A couple questions about dekayi care

[Tora]

So the past few weeks my little dude has had a small lump on the side of his neck developing. The vet has already looked it over but since they don't often deal with reptiles of any size, they didn't have much for me. It's really soft, like it squishes under my finger and doesn't seem to cause him any pain. Should I see if I can maybe poke it with a sterilized needle and get whatever is in it out? I have bacitracin and colloidal silver so I have antibiotic ointments to keep it from getting infected, I just wanted to see if maybe you guys have any experience with this sort of thing. I'll get a picture up in a little bit so you guys can see it. It's not like he's got a swollen throat, it's just a lump, about 1-2 mm in diameter on the side of his neck.

[guidofatherof5]

A photo would be great before any advice can be given.

[Tora]

I'll get one when I get home! my internet when out so I couldn't post one last night.

[Tora]

This is the best picture I can get. He's actually reddish brown, but the picture came out really dark on my phone for some reason. The vet basically told me, since he's not a reptile vet he can't do anything, but still charged me $90 for the visit.

He still eats cut up night crawlers every 3-4 days, drinks, defecates, and everything like normal, and even just completed his second shed with me. He displays typical Storeria behavior, nothing odd at all aside from the soft, for lack of a better word, lump.

[guidofatherof5]

Looks a little large for a subcutaneous worm but the location is right. Do you have a Vet. College near you? If so, they might treat for free. What does the area feel like?

[Tora]

The area is really soft, and when pressed it goes down to his muscle where you can feel it's firm, but supple.

Unfortunately, no. I was looking for a vet college close by when I was looking at what colleges I wanted to go to, but it's a good 4 hour drive one way. I live in the middle of nowhere :/

[guidofatherof5]

I can only guess but it sounds like a subcutaneous worm.

[Tora]

Thank you for the insight!

[Tora]

20cm roundworm has been removed and disposed of. Little Dude was especially calm while I worked, though he did jump when I made the small cut. He's on paper towel for a few days so that I can make sure his cut is closed up before letting him back into his tank with his eco earth/cypress substrate. I was worried he was going to be a wiggle butt while I worked, but overall, he just chilled while watching me with his big red/brown eyes. His face was the cutest afterwards sorta like he was saying 'dude, why did you just cut me and squeeze me?'

Do you think he could have gotten the roundworm from the night crawlers? Do you think I could possibly freeze and thaw night crawlers as I need them, and maybe that would kill parasites?

[Qwerty3159]

Was he wild caught? He could have had the worm from there.