Help! Wounded Tiger Salamander

[lutafisk]

On tuesday I found a tiger salamander crossing the road while I was driving. I have never had a tiger salamander so I decided to keep him as a pet. When I found him he had a noticeable wound/cut near the end of his tail. (I think I may have ran over his tail). Now his tail is much worse. His skin is peeling off of his tail near the wound and his tail does not move past the wound. Is it infected? What should I do? Should I amputate his tail? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Kaysie]

Luckily tail injuries are usually pretty easy to treat. If you have the means to hygienically amputate (sterile setting, experience with animal surgery, etc.), amputation may not be a bad idea to prevent systemic infection. You should amputate just above the wound to remove all dead tissue and treat proactively for infection with neosporin with NO painkillers. Keep it in a sterile setup, on plain, unbleached paper towels. Keep it cool and clean and it should make a full recovery.

I had a juvenile that came to me as a rescue with a mangled tail. I got it after the tail had already been injured for a few days, and it was already to the point of falling off. I debrided the tissue, removing dead bits as I went, and he made a full recovery. He's now as big as the rest of my guys.

 

[lutafisk]

thank you so much for the advice. I called a local reptile store and they said the same thing, so on saturday I amputated the infected part of his tail and he seems to be recovering well. I put him in a clean container with paper towels, a water dish, and a hiding spot. I also put some neosporin on the tail. He spent most of yesterday sitting in his water dish, and he also ate an earthworm.

 

[Kaysie]

Eating is a good sign. Keep feeding, keep him clean and cool.