Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

Sores On Female's Head???

Brock Sep 20, 2003 05:34 PM

About 5 or 6 days ago, after my female shed, she developed about 3 sores on her head: one between her eyes, one right at the back of her head and one on her snout. I had her with a male of the same age, male is 4 months, female is 5 months. Both are fed crickets and baby kingworms. I since separated them, and the female's sores seem to be healing, they are more open now since I've washed them and I am keeping them clean.
But, today I noticed that the tip of her tail was turning black. That was probably the male's doing.

Both of them are blizzards, and I've heard blizzards are more aggressive than most leos.

I had them on some slate before, but then took that out and just put some paper towel down. My theories are: the male could have tried to eat her skin when she was shedding, or she scratched her head on the slate, or she has a skin disease.

What can I put on her wounds to help them out?

Thank you,
-Brock

Replies (3)

StarGecko Sep 20, 2003 05:58 PM

The first thing I would suspect is that the male tried to mate with her. Males bite female's the head and neck when mating or attempting to mate. You should seperate them, breeding at her age could be dangerous or even fatal.

Sometimes unshed skin can cause infection, redness, even a sore. Give her a good soak and put some neosporin on the raw spots. Make sure there is no unshed skin on tail tip.

I would try those things first. If she gets more sores after seperation from male or they don't heal, then you might want to consult a vet.
-----
Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

royalgoldreps Sep 20, 2003 10:07 PM

I do not believe that a 4 month old male would try to mate with a 5 month old female.

My guess is that if the slate was in the enclosure while she was trying to shed then she cut herself on an exposed edge.

The black tail tip. I had that happen to one of my blizzards too. Still not sure how that happened as he was kept by himself when that occurred.

As far as Blizzards being more aggressive:

BUNK BUNK BUNK

They are not any more aggressive than any other leo grouping.
-----
Steven
Royal Gold Reptiles
Specializing in LV Patternless Albinos for '03 and '04.
Working towards Bell Patternless Albinos for '05.

lovelyleopards Sep 21, 2003 12:34 PM

I have noticed the exact same thing with my blizzards. I keep two Blizz females together with 3 tang females. About every other week one of the blizzies will have a wound on her head or tail from fighting with the other. Some people say that blizzards aren't any more aggressive than other leos, but the 4 that I have are! The two girls I keep together are always picking fights with each other - I've seen them. The other two, a male a nd another female, are so bad that they stay by themselves. And 4 and 5 months isn't too young for them to be fighting. I'd separate them and I think it'll clear up.

Site Tools