Acquired Leopard Gecko: Sick / Thin ... Need some Advice

[CLanman]

Hello everyone! i would like to thank you in advance for welcoming me to the forum ! Heres the story.

I work at a pet store and two days ago a man came in to donate his leopard gecko. it was his son's (9 years old) pet. I work in the fish/reptile section so i know a little bit about them, but im mainly the fish guy. we didnt have any open cages for him so he sat in a shoebox for about 48 hours until i asked a coworker whats in the box! after i found out i decided that i would save him! this is my first reptile so i know i have alot to learn.I have pictures of my setup and the gecko.

my concerns are that 1, his tail is thin, which i think is called "pencil tail" where they store fat reserves so i dont think he has been eating right for some time. he said that he was feeding him dead canned crickets. My other concern is this right eye has problems. i was told when we got him he was in a shed and sometime yesterday another coworker "helped" him out.. i dont know if that was the right thing to do or not but its in the past. his head was still coverd in his old skin so i gently peeled it off and when i got to his right eye a huge ball of puss came out. i got scared and thought i just ripped his eyeball out! i used a q-tip and got the junk out and sure enough he still had his eye! upon further review he had a big chunk of something in there and i have a feeling that it was in there for quite awhile. when i was looking closely at the eye it is kind of hazy, almost looks like cataracts ( i have a "decent" photo) so i dont know what to do about that. when i got him home i did a little research and gave him a 15 min bath in warm water. i think he drank a little of the water but im not sure. he was licking his nose alot so maybe he got some water down. i put in 5 crickets that i coated in some calcium powder but i do not have any vitamin D3, which i read is essential. he hasnt gone for any of the crickets yet and i dont know when the last time he defecated. his stomach feels soft so i do not think he is compacted.

what are some good foods that might fatten him up properly that has a decent amount of nutrients? i read waxworms are fatty but should only be used as a treat. I am not sure if that would be acceptable to use for rapid weight gain. sorry this is going on and on but i really want this little guy to have a chance!

oh and for his setup i have a 20 gallon tall aquarium with green terrarium liner, a ~5" shallow water dish, a big cave hide with 2 entrances, a wet hide that i made with a cool whip tub lined with wet shredded paper (i read about this when i got home and i didnt have any moss handy is this acceptable? or should i use paper towel?) for lighting / heat i have a 8" dome light with a blue "eco friendly" selfballasted bulb that is blue. it had a daylight bulb in it but i figured it was to bright or too hot. our house is set at 76 so i think he should be ok.. im not sure tho. i do not have a thermometer. i gathered this setup as i was leaving. i did not pay for any of it, it was all store used items that were kinda hanging around so i pieced this together.

Any help would be appreciated

pics:
IMG_20110701_191712 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (left side)
IMG_20110701_191721 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (right side)
IMG_20110701_191352 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_20110701_191332 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_20110701_191421 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_20110701_191519 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_20110701_191600 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! ( you can kinda see his bad eye here if you look closely)
IMG_20110701_191600 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Thanks again,

Chris

 

[fl_orchidslave]

As far as the setup, free is good, but some things aren't needed and some need to be altered. Ditch the lights. While there are eye issues, these will be an irritant. Smooth out the sharp edges on all the hides, even the plastic. These cause injuries. Replace the carpet with paper towel. Carpet is a garden for bacteria growth, even after it's washed. Paper towel is the best thing to use for any gecko in a hospital tank, and can also be used in the humid hide, and dampened every few days. You will need to keep thing simple and easy to clean so no germs get into the eye. Get an under tank heat mat (zoomed and trex are good ones) and a digital probe thermometer for measuring surface temp on the warm side (90-95) This surface temp is necessary to stimulate activity and appetite/digestion.

He doesn't look to have the pencil tail, there is a visible fat store in his tail, but he's quite thin. Because of the eye issue, he may not be interested in chasing down crickets. However, if a superworm were offered, he may snap that up. All my adults eat superworms.

As far as the eye issue, you will need an antibiotic from the vet to clear that up. That plug of goop is infection, and they can be quite serious if left untreated. It's not enough just to clean out the eye. I have dealt with this before and it took almost a year to be completely healed, under a vet's supervision. Here's my girl's story http://www.geckotime.com/sick-leopard-gecko-recovery/.

