Rotting legs

[aimee]

Hi all

The newt in question has no feeling from its wrists to its toes in both front legs and the back right.

I noticed something wrong at first when the legs went a cloudy colour, I thought it was trying to shed its skin. On closer observation I tried to take of the skin and found the newt to have no feeling. The feet are now kind of mouldy and starting to smell. I can see the feet are hanging off the legs but I don't know how to remove the dead limbs or know of a vet near by that has the experince in amphibians to do this.

Any ideas? He is eating still, fed him some bloodworms yesterday and they are gone so no problems in that department. He is quarantined from the others to prevent any bacterial infection making the rest of the colony sick.

I would assume he got into a fight or was infected by something through a wound (not likely in all three feet)

Any ideas greatly appreciated, as I don't want to put this animal down if it is still able to regenerate its limbs and carry on a healthy life.

 

[chris]

If the feet are going septic, they will poison the whole animal. If they are rotting then it may be a good ideas to remove the necrotic feet - perhaps only the ones beyond help. Keep him very clean and salt bathe him. Pump him full of as much food as possible to prepare for any period of not eating. What species is it in? Watch for earlier symptoms in the others, to catch it before it gets bad. I would separates the new newts from any old ones and strip down their setup incase its contagious...
Good luck.
Chris

(Message edited by froggy on January 30, 2004)

 

[aimee]

Well bad news I'm afraid. The little newt died this morning, found him belly up in his tub.

I don't think it was a bacterial infection as none of the others have shown signs or look as if they have it. I am pretty sure it was down to my filter thinking about it, I have a submersable filter in the tank so I would guess the little guy got his feet crushed in the intake bit. I have now covered it with meshing so no newts can get caught in it. =)

 

[joel]

My condolences.. I hope none of your other newts will fall victim to the same illness

 

[aimee]

Hi All

Now one of my prized females has it on one of her front toes.

Have been giving her strong salt baths everyday but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Any ideas? I don't particularly want to lose this girl as she is one of my prettiest girls.

I am not quite qualified or brave enough to attempt removing the fuzzy toe but again, don't know of any vets that can deal with this kind of problem.

She has been isolated and put in her own tank with only rocks and a plant. Salt baths have a stronger conc than normal but it doesn't seem to have any effect. She's still eating and quite active which is a good sign but I am afriad the toe might poison the rest of her system.

I will be completly draining the colony's tank in the next day or so to try and eliminate any chance of it spreading again.

Anyone encountered this before and if so, what did you do to stop it?

 

[shelby]

I had to amputate one of my newts arms today. Don't be afraid, get a really really sharp razor and be quick. Mine didn't fight it or act scared or anything. When I got him, he was just missing a hand, but this week I noticed a white spot at his elbow. I thought it was a fungus or lesion, but as it got bigger I saw it was the bone sticking out...two ends of the bone both sticking out the hole. I was worried that it was infected, because the area got swollen. So I set him on a flat surface (crying that it would hurt him and be a scary traumatic experience for him) and took a new, sterilized razor and chopped the limp piece of arm off. He didn't seem to mind me doing it. He just got back up and walked away like it was nothing. I dipped a q-tip in some Bactine and swabbed the fresh wound and let him sit out on the gravel for a while. I'll be checking up on it regularly, because a bit of bone is still exposed and I fear the skin will not grow over it, as dried out bones are more serious than fungus. So far he's held the stump close to his body rather than trying to use it alot like he did when it had the broken piece hanging off.
I kept the piece I cut off to remind me that sometimes you've got to do something you're afraid to do to save someone's life.

 

[joseph]

After you do so, won't the newt just regenerate the arm anyway? Not to sure how long it will take though.

 

[shelby]

Had some weird stuff going on in the last few days. Yesterday, none of my newts wanted to do anything. Especially the Cap'n Hook, the recent amputee. Then just before I went to bed, one of the fatter ones started acting weird. Making clicking noises and digging under another of the fat ones. I soon discovered he was using his friend to scrape off a layer of skin that he was shedding. He peeled it off all the way down his tail and then was really restless. I put the lid of the tank down and set my wristwatch on top of the lid to hold it down, but this morning I only had 2 newts. A fat one seemed to have escaped. I can't find him anywhere. Anyway, the other two seem to be doing alot better today. They're more lively and Cap'n's arm is healing up. But the question of where the other guy went is still unsolved. I checked everywhere I could, but I'm pretty sure wherever he is, he's not doing so good. It's true what they say, these critters are sneaky and can get out of anything. even if that means lifting something that weighs five times what they do.