Home › Forums › Diamondback Terrapins › Sick DBT – Infectious Wound
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Todd Stockwell.
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October 24, 2001 at 8:41 am #16143
irnbru@erols.com
I have 4 two year old macrospilotas, one male and three females that I obtained this Summer in the same tank. Before I realized what was happening one of the females (the second largest female) had a habit of biting the other tank mates only on the upper hind leg next to the shell. They all had wounds that couldn’t be seen unless you pulled on their hind leg and looked up in that little hollow place in the shell. How did I find this out? Unfortunately the male was basking all day with his head hanging in the water and he wouldn’t eat and he was lethargic and could hardly swim to the top of the water. I took him to the vet. I was guessing pneumonia because I missed seeing the wound. The vet squeezed his neck and the male opened his mouth. I could see his glottis (not sure of the spelling) open and close. The vet saw no signs of pneumonia. He found the hard crusty brown lump on his upper hind leg sort of inside the hollow of the shell. He scrapped off the wound and found lots of bacteria in the wound. Unlike humans the puss in a reptile gets hard – but this is bacteria nonetheless. I suspect the bacteria got in his blood stream. After the vet got through with him, the hard crusty brown lump was gone and replaced with smooth raw red meat. The treatment I have been giving him is .1 cc injection of Baytril every other day – 10 injections total. Also, I am applying “Silva” cream to the wound and letting it dry on the wound for 3 hours every day. I am also putting the Silva cream on the wounds of the other two females – they show no signs of sickness though. By the way, this Silva cream is pretty amazing stuff for healing wounds. I tried it on my macro hatchlings that had some hind feet bites around the toes and it healed those wounds up very quickly – the betadine that I had previously used on the hatchlings feet didn’t seem to produce any visible healing of the skin. When the white Silva cream dries on the wound, it turns black after a few hours of keeping the dbt out of the water. Anyway, the two year old male macrospilota is eating and is perking up and is no longer in a situation where he could drown. He actually got noticably better after his very first Baytril injection. I wouldn’t say he is totally back to his old self but things look brighter and he is about 80% back to normal. He has a good appetite now – but all my dbts seem to noticeably loose some of their appetite this time of year here in the Northeast. I notice that his large smooth scraped wound produces a rubbery like scab that falls off every week and then a new scab begins – I think each time the scab and wound look smaller. So I think and hope that progress is being made. He goes back to the vet for a check up in a week. The male is now in a small tank by himself so his wound won’t get picked at by any of the others. The female who caused all this trouble, who is really beautiful, is banished to a tank by herself for misbehaving – she had no wounds. The other two macro females are behaving themselve together and their wounds are healing. Uggggg ….. I feel like I am running a little hospital in my home!! Now I have tanks everywhere!!!! Sorry for the long epistle but I thought it would be helpful. Bob
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October 24, 2001 at 6:44 pm #16144
Scott
sounds like you are on the right track.
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October 24, 2001 at 10:51 pm #16147
Todd Stockwell
Thanks for taking time to post this, Bob! It’s always reassuring to hear of the successes and trials of fellow keepers. Todd
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