I do not know for certain how it happened, but I have a suspicion. Mr. Wibbles has been splashing his water around. He has a heavy water dish and cannot move it, but I have seen him splash down into it. This is forcing me to completely clean his tub out on a daily basis and put dry substrate in (newspaper).
The thermostat probe at the basking end has no suction cup, and he has been known to move it around, sometimes too far toward the center which threatens the thermoregulatory balance (did I just make up a word?). To secure the probe into place, I use duct tape. I've never had trouble with this before, but then again, I've never had wet enclosures before. My guess is that the excessive moisture weakened the adhesive just enough for him to pull the strip of tape off the bottom of the tub (perhaps he was caught by the probe wire and pulled free), then later when he was sniffing around he got it stuck on his nose.
When I cleaned his enclosure tonight (because it was soaked) I noticed the probes were not secured. When I lifted his hide, I found feces and urates, plus a small strip of duct tape.
For first aid I rinsed him off in the sink under a gentle stream of warm water, patted him dry with a paper towel, and applied a small quantity of triple antibiotic ointment to the exposed area. Mr. Wibbles didn't flinch once, and did not seem to mind the ointment the slightest bit. He was so calm that I was able to apply it with precision, avoiding his nostrils.
Nevertheless, I'm worried for Mr. Wibbles.
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