Good luck with your guy, and welcome to the forum

 

[Russ S]

It is a good idea to get your vet to do a fecal test to rule out any possible parasites as well.

 

[lillith]

Aww, poor little old man...I concur with Laney. Another thing you might do, if he can tolerate the handling, is try to give him a warm soak to help get that shed off of his toes.

He should be okay without D3 until the next time you can get to a store and get some, but it is good to have for his bones. I would say you could give him some waxworms, just don't feed them exclusively, mix them in with mealworms or superworms.

Also, in the case of a gecko who may have eaten who-knows-when last? Start feeding slowly, space out the feedings. You want to do this so the gecko's liver has a chance to adapt from starvation mode to normal digestion. Not doing so might overwhelm his liver with lipids it can't process, and would in effect toxify him. So go slow. Maybe 1-3 bugs for the first feeding, 3-5 bugs every 2-3 days for the next week or two, and then slowly increase the number of bugs. Crickets sometimes carry pinworms, and they will bite your gecko if you leave them in there with him and he doesn't eat them.

I think he's a very handsome fellow, I'm glad you have him. Welcome to the forums.
Good Luck!

 

[CLanman]

thanks alot for the responses!! i think im going to ditch the carpet for paper towel. i'll try to go pick up a heat pad tmw and some mealworms. those i will have to pay for but that is ok! would it be bad if i put a red night light on the tank so i can keep an eye on her? they cannot see the red light if i am correct. how often should i do the sauna? should i do it tomorrow? would it be ok to put saline drops in his/her eyes or turtle eye drops? i dont think it has any parasites. its has been kept alone its whole life. but then again you guys are the experts. can they get them from crickets? anyways thats all.. oh and should i wet the paper towel liner?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

They can indeed get parasites from crickets. Don't use any drops until your vet tells you exactly what to use. That infection is nothing to play around with, it needs to be treated asap.

 

[M_surinamensis]

Turtle eye drops should almost never be used on anything except turtles anyway, and not even all of them. If you look at the ingredients of most, they will list "solubilizing hydrotrope" or "solubilizing agent" which are broad terms indicating an ingredient that is intended to, in this case, increase the water permeability of the cells of an aquatic turtle's eye- a structure that has evolved to be water-resistant. It's generally an acid, though a couple brands take it very far in the other direction and use alkali salts. It works on turtles which have evolved water resistant eyeballs... anything that doesn't have similarly structured water resistant eyeballs, you're just going to be rubbing acid (usually) in their eye. This is not that helpful. Not even with the vitamin A.

I also don't like the look of those toes... all of them that are left. Or that jawline, the puckered, leathery look around the lips. Without seeing inside the mouth, I can't be certain (and would never diagnose anything based on a photo anyway), but I'd definitely be suspicious of an oral infection of some kind too. It may not be... underweight and dehydrated looks similar sometimes, but as a symptom, it'd have my speculas out.

Vet. As usual. Fecal, work the shed off, clean up the toes, check the eye and mouth. If both of those are infected, swab. If it's the same infection, euthanize.

 

[PaladinGirl]

They can indeed get parasites from crickets. Don't use any drops until your vet tells you exactly what to use. That infection is nothing to play around with, it needs to be treated asap.

Are petstore crickets more likely to carry parasites than ones you can order online? I wish I could quit using them but my 2 little guys love them, and Toon has not been eating her mealies lately. What about other feeders, can those carry nasty things as well?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Are petstore crickets more likely to carry parasites than ones you can order online? I wish I could quit using them but my 2 little guys love them, and Toon has not been eating her mealies lately. What about other feeders, can those carry nasty things as well?

A lot depends on the cleanliness, which will vary from store to store, breeder source to breeder source. If I get a small quantity of crickets (rarely)for a specific animal, I know my privately owned pet shop gets them in on Wednesdays, so late afternoon I will go pick some up. I also know he puts them in a clean container, and they come from Ghanns. Find a source you trust, and hope for the best. When I find the occasional escaped superworm (my main feeder) in one of my gecko tubs, I destroy it, in case it has nibbled on poop like crickets will do. It seems logical to me that any insect that ingests animal poop in a cage, could carry parasites. I don't know if that's true or not tho. Others may have more insight into the subject. This would be a good topic for another thread.