9-year-old leo suddenly died, possible cause?

[poikilo]

One of my two male leos (housed separately), 9 years old, died last Thursday. About a week-and-a-half before then, I'd discovered he had what looked like mouth rot, and he was reluctant to eat. Other than that, he seemed active as usual. I got him some wax worms (easier to chew) and took him to a vet recommended by a local herp shop. The vet cleaned off the rot and prescribed him 4 shots of antibiotics given every 3 days. The last shot I gave him (in the arm) was Sunday; the rot didn't come back, and I last fed him mealworms on Tuesday. When I came home from work Thurs, I saw he had crawled out of his cave and was lying by the water bowl, and had died. He seemed all right the night before. I inspected his body and visually couldn't find anything wrong with him - except for a small hard spot in his stomach. I use tiles as cage substrate.

He didn't exhibit any signs of languor, muscle weakness, skeletal deformities, weight problems, or unusual stool (I had had him for 9 years, and there had been no change in husbandry). If it were an infection-caused death, wouldn't the signs have been more gradual? Could it have been related to the antibiotics? What could be an explanation for the apparently sudden death?

 

[roger]

One of my two male leos (housed separately), 9 years old, died last Thursday. About a week-and-a-half before then, I'd discovered he had what looked like mouth rot, and he was reluctant to eat. Other than that, he seemed active as usual. I got him some wax worms (easier to chew) and took him to a vet recommended by a local herp shop. The vet cleaned off the rot and prescribed him 4 shots of antibiotics given every 3 days. The last shot I gave him (in the arm) was Sunday; the rot didn't come back, and I last fed him mealworms on Tuesday. When I came home from work Thurs, I saw he had crawled out of his cave and was lying by the water bowl, and had died. He seemed all right the night before. I inspected his body and visually couldn't find anything wrong with him - except for a small hard spot in his stomach. I use tiles as cage substrate.

He didn't exhibit any signs of languor, muscle weakness, skeletal deformities, weight problems, or unusual stool (I had had him for 9 years, and there had been no change in husbandry). If it were an infection-caused death, wouldn't the signs have been more gradual? Could it have been related to the antibiotics? What could be an explanation for the apparently sudden death?

I dont think we'll ever know really

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I'm so sorry you lost your gecko. Mouth rot is usually secondary to an infection in the stomach or GI system. Unfortunately in many cases by the time a reptile exhibits symptoms, the disease or infection has progressed to a clinical level and may have been past the point of rescue. To know for sure what the cause of death was, you'd need to have a necropsy performed, which is expensive. Not to mention it can only give you an answer, and not your gecko back.

 

[sausage]

sorry for your loss
im sure he lead a wonderful life and was very happy. 9 is a good age