Need some help ASAP

OK I have a Spotted Salamander that I have had for about 2 years old. I am pretty sure its a female. She has been kept on moist tropical dirt (you know the bricks you get wet and it turns to dirt, I cant think of what its called right now) anyways, there are hides, fresh water and she is housed with a female Marbled Salamander.

About a week ago I noticed a red spot on the rear leg of the spotted and didnt think too much of it. Well a couple days later the leg was just about falling off and she wasnt using it. Two days ago, I went and checked on her and the leg is gone and there is an open wound. I used sterile water and cleaned it out with some q-tips. I didnt know what was safe to put on it so I left it be. I did however take her out of the terrarium and put her in a smaller cage on moist paper towels. The wound has gotten smaller but tonight I noticed another spot on her belly. It is not red but a dark color. I called my vet earlier this week about the leg and no one around here sees Salamanders. I am not sure what to do or how I can treat her. Any help would be greatly appreciated. A picture is attatched. You can see the missing leg wound as well as the new spot.

It's hard to even speculate on the cause of these symptoms. There are some antiseptic treatments you could use on the wound, see
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness.shtml

Thank you for your response. I am not sure on which would be safe or the right one to use. I dont want to do a trial and error thing as I do not want to lose my sal.

luvmypitties said:

Thank you for your response. I am not sure on which would be safe or the right one to use. I dont want to do a trial and error thing as I do not want to lose my sal.

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Unless you know what you are treating, it will be empirical therapy or 'trial and error'. Here is a list of vets who deal with exotics in the Virginia area:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/virginia.shtml

I would speculate (although that is always dangerous) that the problem is pathogen induced, what pathogen(s) is the quesiton - bacteria, virus, fungus, or a mix, etc.. A vet may be able to minimally do a culture and possible a sensitivity if bacterial...that would give direction on treatment. Drugs that have been used with caudates are indicated in the link Jennewt provided - share this with the vet if (s)he is not familiar with caudates. If bacterial, a wide-spectrum drug especially used for mixed bacterial infections and used with a reasonable degree of safety in caudates is Silvadene cream (silver sulfadiazine)...but this has to be obtained from the vet, is not OTC.

In the meantime, I would debride the areas with a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide (1.5%). Use commercially available hydrogen peroxide 3% and dilute with an equal amount of sterile water (e.g., 1tsp water to 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide.). Dab on the wounds with a Q-tip.

If you want to speculate that the wounds are caused by a bacteria, Neosporin ointment or cream (OTC) can be applied after the areas dry. The Neosporin must not be the type with 'pain reliever' (pramoxine or benzocaine - could kill the sal). Use only plain neosporin and apply twice a day for 7-10 days. This is a shotgun approach - but something you might try immediately while finding/contacting a vet.

Hi it is always adviceable to have a bacteriological culture of the wounds, the fact is that there must be too many bacteria involved. As Jan said wash the afected area with the hidrogen peroxide dillution, silver sulfadiazine works well and I had good results with neomicine sulfate.

Hope this would help .

Thanks again for your further responses. I will contact the vet I use for my snakes and see if she can do a culture or something on the little gal. Thanks and I will keep you all updated.

Just an update. She went to a vet on Tuesday to have a sensitivity culture sent off. We still haven't gotten the results. Since then another spot has come up on her tail and looks like the others. I bought bacitracin and have been putting that on her. The diluted peroxide seemed to not feel good when that was put on so I stopped doing that. The spot on her belly seems to be getting a little better, it never opened like the other 2 spots, it was just on the skin. The two open spots I havent really seen a change in. I will keep everyone updated.

It may be a good idea to remove the other salamander from the enclosure and replace the substrate. I am no vet or expert but I would imagine it might be transferable through the substrate depending on what the infection is. Also check the environment to find anything sharp that might have compromised the skin allowing infection, humidity and moisture of substrate, and temperature. Maybe someone with more knowledge can give you a second opinion on this.

The spotted salamander has been moved to a different enclosure on paper towels. The other salamander is still in the old enclosure but I have taken everything out and disinfected everything. I changed the substrate, bought new hides and new water dish (since plastic can harbor bacteria). Everything was rinsed very well so it is safe for the salamander to return to the enclosure. So far the other one has not had any spots show up.

Ok I got the results back from the lab. He has two organisms living on him, both of which were bacterias. The first one was Alcaligenes Species and the second was Enteroccus sp. (non-pathogenic). Now the crazy thing about both of these bacterias is that one is resisant to a bacteria while the other is sensitive to it. It was crazy to see the reports and see how opposite they really were. Only one antibiotic came back as being able to treat both. So we started my salamander on an oral suspension of Ciproflaxin. The salamander was just started on it last night so we will see how the next few days go. I just wanted to share this in case something like this happens to anyone else's pet. Thanks for all the advice as well.

Interesting

Good to see you obtained the culture it is not adviceable to give antibiotics without sensitivity tests, you should start seeing recovery from now on.



¿How is your salamander´s appetite?



Keep posting

Her appetite was never effected. Without a leg the crickets were harder to catch but that was the only real difference. It is very hard trying to give her an oral medication.