Swollen Orange Wart

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smoothoperator

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Hey guys, I'm new to this forum!

I dunno if this is something to freak out about, but my mandarin crocodile newt was perfectly fine yesterday, and all of a sudden this afternoon, one of it's orange dots on its back is TOTALLY swollen. Not exactly the orange part itself, but AROUND the wart, it's huge, like a bubble.

Should I be worried??:eek:
 
Oh guys, he's usually really active but he looks like he's in pain now, and he's not moving at all. He's just lying there with his eyes closed....

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Hello,

There are several things that could look like this (mainly local irritation/inflammation or infection (various possible pathogen types)), and I would strongly suggest getting the newt to a vet if possible for assessment and possible testing. Particularly if he seems lethargic/off colour in himself, I would do so fairly quickly.

I hope you can get him sorted out.

Bruce
 
It looks like something that needs to be lanced and drained as soon as possible, and I think you should seek a vet to do this properly, if at all possible.
 
Oh shoot, but we're currently in Hong Kong right now! Even the pet stores have no knowledge of these animals man, they just buy and sell and that's it!!

I'll try to look for a vet that knows about newts around this area... I'm not so familiar with this city yet!!

I read that when the newt feels like it's in danger, it squeezes out some poison from the warts or something... could this be it???

Oh I hope it ok!!!!


>>> Update: I just frantically searched for vets around here and it doesn't seem like any one of them know about newts!!
I just checked up on him and the...bubble thing is DEFINITELY growing. He's still not moving, and the thing is now totally around and OVER the wart as well. It kinda looks clear, like a blister we'd get on our hands.

I'm too scared to hurt it so I'm not gonna touch it or pop it...

What should I do?
 
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Are none of the vets willing to examine the animal? They may not be experts with newts but at least they could do a sterile fine needle aspirate and find out what sort of material the mass is composed of. I really do not have any other suggestions other than keeping the animal cool and in a clean environment, like a plastic shoe box with moist unbleached paper towels as a substrate.
 
You probably will have trouble finding a vet. For home remedies you could treat topically with silvidine cream, triple antibioitc, bacitracin or something similar.
 
The bubble thing popped 2 days ago, and he seemed totally fine. No discolouring, nothing strange, he was back to his normal black-orange self... until today.

I just checked on him, and to my horror, THIS happened over night!!!

WHAT IS THAT? Oh my poor baby...

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It's as if something took a bite out of him!
Could it be a flesh eating virus?

I hope someone knows what's going on...
 
I'm not usualy squeamish, but thats put me right off my tea cake.

I doubt its a flesh eating virus.
He needs a salt water bath and immediate sterile quarantine to prevent infection and allow the wound to heal. I strongly recommend getting it to a vet if at all possible. If thats not an option you may have to treat with suitable antibiotics and just see what happens.
 
That is a huge sore. Flamazine cream from the vets is good, but he needs to be kept on dry land for the treatment to be effective. Doesn't look good. :(
 
Thank you all so much... I'm so clueless with these things, he's my first newt! Only 6 months...

So I'm going out to buy some salt right now, I read it should be either Sea Salt, Fresh water aquarium salt, or kosher salt, right?

there are many references as to how much I should put in and how long..but it's mostly for 'fungus' on the newts...

How much salt should I put in, and how long should I leave him in there? Do i need to put in a sponge too so he can rest there as well, instead of swimming around for like 2 days?

I really want to save him...
 
smoothoperator said:
So I'm going out to buy some salt right now, I read it should be either Sea Salt, Fresh water aquarium salt, or kosher salt, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, anything other than sea salt. You need something thats pure salt, with no added chemicals(which 'table salt' and th like have to stop them getting sticky).
Give this article about treating sals a thorough read; http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/sores.shtml
As Michael says your probably going to need an antibiotic and keep it clean(keep cleaning out whatever you have him quarantined in, might be worth having two setups - one for use one being cleaned at any time).

Good luck, keep us aprised.
 
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yea, i'm so worried i feel like i'm gonna go crazy! argh...

well, the best we could do was go to what people call "fish and reptile town" in hong kong, and ask around. it was kinda dramatic, pouring rain and all, and i ran to every store i could find that sells newts. the last store was the best one, they were really nice...

they dripped 2 drops of a red looking liquid, they said it's an anti bacterial thing... then they broke up a plastic pill and sprinkled a bit of the powder medicine on the wound. they said he should be fine, and i shouldn't worry. apparently it's due to a bacterial infection, probably from dirty water (which is strange, coz i change his water every 3 days, so i can only assume that hong kong's tap water's dirty!)...i sure hope they're right.

it's been a day since the 'treatment', and he's now in a plastic box, on top of a damp towel. he's still not eating, but i hear they can survive for a month without food so that isn't my main worry.

his wound is now yellow from the meds, but he seems a little more energetic. he still looks like he's misisng a huge chunk from his body, but let's just hope for the best...
 
That sounds interesting, any idea what it was they used on him?
Your description doesnt sound like anything I'm familiar with.

I'm not suprised he's not energetic, I reckon from your photos your probably looking at quite a long healing time.
 
That wound appears to be a ruptured abscess to me. That would go along with the "bubble" that was present before the open wound. Your animal must have gotten an infection under the skin that formed a pocket of pustulent material (the "bubble") and then that pocket opened up. Abscess's are common from animal bites (like cats) but I really have no idea what could have caused it in your Tylo.
In my opinion I think your newt has a better chance of survival now that the wound is able to drain. Your biggest worry now will be to stop any secondary infections. Remember to keep temps cool, and keep in mind that no antibiotic, at least that I know of, will be very affective with just one application. You should really look into getting something you can use to treat at home. And good luck!
 
Okay... here's the update.

He seemed fine for 2 days, the wound didn't seem to be changing in size...

Then I woke up this morning to catch the last second of... what looked like a huge... black-leather ...wrinkly thing coiled up around its tail! At first I thought he was eating his own tail, but then I saw that he just slid it right off and ate the...black stuff up.

Do newts shed? So quickly?

Anyways, I looked at the wound, and there are two new things sticking out of it... and it definitely looked like bones. Yup, His ribs are sticking out...
The wound looks like it grew a LITTLE bit (coz the medicated 'old' wound is yellow now, and there's new 'fresh pink' ring around it). I found a little blood on his body too.
The wound is getting so deep and bad that he can't even move his front left foot... I"m scarted to see the gone of the armpit too...

I have no idea what to do. I'm devastated. If only I knew what was going on?!

He's still in that plastic box, I clean and wet his towel twice a day... I have no idea what else to do.

P.S.
I'd post pictures, but I don't want you all to lose your appetite!
 
You'd best post a picture.

What your describing could be normal healing. Fresh pale skin heals over the wound(this often can look like the wounds getting bigger, it will hopefully cover in a few days) which is oft accompanied by frequent shedding.

As for the bones showing, is it possible they were just previously covered by the 'exploded' flesh?

Wounds often end up looking alot worse before they start to look better. Is he active, eating?

Keep up with the twice daily cleaning to make sure it doesnt get infected.
 
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