most important issue is to stop the bleeding and hopefully you will be able to take her to the vet in the morning. He just attacked her?

Clot wounds with cornstarch and light pressure(because it's such a tiny lizard, and the location of the wound), paper towel substrate. Not sure how you'll be able to bandage that to keep it clean without making it so that her poop doesn't get on the bandages. I'd try the liquid bandaid type stuff(depending on the fumey nature of it, might be bad idea? Good idea? Use ventilated area so fumes go away? Not certain). Maybe even instead of liquid bandaid, try using a non-toxic glue like elmers? Something to seal it against poop basically.

If you can consult a reptile vet of course, that would be best. Just tossing you some ideas. Best of luck with her.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DJ_Bizarre

He just attacked her?

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yes, according to my son...

so what happened? is she ok?

wow that is just terrible....I am sorry your son had to see that. I hope she is ok.

I just wanted to put out there that if you do not have corn starch you can also use flour to stop bleeding and assist in clotting as well. I also wanted to say whom ever stated to use liquid bandaid that actually sounded like a great idea.

Let us know how your lil one is doing

I am glad that you were able to stop the bleeding! Make sure to separate her from the male and keep her on paper towel and try to keep it as clean as possible. I would recommend keeping her in a small tub to keep her from moving around too much and just keep a close eye on her. If the skin is missing, I am not sure what a vet can do at this point other than perhaps prescribe an antibiotic.

Was he keeping the geckos together constantly? The males will harass females to breed even if the females are not ovulating, which can result in injuries. Some males are particularly aggressive breeders. I keep my animals apart except for when they are put together to breed (which is monitored..then they are separated once again.) If you guys have ANY questions regarding leopard geckos or breeding them, please don't hesitate to PM me about it.

Best of luck to both of you and I hope she recovers swiftly.

she is hanging in there. the wound looks like it is starting to heal. I am still putting antibiotics on it daily. she seems close to normal, but she is obviously in some pain when moving that leg, and she hasn't eaten anything yet.

Glad to hear she's doing better :)

How is she doing Mike?