Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Recently my bearded dragon, Bahamut, managed to get stuck in his piece of dry wood (which was purchased at a pet store). He got his abdomen lodged in between two parts of the branch; we got him out, but he had scraped himself on the base of his tail. The scrape is superficial - only on the top of his tail - but it seems to be oozing yellow goo and hasn't improved much in the last week. It looked raised so we applied pressure and it oozed, but that went away after three washings - once every day. We used antibacterial soap on it with water, gently washing it, and it improved; but now the skin is scraped off again (he probably rubbed it against something). If we have to take him to a vet, we will of course, but I was wondering if there were any other remedies for injured skin on bearded dragons? Is bandaging a bearded dragon feasible in any way?

Also, my kingsnake, Satin, shed a few weeks ago, and now it seems like a piece of her skin is covering her eye. I'm not sure if this is from the shedding or something else - I noticed it a while after the shedding - but the thing over her eye had a flap so I assume it didn't develop from her eye initially, I assume something is stuck to it. I tried getting it off gently with my fingers, which was unsuccessful. I haven't washed it with anything, hoping it will go away on it's own. Is this something I should be worried about, and will need to go to the vet for, or should I just leave her in the cage with fresh water to get it off on her own?

Thanks for any responses.

For your bearded, in addition to washing I would suggest that you apply a topical antibacterial treatment as well. Any of the over the counter types suitable for human skin like Polysporin, Betadine or a chlorhexidine based type would be suitable. If you currently have a loose particle substrate like sand you might want to switch that to newspaper until the wound has healed over.

It sounds like your kingsnake has a partially retain eye cap. There is a covering or spectacle over snake's eyes that is shed with the rest of the old skin. From your decription it sounds like the flap may be the eyecap. Retained eyecaps are a pretty common problem. It doesn't sound like yours is still adhering directly to the eye so should not be difficult to resolve. It helps to moisten the area for a couple minutes, I usually hold a moistened paper towel over the area to do this (no, they don't really like it but it is effective!). You may be able to roll the skin off at that point or you may need tweezers to grab a loose tag and gently pull it off. Another trick is to "grab it" with a bit of scotch tap and pull it off gently that way.

Thank you for your response. I'll try those remedies.

Thanks again,
Hannah