Odd Spot on Beastie's Tail.

[wiztch1]

Hello! I introduced myself a few months ago, but have not posted since then. I'm Grace and my BTS is named Beastie. Recently, I've discovered an odd spot on her tail. It looks to be a burn or a bruise, but she has not fallen off of anything (nothing large enough in her tank to fall off of and I am with her every time she is out) nor is her heat pad hot enough to burn her like that. Any clue as to what it may be? Pics below.

[tcopitho]

This really looks like a burn. Its possible if she has a heat bad that it could be over heating in spots or flaring up at times, I'm not really sure, but the evidence seems to suggest it.

You will want to remove the heat pad all together now and offer above heat while it heals. You may know form experience if you have ever burned yourself, exposing the burned area to heat can be very painful so even if the pad does not seem that hot, you will want it removed while the area heals. Do you have overhead heat as well? If you are setting up a heat bulb in lou of your heat matte take care to monitor the heat closely with a heat gun so that the height of your bulb is correct and you do not risk further burns. I've had experience with a burn and one of my blueys, the vet gave me an ointment to apply that would help heal it or relieve pain, Ill see if I can find the name of it when I get home.

Keep a close eye on this, and if it spreads or gets bigger after removing the heat matte I would suggest taking him to a vet in case it is something else. The healing process of a burn gets a bit messy, do not try to force the scales off during his sheds, it may take a few sheds for the scabs to come off naturally and the healing to start looking better.

All that said, if you have access to a vet, a visit never hurts.

[wiztch1]

This really looks like a burn. Its possible if she has a heat bad that it could be over heating in spots or flaring up at times,

Do you have overhead heat as well?

I've had experience with a burn and one of my blueys, the vet gave me an ointment to apply that would help heal it or relieve pain, Ill see if I can find the name of it when I get home.

Keep a close eye on this, and if it spreads or gets bigger after removing the heat matte I would suggest taking him to a vet in case it is something else.

Felt her heat pad recently and it is not enough to burn her. It is less than a year old and they usually do not start malfunctioning by then, so I doubt it is randomly flaring up.

I do not have overhead heat.

The name of that ointment would be great, hopefully it does not require a prescription to buy.

I have been keeping a close eye on it, and it has not changed at all. If it gets worse or takes too long to begin to heal, I will take her to the vet. That being said, as soon as I noticed it, I pressed on it to check. She showed NO signs of pain.

Thanks for responding!

[alichamp]

What temperature are you actually getting on the hot spot surface then? Do you have the mat set on a thermostat?

[wiztch1]

What temperature are you actually getting on the hot spot surface then? Do you have the mat set on a thermostat?

Haha, I have just realized why this happened. Lizard malfunction, thank you Beastie. Alright, so I have the heat pad under the glass, and then a 2 layer thick towel over the glass. On top of the towel? A steady 95-100 degrees. Under the towel, where I just caught my dumb lizard burrowing? (even though she has opportunity to burrow elsewhere and I've secured the towel down from what I thought was every angle) It's 115-130 there. May have to switch to overhead heating, that is WAY too hot. I turned it off, as I only really need it for winter, considering it's blazing hot right now. Nevertheless, it looks like her tail has already started healing even with that uber-hot heat pad.

[alichamp]

Glad you have solved the puzzle. This is why overhead heat is a good idea for basking reptiles like BTS, they will not fall asleep or stay too long on a surface that is too hot in places but still feel overall as though they need to get body temperature up.

[tcopitho]

Glad you figured it out. That's a tough lesson to learn, if they can get into trouble they will. Mine got burned from overhead heat, same thing, you'd think shed just move out from under it, but they must not feel it the way we do. All said and done It's my bad for not noticing the stand had slipped down.

I'd suggest moving to overhead heat as soon as you can for the healing process and pain.

Here is the cream I got from the vet. Looks like it's antiseptic to prevent infection in the healing process, you may be able to pick it up at the vet.

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Keep us posted. Hopefully she heals up quick.

[wiztch1]

I turned the heat pad off, and she is healing well! There is already obvious and speedy improvement. Thank you for the ointment name, but I think at this rate she has decided to heal without it, lol. Will likely switch to overhead heat, but don't need it quite yet due to California's blazing heat. Thanks for the tips you guys!

[alichamp]

Glad she's on the mend, thanks for the update.

[Janella]

I am also glad to hear he is on the mend. Wonderful news.