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Illness/Sickness: Tiger Salamander Dragging her Back Legs? Plus strange growth?

Kms124

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Hello everyone,

When I got home tonight to greet my Tiger Salamander, Muffin, as I usually do- I noticed something was off when she was waddling over to me. As she was pawing at the glass of her tank like usual; I noticed on her side she has this strange growth; at first I thought it was dirt but noticed it is actually a bump of her skin raised. I also noticed as she is walking/ trying to climb/ beg- one of her legs seems to be dragging. I am very concerned seeing I spend a lot of time with her daily- and this growth I have not seen up until now nor have I seen any leg problems. Im not sure if she possibly could have fallen a certain way and hurt one of her legs, if this growth could be harmful, or could she have something potentially more serious?

I have no vets around me that work with salamanders as I am trying to research like crazy; so I'm unsure what to do. I was thinking about trying to get a hold of my local exotic pet dealer- but I know it isn't the same- I would like to have that growth evaluated.

As for warning signs/ anything odd- everything seemed fine up until I got in tonight around 5:30. While she is still her attention craving self trying to follow me and watch me; she (to me) looks like she is hurt and struggling. She has been quite clumsy tonight due to the leg issue. She has been eating fine, has been more than active. I also noticed this growth today; and I do not recall seeing it within the past couple of days as I see my her daily and would have noticed it before. I am attaching a picture of where it is and what it looks like. It almost looks like a boil to me.

muffinsgrowth.jpg


Muffin has been eating with no problems (I'm trying to get her to eat tonight- seeing it has been a few days); I have been feeding her Canadian Crawlers which she seems to be doing fine with; sometimes (depending on what the pet stores have in stock) I have to switch up her worms. I have the special calcium dusting I bought for her as well. Her tank has eco earth substrate, hiding log, food dish, pool and some fake plants and a few larger rocks for her to lay down on.

I notice as she tries to get up and climb she often falls over- and I worry she is in pain. She seems much slower than usual to me. She did get really "excited" a few nights ago-I had some work being done around my room and she was running back and forth- pawing on the glass like she usually does. With all of the people in and out- she was so busy watching and running it took her awhile to eat- had to wait for everybody to leave. I'm not sure if she could have twisted her leg a certain way then from all of her running.

As of right now- I have had her for 2 years. She has not had any problems up until now- and sadly I have no history of where she came from; she was originally sold to me as an "Axolotl" at a pet store when she was in larval form. She has such a personality and is a part of the family- and I want to make sure I can do what is within my power to make sure everything is ok for her.

I did want to post and ask around- of anybody ever has seen boil like growths/ leg problems- what could cause them/ signs and things I should be aware of. I have been researching with so many different results- some say a bone disease, possible spinal injury, twisted the wrong way- etc. As for the growth- I have no idea.

Any help/ advice would be more than appreciated!

Thank you!
 

Jan

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I've not seen these type of growths, nor do I have experience with tigers having gate/mobility problems. The two issues may be connected ( e.g.. a tumor causing paralysis) or not. Both are abnormal. I wish I could offer more advice other than to connect with an exotic vet (by phone maybe?) and hope (s)he has experience with caudates.
 

RLHam3

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did you ever find a solution or cause? My tiger has just this morning started with the exact same symptoms. Her lump on her tail came first though and is much larger and darker than yours is/was.

Hope everything turned out well. If any one knows anything about this, please let me know ASAP. I'm worried about my buddy
 
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