Fimbriatus Raw / Bloody Snout

[Fumbles]

I have a male fimbriatus that has slowly been developing a raw nose. I'm not sure if this is from hitting his face on the glass when eating or accidently jumping face first into glass, but now it's becoming a concern. I've had one fimbriatus die of a mouth infection so I'm hoping to nip this before it becomes worse. It looks like he's starting to bleed and it's dried, causing a black mark. The recent change was a larger vivarium and I've heard him banging around in there a bit, but recently he seems to have figured it out.

Is there any immediate treatment I should be applying?

Here is a picture from today:

 

[Fumbles]

A better view of how raw it is:



Here is a comparison from about two year ago:

 

[Aimless]

I would say something about the new viv is definitely a problem. mouth injuries can easily become infected, leading to all sorts of other problems, and need to be dealt with. also, the cause of the injury needs to be determined and removed or it will only come back.

I would say he should see a vet to look for other problems (is the injury limited to what you see on his lips, or is it already spread?) and also to get reptile-appropriate antibacterial cream or rinse to flush it with.

 

[Fumbles]

There are no other injuries. Does this look bad enough that I should be scheduling a visit within the next few days or should I treat this with the cream first? My worry about treating his mouth is he'll lick it off.

I can post pics of the cage soon. If anything it might be where the sliding glass door meets the base glass - there's a cornered glass edge there and crickets run along it. I might be able to grind it down to a bullnose. Otherwise I'm not sure, it's a 4x2x2 tall glass and he seems comfortable with it. However, when he was getting used to it, he wasn't aware of where the glass was, that's what I mean by him banging around. I think he'd try to jump to other things outside around the viv. Now I think he has a sense of the boundaries.

 

[Tamara]

Maybe you should cover the walls and the backside of its enclosure if he can't tell where the boundaries are.
We should take him to a vet if it was ours.

 

[Fumbles]

I will call a vet and talk to him about the issue tomorrow.

I'm curious - I've seen a lot of setups and many of you use either one sided background or no background at all. Has anyone else had this raw nose issue? Larger uroplatus seem to do a leap of faith to move around and they also aggressively "dive bomb" for prey. I'd be surprised if the problem I'm having hasn't come up in the community before. A forum search didn't yield much, maybe I was using the wrong terms. I'm not sure what my uroplatus is hitting. I sometimes see him scrape his face on the screen vent when attacking crickets crawling on that, maybe changing out the type of screen to something less abrasive would help?

 

[Fumbles]

I sent some pics to the only herp vet in town and I was advised to use Neosporin w/o additives once per day and keep an eye. It seems to be healing so far. He licks a bit off when I apply a thin layer but it seems to remain on his nose. I was also advised to use a Q-tip in a small 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water to clean it before applying the Neosporin. I do this in the morning so he can sleep on it.

Anyone see anything about this advise that could have adverse effects?

 

[Aimless]

I would say cream-based neosporin and not ointment (2 out of the 3 best herp vets in my area say petroleum products are bad for reptile's skin, and the 3rd has no opinion). if you can get it, silvadene cream is the preferred topical wound dressing for herps.

I would also use chlorhexidine (nolvasan) diluted to a rinse (directions on the bottle; it generally comes as a concentrated "scrub" formula) instead of peroxide, especially near the mouth, as peroxide can be very harsh on delicate mucous membranes.

 

[Fumbles]

I would say cream-based neosporin and not ointment (2 out of the 3 best herp vets in my area say petroleum products are bad for reptile's skin, and the 3rd has no opinion). if you can get it, silvadene cream is the preferred topical wound dressing for herps.

I would also use chlorhexidine (nolvasan) diluted to a rinse (directions on the bottle; it generally comes as a concentrated "scrub" formula) instead of peroxide, especially near the mouth, as peroxide can be very harsh on delicate mucous membranes.

I used the term herp vet liberally - they are an "exotic animal" vet. This is why I love the forums, I can get advise which was previously inaccessible.

Would you say this is the appropriate product?

Amazon.com: CET Chlorhexadine Rinse 12% , 8 Ounce: Pet Supplies chlorhexidine flush - looks like its prediluted.

I can't find the brand name Silvadene creme, but the active ingredient is silver sulfadiazine. Do you know of a herp friendly alternative? Otherwise I'll go with the Neosporin creme. Thank you for that info - I was using petrolium based, the same stuff in my medicine cabinet - they didn't specify otherwise except no additives (pain killers, etc).



Aimless, where are you located in general that you have 3 herp vets locally? I can't find a single one who specializes in reptiles in general and I'm in a very populated part of San Diego.

 

[Aimless]

I'm in seattle. We actually have like 10 in the greater area, but I used to work in rescue and prefer 3 of them for good advice and happy customer reviews

And yes that product is great. My silvadene came from a vet and I'm not sure you can get it OTC, but if you ever have the chance pick some up. It lasts forever and works on everything from minor abrasions to severe thermal burns, tho it can't replace systemic antibiotics for serious wounds or infection.

 

[Fumbles]

I'm in seattle. We actually have like 10 in the greater area, but I used to work in rescue and prefer 3 of them for good advice and happy customer reviews

And yes that product is great. My silvadene came from a vet and I'm not sure you can get it OTC, but if you ever have the chance pick some up. It lasts forever and works on everything from minor abrasions to severe thermal burns, tho it can't replace systemic antibiotics for serious wounds or infection.

While searching for silvadene and product with that active ingredient I saw this: Amazon.com: Medline SilvaSorb Gel (1) 3 oz Tube: Health & Personal Care

I saw a couple forum posts in a google search related to reptiles and using this for cuts, have you heard of this product? Looks like a similar product for burns but in a hydrogel form. My concern with both the Silvadene and the SilvaSorb over a generic over the counter petrolatum (creme) based antiseptic is him licking it since this is a nose/mouth wound - I'm not sure what that micronized silver sulfadiazine is.

 

[Aimless]

I wouldn't put anything on a delicate gecko's skin based on one or two internet anecdotes. ironic, since I'm passing the same thing to you, but I wouldn't use that on herps without consultation with a vet I trust.

 

[Fumbles]

I wouldn't put anything on a delicate gecko's skin based on one or two internet anecdotes. ironic, since I'm passing the same thing to you, but I wouldn't use that on herps without consultation with a vet I trust.

Good call. Always good to get a few opinions from different sources. I really appreciate the help.