# Bad nose rub - advice please!



## kim86 (Jul 27, 2012)

Hey guys!

You may have seen me post about Leo my new B&W Argentine in the B&W forum, I just got him on the 25th (I think it's a he, anyone wanna chime in?!).

Someone who replied noticed he had a bad nose rub problem, which inititally I didn't see because I kinda just left him alone after I transferred him into his tank. Now that I've been spending time and have been nose to nose with him, it's very noticable and he also kind of makes a hiss-like noise when he eats, which I don't know if it's related to his mouth or something else. It's not actually hissing, just the noise he makes when he's chewing/swallowing... is that normal? Some kind of URI maybe? Do tegus usually make noises when they eat?

Anyway, here's a pretty good shot of his mouth... any good remedies for this? I've been feeding him ground turkey mixed with scrambled eggs and have fed him one f/t pinky mouse so far which he loved. I also rubbed some polysporin on the bad area in hopes it'd help. I've also added a liquid calcium supplement to his water dish.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Jul 27, 2012)

_That would be me,.. lol. 

It looks like it's just soft tissue damage, and if that's the case over time it can repair itself with a proper diet and husbandry. At his size he should be on whole prey much larger than pinkies, they have very little calcium. No where close to enough for what he needs. 

Size is hard to judge from pics sometimes but he looks like he can handle adult mice or weaned rats. As long as they're not bigger and wider than the size of his head he should be fine and not have to tear it apart.

I've never tried calcium supplements in water, I go right to the source and just use bones from chicken or turkey legs, backs, wings, necks. Doesn't really matter other than turkey's are bigger so you have to cut'em up and break'em down into smaller pieces more so than chickens. 
When cutting it up I make sure there are no sharp edges and that there's extra meat on to cushion the bone.

Also check the food list and start adding variety to his diet from fish to fruit. 

This was Natsukis nose and mouth when I got him last year in June, can't believe it's been a year already. 
















Just a couple of months later in Aug, it pretty much stayed pinkish while it healed. Especially when he was about to shed











From last month, a year later besides the black spot on his nose which is finally clearing up, now everything's lined up the way it's suppose to be.






_


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## james.w (Jul 27, 2012)

What size enclosure are you keeping him in and how long is he?


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## HeatherN (Jul 27, 2012)

as for the "hissing", several of my reptiles, including the gu, do that for me. it just seems to correlate with animals who eat large prey or mouthfuls, just them moving it down their throat while still breathing as i understand. it sounds kinda moist, yes? and is usually accompanied by a bit of a head/neck turn? thats how all mine do it. its reminiscent of a snake swallowing a large rat.


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## kim86 (Jul 27, 2012)

HeatherN said:


> as for the "hissing", several of my reptiles, including the gu, do that for me. it just seems to correlate with animals who eat large prey or mouthfuls, just them moving it down their throat while still breathing as i understand. it sounds kinda moist, yes? and is usually accompanied by a bit of a head/neck turn? thats how all mine do it. its reminiscent of a snake swallowing a large rat.



haha yes, it does sound moist! okay it's a relief to hear that, and makes sense... he does the little neck turn too. phew. thanks for the answer on this 



james.w said:


> What size enclosure are you keeping him in and how long is he?



i gotta measure him and i totally forget the dimensions of the cage so i'll do this tomorrow when he's awake. the nose rub issue was there before i got him though.


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## kim86 (Jul 28, 2012)

Bubblz Calhoun said:


> _That would be me,.. lol.
> 
> It looks like it's just soft tissue damage, and if that's the case over time it can repair itself with a proper diet and husbandry. At his size he should be on whole prey much larger than pinkies, they have very little calcium. No where close to enough for what he needs.
> 
> ...



thanks for being so helpful! your boy is waaaay beautiful.


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