Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just received an adult salamander from an unwanted home and i dont have any past data on him but he seems to have open sores on his back and they tend to bleed.... not sure what this is or how to treat it....hes separated from my individuals due to this health risk....what it this problem and what can i do about it

thanks

philip

dont know the risks of treating amphibian wounds since they absorb chemicals into their skin. i would continue with what your doing. keep the animal quarantined and let nature take its course. I have seen sallies recover from horrific wounds -- they are tough

This condition could be a result of many things: burns, traumatic abrasion, infection, metabolic condition, etc. Of course the best thing to do would be to see a vet that treats amphibians...look for 'exotic' vets.

The risk of self-treatment is that if you get it wrong, it could be fatal.

You might want to consider a hospital tank of moistened paper toweling...wetted with spring water. There should be no standing water. Place a few crumpled moistened paper towels in the tank as hides. Change the toweling daily. Keep the tank below 68F. If you have access to sterile saline or sterile amphibian ringers solution, you could rinse the wounds twice daily with this with little to no risk.

I don't know if this helps, but when my salamander burnt himself on an aquarium heater, ( which was awful!!!) I took him to a vet because he stopped eating and the wound wasn't really healing. The vet barely even knew what the animal was, but she gave it a small shot in the arm of antibiotics. It saved his life and I've had it for ten years now. You may want to do that for your salamander if you aren't having any luck. Hopefully it would work and not be fatal. I would also suggest never leaving the salamander with the vet overnight. I've had a lot of friends who have their small pets like lizards die that way, maybe because of the lack of attention to sickness that they get left overnight in the office.

Emajor

>>i just received an adult salamander from an unwanted home and i dont have any past data on him but he seems to have open sores on his back and they tend to bleed.... not sure what this is or how to treat it....hes separated from my individuals due to this health risk....what it this problem and what can i do about it
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>>thanks
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>>philip

Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics available for tropical fishes. If it is a viral infection, then there is not much you can do. In either case, it is important to separate sick animals immediately before it wipes out your entire collection.