Crested Gecko Issue

[ashleymarie]

I keep my three crested geckos in bioactive vivs, with Jungle Dawn LED lights, kept at 75-78 degrees. This morning while misting everyone, I noticed that my jumpiest crestie has what looks like a scrape on her tail, exposing the flesh under her skin.





I have moved her to a quarantine tub in the meantime, to avoid any chance of infection. The only thing I can think of that would be capable of causing this scrape is the mesh vented ceiling piece that typically comes with exo terra vivs. I'm not entirely sure of what to do here. Do I try to encourage her to drop her tail, or do I leave her alone to maybe heal naturally? My other two cresties haven't ever had an issue like this, so this is very alien to me. I just don't know what's best in this situation.

[Nellasaur]

Cresties tend to be pretty resilient, so my instinct would be to leave her alone for a few days and see how she does. Moving her to a quarantine tank was a great first step. If you have Neosporin or another triple antibiotic-- no painkillers!!-- you can use that on the wound for the first four or five days to keep it covered and moist and help prevent infection.

Mine have gotten various scratches and nicks, mostly from encounters with the cats , and this has helped them out. That said, I've never seen anything quite like that with my gex. If someone more experienced with this kind of injury chimes in, I'd go with their word over mine.

Good luck!

[ashleymarie]

Cresties tend to be pretty resilient, so my instinct would be to leave her alone for a few days and see how she does. Moving her to a quarantine tank was a great first step. If you have Neosporin or another triple antibiotic-- no painkillers!!-- you can use that on the wound for the first four or five days to keep it covered and moist and help prevent infection.

Mine have gotten various scratches and nicks, mostly from encounters with the cats , and this has helped them out. That said, I've never seen anything quite like that with my gex. If someone more experienced with this kind of injury chimes in, I'd go with their word over mine.

Good luck!

I appreciate your insight!

[mlededee]

I would first keep her on paper towels in a QT type enclosure until healed. Clean the wound with Chlorhexidine or betadine (if you have it) and then when dry, cover with a thin layer of Neosporin. Make sure her enclosure dries out every day if you are misting it, in order to help the area heal (it will not heal if the enclosure is too wet). The wound looks fairly minor and should heal up fine. No need to make her drop her tail. That would only be necessary if the tail became necrotic and did not heal over a longer period of time. She may have shedding issues around the wound until it is healed, and shedding may pull off the scab. Be aware of that, helping to remove stuck shed around and below the area (which might constrict the tail) without removing the scab if possible.

[ashleymarie]

She has been on paper towels since I made this post, but yesterday I found her all frog-butt. :/ I removed her dropped tail and will continue to keep her on paper towels until it looks like her stump looks healed over.

[mlededee]

It happens. I doubt it had anything to do with the original injury if it seemed to be healing. But at this point it should heal up pretty quickly and she can go back into her viv.

[Nellasaur]

Oh bummer :/ But like mlededee said, it does happen.