Paddletail' face rotting away!?

Hey all

I bought this Paddletail newt in May. When I got her, she had a spot on her face that looked like another animal had bitten her lip. When I asked on the forums, everyone told me that it was OK and she'd be fine. She has been a very sweet, non-agressive, and hermetic newt. She'd sleep for days at a time in her hideaway. Also, she would never eat live food, her body build is fine and she does not look too skinny.

I have just noticed that her missing face skin is a lot worse than it was when we first got her. Her upper lip is pretty much gone and you can see right inside her mouth. Here's the links to some very low quality pics, because my camera stinks.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/DEMONiAM/Pets/IMG_0059.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/DEMONiAM/Pets/IMG_0076.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b372/DEMONiAM/Pets/IMG_0074.jpg

What should I do with her. Nobody told me to worry, but, she looks like her head is just gonna slowly disentegrate. Should I just let her live out the rest of her life or what?

Please advise!!

To be honest it does'nt look good. I have bought newts in the past that looked ok, when i got them home i noticed a small sore maybe the size of a pin prick , over the next few weeks it has got bigger and bigger, i tried all sorts of methods to cure it and in all cases failed. looking at the advanced stage of yours i'm afraid i myself fear the worst.Someone else might have had more luck and know of a cure, i hope they do- good luck....Ian

You can try giving her a salt bath for about one hour. I believe it was 30 gram of salt per liter, but you'll have to check that on the internet for I am not sure of it. It is a good cure for fungi and bacterial infections.

Thanks for all the help..what little I recieved...She's gone now.

aww thats so sad, sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes it's hard to tell on the outside why a newt wont heal. These animals are wild caught and have gone through a lot before they end up in the pet store. There isn't that much you can do other than provide them with a clean setup, food and some peace and quiet. Medication, if you know the cause of the illness, doesn't cure everything either.

Sorry about your loss.As Ester says they go through a lot before they reach the pet shop.If i am going to buy a newt now from a pet shop i check it over thoroughly first , any mark that should'nt be there and i give it a miss. Like i say a pin prick sore soon spreads to a large ulcer type wound that i have been unable to cure.Don't let it put you off i now have 5 paddle tails in a 3 foot tank , they are known to be aggressive but mine are fine ( plenty of hiding places is the way) they squabble a bit at feeding time but never do any damage ,they are one of my favourite newts. Good luck in the future.....Ian

Dude, I'm sorry about your loss. My Chinese Warty had the same face rotting off thing happen. Somehow, with some liquid bandaid and ghetto last resort neosporin on it he made a come back. I'm sorry about yours. Hope it never happens again.

ester in your picture. What type of newt is that?

I'm sorry for your loss. Animals often arrive at the pet shop in bad shape, and sometimes despite all your efforts, you can't save them. I hope you never have to go through this again.

Alexandra, you don't need to respond to a thread such as this, where someone is asking for help and subsequently lost their animal, to ask questions. It's very unsympathetic and fairly rude. For future reference, you can send private messages to people by clicking on their name and viewing their profile.

I can definately sympathize for you. I bought four paddle tail newts, one died for no visable reason, and two more died from the face rot just like yours. I tried everything I could possibly find to save them, and it just didn't work. Luckily for me the last one survived and is a very active and an excessive eater. I hope you get one like this too.