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No benzocaine....but?

J

jazz

Guest
Hi,

I came home from school today to find that my bigger female Triturus K. had the end of her tail bitten off. I hove no idea which newt did this to her but have separated her from the others for the time being. I read about caring for the wounds with Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment. I have som of that that has a painkiller, but it doesn't say it contains benzocaine. Is it ONLY benzocaine that's a problem or should I keep away from all pain killers? Thanks!!
 
J

joan

Guest
Unless it's showing signs of fungus, I wouldn't bother with it. I've had one female T. karelinii who's had her tail bitten off twice by more aggressive tank mates (maybe this is why she's terrestrial!), and haven't had a problem with regrowth either time.
 
J

jazz

Guest
This is true, others in the tank now are regrowing past tailbites. I'll put her back tonight and check them all in the morning. Maybe I can find the culprit and give him/her a stern talking to. Thanks!
 
J

jennifer

Guest
Does it say what the painkiller ingredient is? I'm curious what it is, if it's not benzocaine. I think lidocaine is OK, but I wouldn't take the chance. Like Joan, I've seen a number of T. karelinii tail injuries, including a couple of rather ghastly looking ones, and they always healed up without treatment.
 
J

Jan

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The local anesthetic in Neosporin is pramoxine. It works as all local anesthetics do by blocking nerve impulses at the sensory nerve endings in the skin and mucous membranes to produce analgesia. I wouldn't risk using this on a newt. And although I am not a newt pharmacologist so to speak, unless there are data to suggest otherwise, I would not use lidocaine either. Lidocaine and benzocaine are very similar - one is an ester derivative and the other an amide derivative...but both produce the same local anesthetic effects. I would worry that any of these compounds could be absorbed systemically through the skin and produce cardiac arrhythmias or standstill and other end organ damage....if one can extrapolate human pcol to caudates that is.
 
A

alberto

Guest
I have use Neosporin on bad limb infections on new Chinese fire belly newts from a pet store and have been pleased with the results.
 
J

Jan

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Alberto - the product you used was plain Neosporin without a 'painkiller' - correct?
 
A

alberto

Guest
Hello Jan
No it was not plain Neosporin, it did have the analgesia pramoxine.
 
L

leanne

Guest
If you get the generic "Triple Antibiotic Ointment", which I have had excellent results with, it contains no numbing agents/painkillers. To be on the safe side, stay away from anything that ends in "caine". The ingredients in the Triple Antibiotic Ointment are beneficial and safe to use on your caudate:
1. Bacitracin
2. Neomycin Sulfate
3. Polymyxin-B Sulfate

People use the ointments with painkillers in them to euthanize their herps---the numbing agent ingredient makes their central nervous system fall asleep, often permanently. It is a really hard way to put an amphibian down, I speak from experience, because there is no way to monitor the amount of ointment that is going to be effective, and in the meantime the creature is in paralyctic agony (at least in my situation, where I tried to euthanize a White's tree frog this way).
 
A

alberto

Guest
Hello Leanne & Jan
I have use both plain Neosporin and the one with the pain killer and I must have been lucky because they did not die! But I will not continue using anything that has any kind of pain killer on my newts!
Thanks for the advice!
happy.gif
 
J

jazz

Guest
Thanks for all the responses!

As it is, every time I come into the room she is on her floating bark. I suspect she's either avoiding the others or doing her own "dirt quarantine". Do you think I should separate her and give her a real quarantine? Once I come close she dives back into the water and hides....which kind of kills the effect of originally bivouacking on the bark doesn't it?

And since we are already on the topic of animal health I noticed something strange in another of my Triturus Karelinii. He seems to have grown a belly button. I checked the wart and it does not appear to be a cut or flap or skin, but I don't know why it has started to grow of if I should worry. Please let me know if anyone has any ideas. Really it just looks like a belly button.
 
J

jazz

Guest
The female is loosing some of her brown color and turning paler. Should I separate her, let things run their course, apply meds? Please lemme know!!
 
J

joseph

Guest
IME with a bitten tail or two yes the newt does tend to go terrestrial. I'd simply keep close watch of her. If you are concerned you could seperate her into a private tank with a land/water section.
 
J

jennifer

Guest
Does the tail still look raw or ragged? If so, I'd consider applying some Neosporin and keeping her out of water. T. karelinii will sometimes get paler when under stress.
 
J

jazz

Guest
The tail does not look ragged, she's healing now. She has also regained some of her color. Sorry for the false alarm, the change was just so sudden and drastic! Thanks for the help!!
 
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