Leo too weak to move

Hi all,

first time poster, so sorry for any mistakes.

I have 2 leos for about 5 years now. They both live together and get along quite well. I started noticing a unusual behavior with one of them a few days back. He was close to the heat lamp in the middle of the day, sleeping on the rocks etc. I thought that it is ok, though I never seen him to do this before. Yesterday, I've noticed he is not active at all, so i took him out only to find out that he dont want to (or cant move) too much. He looks way to weak, basically only his head up while squinting his eyes. He was completely lethargic to anything. He did shed his skin about a week ago (maybe 5 days)
At first I thought it might be MBD, but I cant see any abnormalities in his bone structure. His tail is actually quite fat and I think he was eating fine as well (I don't really know - I was just leaving a bowl of mealworms overnight for both of them), so he is not starving. I saw him pooping about 4 days ago.

I tired to hand feed him his favorite waxwoms but he didnt want to eat any. I managed to get some vitamins and calcium in him though. It almost like he has given up.

Nothing has really changed for both of them recently. I got the correct temperature, heating, hiding places...everything should be the way it was supposed to be. Only thing I can think of is neglecting dusting the mealworms lately.

I should also mention that his housemate, is healthy, strong and doing his usual stuff - so I don't think it is the environment or the nutrition.

I know the best would be going to vet, but I doubt I will be able to make it there earlier than next week, so any advice would help.

Well housing two leos isn't a good thing, regardless of how friendly they are too each other. They are territorial and even if you dont see it, the other mate can be taking food, heat, or be nipping at him in the same hide if they share. That's one thing I can see being wrong

Second, do you have an under tank heater? Bulbs arent good for them, or their eyes, or their skin. It dries everything out too quick and they can get some serious illnesses using lamps and lights.

I suggest turning off the lamps for a week or two to see if they improve, and separating the sick one in a plastic tub, appropriately sized for an adult gecko, and quarantine him just in case he has developed some sort of sickness. If he starts to get better, i suggest funding a separate cage for him so they can live apart like theyre supposed to, if not, find a vet and see any underlying issues

Thanks for the tips.

Yes they have heating mat and in fact he is lying in that area for the last couple of days. Though i dont think it is strong enough to warm up the place as needed, that is why I am using bulbs.

To be honest I never noticed any rivalry between them. Except occasional disagreement when they are both at the feeding bowl at the same time . But I guess you are right to put him in a separate housing for a while to see if he gets better. It cant really hurt.

Also a small update - looks like he is going to shed his skin again, because he turned all pale overnight. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one, because I have feeling he might be too weak to shed it..

Are they really both males? As mentioned before, generally males fight if put together, however, I have heard that males who grow up together and are never exposed to a female (including a female that they could smell even if they can't see it) can do OK together. I would imagine, though, that if the main problem were them fighting you would see wounds. I agree that it's a good idea to separate them since a sick reptile should always be by itself. You may want to keep them separate after that initial separation if and when he recovers.

Such a drastic change in a short time makes me wonder if there's either something catastrophic going on like a blockage somewhere, or if there was something building up like a tumor or gout or something that just finally got unendurable, since they do tend to act "normal" for self protection if they're not very sick. I think this really calls for a reptile vet visit.

Aliza

I dont think it is a territorial issue. As I said, they were getting along pretty well for years and I didn't see any signs of abuse or bite marks.

I had to help him shed yesterday, because I could see the old skin wasn't doing him much good (he tried to flip on his back a few times). I also separated him and put him in a shallow bowl with warm water earlier, and I think he managed to drink at least a bit.

I have noticed him yawning a few times (when i was watching him) and according to what I've read it might be some respiratory troubles. I will try to book a vet for very early next week, so fingers crossed.

Respiratory trouble usually means lack of heat. I suggest getting a heat mat that actually does its job of reaching 80-90F and ditch the lamps. Lamps may be helping "heat the spot" but it's not helping heat the bottom of the tank, where they need to get their heat from

Good luck with the vet visit

I did put half the tank (just a plastic with couple of clean tissues) on the heating mat itself so the bottom gets warm easily. When I picked him up earlier today he was unusually warm (not sure if that is a good thing though) - don't know if that is even possible for a reptile, but maybe he has a "fever" and raising the temperature helps him to fight off the sickness? He actually pooped today as well - which is great because at least I know he is not dehydrated.

Thanks, hopefully they schedule him for the earliest date.

Good luck with getting the vet appointment. Reptiles can't get fevers because they're cold blooded.

Aliza

So just a small update.

Went to vet yesterday and he gave me some antibiotics. Though even the vet was concerned that it might be too late. After i came home, I give Lojza the medicine right away, but after 24 hours I cant really see any change. Today, I managed to get some baby food mixed with vitamins and calcium into him, because his tail is getting thinner very quickly.

I really want to remain optimistic that he can get through whatever this is, but at the same time it hurts me a lot seeing him like that. I think I wait for another 2-3 days and if I wont see him getting better, I am afraid I will have to take him to one last vet visit... :cry:

Was a fecal done? Often parasites can be ingested with infected food items (many big feeder providers have parasites in their stock). This is always what I think first when there is a gecko that has been kept the same way for a long time that suddenly gets ill.