My fire belly newt got bitten and lost its leg

[dio9366]

I had three fire belly newt living together peacefully for more than a year now,
however, 4 days ago one of the newt bite the other one's leg while fighting for food,
It happens many times before so i didn't put too much concern, but this time they fought for more than 1 minute, until I separated them, one of them got crippled, and two days laterhis elbow started to turn red, one day later anything below elbow started to rot, until now he had lost wrist. He started on shore almost all the time, I have never had any experience dealing with newt's wound, I also afraid to kill him if I treated him worng.
I am not a native English speaker so it is really hard for me to read the medical terms
in English, So I am asking you guys help here! What is the best thing to do now?
and what kind of medicine should I use? Please explain as simple as possible
because those medical terms is really hard for me to read!

Thank you very much!!

 

[jewett]

Hi Dio,

You may not need to do anything yet. Newts are really good at healing from wounds if they are in good health to begin with. Does the wound look fuzzy or hairy? Is the newt acting differently (like not eating or hiding more?) If the newt is still acting OK, just watch closely to make sure the wound heals.

BUT, if there is fuzz or other signs of infection, put the newt in a tightly covered plastic or glass box with wet towels and a hiding spot. Keep the newt cool (in the fridge is even OK) and keep the box very clean by changing out the paper towels every other day.(Be sure to use treated/ aged aquarium water to get the towels wet!) Offer the newt some food every few days as well, but don't be too worried if it does not want to eat yet. You can use an antibiotic ointment to help with a bacterial infection by applying it twice daily to the area until the wound looks completely healed, but be sure the ointment does NOT have any pain relief ingredients in it because they will kill your newt (one pain relief ingredient is called Pramoxine HCl so DO NOT buy anything with this) DO look for the ingredients Bacitracin, Neomycin, and Polymyxin B. Here in the USA you can get this as a product called Neosporin over the counter, but I don't know what will be available where you live.

This article should be helpful, too: Caudata Culture Articles - Sores Please ask if there are words you don't understand and we will help

Best of luck! I really hope your newt gets better fast!

HJ

 

[dio9366]

Hi Dio,

You may not need to do anything yet. Newts are really good at healing from wounds if they are in good health to begin with. Does the wound look fuzzy or hairy? Is the newt acting differently (like not eating or hiding more?) If the newt is still acting OK, just watch closely to make sure the wound heals.

BUT, if there is fuzz or other signs of infection, put the newt in a tightly covered plastic or glass box with wet towels and a hiding spot. Keep the newt cool (in the fridge is even OK) and keep the box very clean by changing out the paper towels every other day.(Be sure to use treated/ aged aquarium water to get the towels wet!) Offer the newt some food every few days as well, but don't be too worried if it does not want to eat yet. You can use an antibiotic ointment to help with a bacterial infection by applying it twice daily to the area until the wound looks completely healed, but be sure the ointment does NOT have any pain relief ingredients in it because they will kill your newt (one pain relief ingredient is called Pramoxine HCl so DO NOT buy anything with this) DO look for the ingredients Bacitracin, Neomycin, and Polymyxin B. Here in the USA you can get this as a product called Neosporin over the counter, but I don't know what will be available where you live.

This article should be helpful, too: Caudata Culture Articles - Sores Please ask if there are words you don't understand and we will help

Best of luck! I really hope your newt gets better fast!

HJ

Judging by the photo I posted, could you recognize whether my newt got infected? at the beginning, he looked like he got crippled, later the wound started to rot and he lost his entire wrist! And he did act a little different, at first he hide more, then when the wound
stated to rot, he than stay at the grass island like photo above almost all the time,
I tried to feed him dry worms but he doesn't seem to interested to eat them

Are those the signs I should started the treatment?

Thank you very much for your answer!

 

[Canecorsonewt]

I don't know about the medicine. I have known experience with medication. But i would separate them. If they have some aggressive behavior. That one will be the easiest one for the others to pick on with 3 legs. If you try to put them together again. You might want to wait till its leg grows back.

 

[jewett]

Hi Dio,

I think you should start treating with the medicine combined with cool temperatures, and separate from your other newts. Also, it's OK if it doesn't want to eat yet, but do keep offering food.

Keep us updated!

HJ

 

[dio9366]

Hi Dio,

I think you should start treating with the medicine combined with cool temperatures, and separate from your other newts. Also, it's OK if it doesn't want to eat yet, but do keep offering food.

Keep us updated!

HJ

I had separated him from other newts for 3 days, looks like he wound had healed,

I put him in a basin with a cave for him to hide, and he hided in that cave 100% of the time,

I offer him some food every day, but he still eat nothing, but he seems to be healthy enough,since he climb kinda fast when I tried to grab him, should I send him back
with other newts now? or should I wait a week before I do that?

Thanks for your advice, you are a very kind person indeed!

 

[jewett]

Hi Dio,

If you feel the wound has healed then putting the newt back in the habitat where it feels the most comfortable should be OK. Do watch it to make sure it starts eating again, but hopefully that will start again soon once it feels like its back "home"!

Glad to hear it is getting better,

HJ

 

[dio9366]

Hi Dio,

If you feel the wound has healed then putting the newt back in the habitat where it feels the most comfortable should be OK. Do watch it to make sure it starts eating again, but hopefully that will start again soon once it feels like its back "home"!

Glad to hear it is getting better,

HJ

Yes, actually the newt did started eating although not much, but it still a awesome thing!

only after I put him back to his home, I found his crippled leg actually have some white hairy
fuzz like things which I didn't see before, is that normal?

 

[jewett]

Hi Dio,

The white fuzz would concern me as it could be a fungal infection. Here is another link to help you treat with salt solutions: Caudata Culture Articles - Salt Solutions in Treating Salamanders

Scroll down to the paragraph "Skin Mycosis" and follow the directions.

I hope this is helpful. I have never treated for a fungal infection so I don't have any first hand knowledge or recommendations but it would be a good idea to use the forum's search function for "fungal infection" or similar to learn as much as you can.

Again, best of luck and keep us updated!

HJ