multiple sick leos

[jkanyok]

Hi, I'm new here and was going to post a question to see if anyone could help me figure out what's going on with my leopard geckos. But I think the crypto control thread just answered my question. So here's our story:

My daughter and I adopted an adult leo in 12/09--no background, she was just brought in to be euthanized at my clinic because she was "blind" and couldn't eat. She had so many retained sheds! But I spent 3 weeks on her at the clinic, fattened her up and "Santa" brought her to my 5 year old last Christmas. My daughter named her Princess Stripey.

Now jump to this November. We've increased our leos to 5, all living in the same quarters in a 36"x24"x18" glass aquarium. Everyone's had at least a 30-day quarantine period before intros were made, vet checked, stool samples tested, and routine dewormings just in case. Then Princess Stripey starts losing weight. We separated her right away to make sure she was eating/defecating/urinating appropriately, and it appeared she was. Fecal rechecks were negative, but I treated her with flagyl, panacur, and droncit sequentially, just to make sure. By the end I was syringe feeding her and she didn't digest anything. She dropped from 48g to 16g between her first illness-related vet check (she'd already lost a few grams by then) on December 6, 2010, and her euthanasia date of January 10, 2011. We performed a necropsy and the only things we found obviously wrong were her complete lack of fat and an infection in her kidney. I should have sent the kidney out, but I didn't.

Of course, there were other geckos in her enclosure. The newest two, Dale and Orangey, came from a breeder I wasn't familiar with (stupid, stupid me!). Both of these lizards were juveniles and in mid-December I noticed they were looking thin, so I moved them to their own tank immediately. Both have lost 50% of their body weight by now. I've been syringe-feeding them and all temps and humidity levels are within good range. The last two geckos, Jen and Ulee, that were in the large tank were moved at the same time the two juveniles were, to a brand-new smaller tank (easier to control humidity). Neither of them looks ill. I'll have to send off a fecal sample to try and confirm cryptosporidium, but from the sticky here, that's what it sounds like to me. I feel so dumb, and like I've doomed my remaining leos to slow deaths. My vet recommended we send off a test, but I elected to do quicker, less expensive testing that ended up costing me my daughter's favorite pet.

I am now thinking about euthanizing both sick individuals. I do have a couple of questions tho. Does anyone know if crypto can cause a kidney infection? I'd like to figure out if that was a secondary infection or if that's a symptom of crypto. Also, has anyone heard any info on treating healthy-seeming but probably-infected leos with Humatin, and successes/side effects of the meds? Third, what precautions do I take to keep my daughter safe? She hasn't handled any of the sick leos since they took ill, she washes her hands immediately after holding the healthy ones, and I'm the one that does all the cleaning. Anything else? Lastly, I know crypto is a big prob in leos, but what about Rhacs? We keep cresteds and gargoyles also--not even in the same room, and they're not fed the same food, but all the reptiles dishes get washed at the same time, and if crypto's that resistant to being killed, should I be worried about transferring it to the Rhacs or the tortoise?

Sorry for the uber-long post, and thanks for any advice!
Jennie

 

[fl_orchidslave]

"I treated her with flagyl, panacur, and droncit sequentially, just to make sure."

This can cause renal failure. No medication should be administered without first having the appropriate testing/diagnosis. Crypto is still a very serious problem in gecko colonies. Even if one is showing no signs of illness, if it has been exposed, it is a carrier. It can hide for at least a couple years in an otherwise healthy gecko, but others who come in contact with it may succomb sooner if their health is or becomes compromised in any way. It will eventually kill the gecko, only a matter of time. Not one of us here is immune to it entering our colonies, not even with a solid quarantine. To test for it requires a different stain mixture on the culture, it costs more to do, many vets send it to a lab instead of doing in house. There is NO known cure that allows the animal to survive. It is an ongoing research project.

If you get a positive test for one of the other leos, it would be best to euthanize them all, unfortunately. I had to put down 2 that weren't showing any signs yet but had been exposed to 2 that died over time, along with 2 that were losing tail fat. It started from 1 that was put with the other 5 before I got them. Someone thought it was a good idea to keep them all together and breed. I rescued them, and after they were gone, threw everything they had come in contact with in the trash. There was never any cross contamination with my other animals because I was afraid! As far as your Rhacs go, I would suggest having the test done as a precaution.

I'm sorry this has happened to your family.

 

[jkanyok]

So if I get a positive result I should euthanize all of them? What about keeping the last two in quarantine and "hoping" they don't develop symptoms? We don't breed or anything.

And I should've made this clear before, but when I gave them rounds of antiparasitics, it was on the advice of my veterinarian and not all at the same time. Also, Princess Stripey developed pyelonephritis, an infection in the kidney--not kidney failure. She continued to have normal amounts of urates until the very end. We were actually pretty surprised by the kidney involvement when we did the necropsy because she'd urinated just that morning, at the clinic, before we did her final exam.

Thanks for the sympathy. It's really hard to like these guys so much, and try to do good by them, and then find out you may easily lose your whole crew.