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Illness/Sickness: HELP- Fire salamander with bad facial wound

wastedwords

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My fire salamander was bitten by one of his tank mates. He has a cut next to his eye that is infected. He is currently in his own tank and not accepting food. Is there anything I can put on his infection? Would triple antibiotic ointment or bacitracin be safe? I have used them with good results on my reptiles but I am really hesitant about putting anything else on an amphibian.

When I first looked on this forum for help I found these articles:

Standard Operating Procedures for Research on Amphibians - USGS National Wildlife Health Center

Salamanders and Newts

They say to use Bactine so I dabbed some on the infection. Today the skin has disappeared in a patch around his mouth. I can tell he is in pain. He isn't thrashing around but he does keep rubbing is face against things. Does anyone know of a way I can help ease his pain? I was about to put bacitracin on it to see if it would ease up but I thought better of it after what the Bactine seems to have done.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

Kaysie

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It's probably best if you have a vet evaluate the wound. If it's necrotizing at such a fast rate, you'll need something stronger than neosporin. Silvadine is often used for flesh wounds, but it's available only by prescription.
 

wastedwords

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Thanks for the response. He has an appointment for tomorrow. Are you familiar with antibiotic baths? From what I can gather they are very effective but can be overdosed. I was thinking about accepting whatever is given but asking that I take care of the bath or dose when I get home so I can do some research into whatever they give me.
 

Kaysie

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Baytril is the common antibiotic used for baths. I've found it effective in the past. Hopefully your vet is well-versed in herps, and if not, at least in small animals. It's just a matter of diluting the dose down to the weight of your animal.
 

wastedwords

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The vet gave me Baytril and also Silvadine when i mentioned it. They had come across various reptiles in their office but not many amphibians and never a salamander, although the vet seemed pretty familiar with them. Thanks again for the advice.
 

wastedwords

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Hello Julia, I set up for a bath and a photo this morning and found my poor guy had passed away. He had 3 days of treatment and his face looked a little better but he apparently had a large infection on the inside of his mouth that I was not aware of when I wrote the original post.


This is Ed the day I got him:
72982_10200119026846050_1849832502_n.jpg
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FX1C

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I'm very sorry for your loss :(

It's never easy to lose a pet, all you can do is try & you certainly did that.
You did all you could. Sorry again :(



<3 >o_o< <3
 
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