Illness/Sickness: Please help - Newt Problem

[sosaintly]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and I need some help please.

I have a problem with my Newt.
Hes been with me for 7 years.

In the last week or so, I have noticed that one of his hind feet has something wrong.
Its got a black growth on the end.

His behaviour has changed as he is just sitting in the same spot all day for the last few days. I tried to touch it yesterday and he ran off and hid, although I noticed that he was dragging the bad leg behind him and not walking on it.

I've attached a couple of pics.

I also never wanted to keep a Newt as a pet but I inherited him from my ex-partner.
I've been looking after him for 7 years and never had any issues until now.

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Niels D]

It's hard to take detailed pictures of small injuries. From what I can see it could be a shedding problem, though I can't tell if the flesh of the toes is showing. If so then it also could be an infection (bacterial or viral). Because you can have a closer look try this article:

Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 1

Shows real dedication if you can take care of a newt of an ex-partner for seven years, while it never was your choice keeping it. Cheers to that.

 

[jewett]

I agree with Niels in that it looks like a shedding problem. I know you said it runs away, but do you think you can gently restrain it and use a moistened Q tip or similar to wipe at the affected toes, see if the dark material wipes off?

HJ

 

[sosaintly]

Niels & Heather - Thank you both for your replies.
I will have a closer look tonight when im home from work.

I forgot to mention that this morning he had the bad foot in the water but not the rest of his body.

 

[Niels D]

Hope it will end up well. Which specie is it? I'm always bad at identifying animals from pictures.