Please help heal my Tokays mouth

[stkkts]

OK, I bought a Tokay gecko about a month ago. The kid who worked at the pet store was trying to catch the one I wanted, and my tokay was running around with his mouth open, but not trying to bite. Then all of a sudden, another Tokay in the tank bit the Tokay I wanted right on his mouth. He caught him on the low part of the mouth, right hand side. and My Tokay started bleeding a little bit. For the first two weeks I put neosporin on the outside of his mouth where the scab was. That has healed, and looking at him you cant tell there was/is a problem. It has been about a month, maybe a little longer. Yesterday I picked him up for the first time. he bit me a little but mainly let me hold him but had his mouth open. I looked in his mouth, and the right side where he got bit is still swollen. Its not bloody, not really red (kind of a light pink, close to the same color as the rest of his mouth) I dont think it looks pussy at all. No yellow crusty stuff either It just looks swollen and tender. Is this a normal part of the healing process? should it take this long? He is definately eating normally, he shed the other day, so everything else is fine. Should I be worried? Is there anything i can put on the inside of his mouth to help keep it clean or speed up the healing? I have no problem getting him to open his mouth for me . Thanks in advance for your help.

[Wuntu Menny]

It sounds like your tokay will be alright. As long as there's no obvious infection, the injury should heal itself. Fortunately, tokays are more than willing to show you their open mouths with only slight encouragement. That should make followup checks a lot easier.

Keep an eye on the area of concern, checking on regular intervals. If you notice an increase in inflammation or any nasties like puss or cheesy material, get your gecko some professional help. Tokays are tough little geckos and they bounce back well from injury.

WM

[Samba]

WM is right... keep an eye on it, keeping in mind that reptiles can take months, even years in some species, developing nasty infections. If you think your gecko needs to see a vet, do so. In most cases I wouldn't recommend medicating the animal yourself unless you have experience with these kinds of things, (especially if it was on the advice of the pet store staff...) Keep us updated and Good Luck!

[Jerome]

to speed up the healing, heat the cage wormer by a few degreas so that the heat can help his amousistem and leave it in the cage so that it can heal faster.

you can also by some blue loishen this will help heal the wound and kill germs (this may sting a little) but it will help you should be able to by some a a vet and i don't think you need a apoutment. it will caust you about 16-20$ the only other advece i can give you is the blue loution will stainwhat ever it lands on and try not to get it in your tokays mouth just on the wound.

[stkkts]

I had gotten some advice from someone else that is sounds like an abscess. Where it healed over bacteria, and i need a vet to cut him open, drain the puss thats under the skin, flush out the wound, and i would have to apply an antibiotic. does this sound plausible to anyone else? or am I over reacting? what would happen if it is an abscess and i dont take any action? just to walk into the vet is 38 bucks. treatment can be anywhere from 10-50. I think the gecko is great, but he only cost 20 bucks. What are your thoughts on this diagnoses (not from a vet)

[eyespy]

No, stkkts, you are not over-reacting. An abscess left undained is a lovely incubator for bacteria and things can fester for days, weeks or even years!

I've seen abscessed left untreated that eventually worked their way into bone tissue and required amputations of legs or tail, or euthanasia should it get into the skull. While that's a worst-case scenario it does happen relatively often.

Whenever I have a reptile whose wounds don't heal within 2 weeks I always seek a vet's advice to see if incision and drainage or systemic antibiotics won't nip all the nasties in the bud.

The vast majority of amputations I've seen are all totally preventable, caused when keepers think a nipped toe or tail will heal on its own, but the bacteria injected into the bloodstream causes infection deep within the body. Seeing a vet for a shot of a broad-spectrum antibiotic could have saved most of these guys.

[stkkts]

do you think it would need to be cut open and drained and flushed? or perhaps can it just be given an antibiotic to make everything better.

Is it usually really expensive to have it cut open and cleaned out?

[Samba]

Stkkts-

If your Tokay needs to be lanced and drained then do it. Money is no object when it comes to you pet's comfort. Would you want to sit around, day and night, in non-stop pain? If you cannot afford to have this done, or don't want to have it done, please give this reptile to someone who will take care of the medical bills.

Just because your Tokay cost you $20.00 doesn't mean it shouldn't get the treatment it needs. It's still a living being, and NOT getting the treatments it needs is AGAINST the law. It's called ANIMAL CRUELTY & NEGLECT. In the course of a tokays life (about 5-10yrs or more) you will spend well over the original cost of the animal anyways(on food, dishes, caging, etc.). Get your money's worth: take him/her to the vet and enjoy a long companionship with him/her.

I've had two rescued tokays and they were among the best pets I ever had. I spent $150.00 on the female trying to save her life after I got her and she still died. I am not angry, but rather proud that I cared that much for her. (The male made a recovery soon after I got him, but his health suddenly declined and he passed away-I spent close to $70.00 on him just days before he died).

I, of course, knew that these animals were a gamble. They were rescued from an uncaring owner who never took them to a vet. I tried my best to save them. Do the right thing and take your pet to the doc. Keep us updated and Good Luck!

[stkkts]

well I have had an appt at the vet since early this morning. As soon as someone mentioned it could be an abscess I found a herp vet and called them up. Im sure I could just monitor it for another couple of weeks, but I would rather pay the money, and have piece of mind to know its not a big deal, maybe even get some sort of antibiotic, just to make sure I nip it in the bud. I appreciate everyones concern over the animal, and taking to the time write out informative posts.

[Samba]

That's good to hear, keep us updated!