Open Head Wound Help

[adamfritzsche]

I noticed that my small pastel had some sort of issue on his head yesterday. Today I look at it and there is an open wound? What is this? Has he been rubbing it raw for some reason or is this something else?

[heathers*bps]

It's a little hard to tell since the pic is a little blurry. What do you feed him, f/t or live?

I would sterlize his enclosure ( remove all substrate, use paper towel or newspaper, remove everything from his enclosure other than the water bowl ) clean the wound gently with some betadine, make sure temps are perfect ( or atleast dang near ) up the humidity a bit and let him heal. If you notice any nasty oozing, bad smell or anything indicating an infection, please seek a vet ASAP.

[kitedemon]

It is very hard to tell but it looks like missing scales not actually through the skin. You are there is there blood or just pink? Look closely they will sometimes pull free a scale or two iF this is the case there is no problem at all. feel everything in the enclosure that might have sharp bits that may have caused the damage and fix that. I would apply some Flamazine (silver sulfadiazine cream) and keep a close eye on it.

If what I am seeing is wrong and there is a cut blood and tissue not just missing scales it is time for a vet.

[adamfritzsche]

Yes I have been feeding live. I relooked at it and it is pinkish and you are probably right that is missing scales. I just saw pink and a chunk of head missing. I'm sure at this point is just looks worse than it is, but I will clean it, his tub and keep a close eye on it. Here is a little better pic that I retook. Of all things, now my camera is having issues focusing close up.

[kitedemon]

Is that damp around the hurt or is it just the image or cream? It really does not look too serious to me but infection is a concern if the skin is broken. I would switch to paper (news or craft) and keep everything super clean. Keep a very close eye on on it and if it looks worse it is time for the vet asap reptiles are very good at hiding problems so when they are evident it is often progressed quite far.

I might bump up the ambient air temps to 81-3 if you can and warm side to 91-4 as well.

[Bill T]

It looks like the spot i had on one of my normal girls. Mine got it from when i had her a tub that had too much of a gap on top and she kept trying to wiggle thru. She had rubbed the top of her head raw. like pretty much everyone said so far, keep an eye on it and if it starts oozing it may be time to bring him in.

[Homegrownscales]

Just to keep in mind a reptile infection is never really going to ooze actually. It will lump up and become more of a bump that will get larger and larger and larger. Reptile puss is very hard, it looks a bit like dried up old cheese that has been sitting on your counter for a week. Most of the time the scales will actually heal back and the infection will abcess inside the body. So at this point for him.i would keep it clean with a bit of betadyne every day. This will prevent infection and clean it out as well. Make sure there's no large gaps or sharp areas and keep an eye out for inflammation.


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