Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought a newt (to add to my newt colony) out of pity, as the little guy had been housed with frogs who had taken a chomp out of his leg. There's serious damage in what I suppose would be the knee region, and while he still has his foot, he can't use it. I looked yesterday, and it looks like bone may be coming through. My question is, a) can fire-bellies regrow limbs? and b) what can I do to help my poor little dude? Should the lower (useless) part of the limb be amputated? I have a herp-vet nearby, but I can't really afford the office visit. If it is a vet-only situation, I'll try and go, but I'd like to know if I can help my newt by myself.

Thanks in Advance,
Sarah and her Newts

This does sound like a vet issue. Although, the vet should be willing to give you a fee consultation at least. I am unsure about regeneration of limbs. I think I remember hearing something about that, but I'm unsure if this was myth or fact. Good luck in any case. Maybe you should keep him seperate for a good while until he mends.

Lorinda

I had nearly the exact same situation: a newt of mine got a chunk bitten out of his foot. I quarenteened him, used hydrogen peroxide on the wound, followed by neosporin. DO NOT use neosporin with pain reliever, Lidocaine (the pain relief element in this ointment) is poisonous to newts & will kill your newt. This routine caused a white slime ball to develop around the foot. After less than a week, the entire lower 1/2 of the leg, encased in the slime ball, came off when I touched it. Within about a month, the limb had completely regenerated & I was able to return him to the colony.
Best of luck with your newt! He/she CAN recover from this. Just take careful care of it.
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1.3.0 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
0.0.5 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton & Olivia Newton John
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena