Bandit is sick!

[BobGecko60]

Hello there everyone,

I have some terrible news my Leo is sick and I dont know what else to do for him. He's a fighter but he just isn't getting better.

I bought him from a ***** and the first month i had him he was fine hunting crickets and mealworms and having regular black and white stool. i had moved him to a new location via car ride and he was fine for about another two weeks. one day i noticed he wasn't eating and having diarrhea (a light brown color) i took him to the vet and and hey ran a fecal and it came back negative. They gave me baytril and carnivore care kit and a few surenges. It was going well for awhile and he still had diarrhea. Since about two weeks ago he has taken all the baytril and and half of the carnivore care kit (taken twice a day) he is lethargic and laying in his water bowl. His right eye looks swollen and his ear has crust in it. Also only his fingers have been peeling, so i went to ******** and asked for some advice, I told the lady who worked there that he isn't peeling and i'm afraid he isn't getting the protein he needs from the skin; she gave me a skin shedding aid and waxworms. He wouldn't take the waxworms so i smashed them up and put them in a surenge and he took them decently..but then the next morning he was very bloated and stiff, and the shedding aid i put on him is now making him have trouble with shedding the skin, and under the skin he is sticky. I started soaking him in luke warm water and he perks up alittle bit but just this morning he was perky before i put him in the water but when he went in the water he just sat there and he also wont open his eyes wide.

He is a young leopard with a skinny tail, but the rest of him looks about proportional. I could really use some help, hes a fighter and needs some help.

Please if you know anything share your wisdom, bandit and i could really use it.

thank you so much

angela & bandit

 

[Eureka]

Sounds to me like he urgently needs to see a qualified reptile veterinarian.

 

[Knibitz]

First off your paragraph was very hard to follow. You might want to go through and revise it, as well as detail your timeline better.

but I agree with the above poster, sounds like something is very wrong and is need of a vet visit to a vet that knows reptiles well.

 

[JordanAng420]

I can't stress this enough, and I apparently won't ever be able to stress this enough because i've said it a million times....

DO NOT ASK PET STORE EMPLOYEES FOR MEDICAL OR HUSBANDRY ADVICE!!!

Now that i've got that out of my system...can you give us a run down of your set up? Such as: size and type of enclosure, Heat source, temps, substrate, all feeders you've tried, supplements and how often, cagemates if any, hides....is there a moist hide that is kept consistantly moist?

It could be something as simple as a husbandry issue.

 

[Knibitz]

I can't stress this enough, and I apparently won't ever be able to stress this enough because i've said it a million times....

DO NOT ASK PET STORE EMPLOYEES FOR MEDICAL OR HUSBANDRY ADVICE!!!

It would help if you explained why...

<does so for you>
Pet store employees, especially at chains, are temp workers that are very often high school students, or people just looking for a job period.
This means they don't know their animals a lot of the time.
Employees are usually over an entire section, if not a whole store.
So you can't expect them to be experts any animal, or even novice.

The people you want to go to for advice on leos are reputable breeders, or do enough online research to be able to make your best judgement.

I would never suggest taking a single person's advice, regardless of what title they hold.

 

[JordanAng420]

I apologise for not explaining why. I figured it wasn't something I needed to explain. Geez seems as if everyone here is on my case lately.

Anyways, is what you're saying if one is not a reputable breeder than their opinion is worthless? Regardless of their "title" what does that mean?

I do agree that online research is the most beneficial way of learning, however.

All that aside...to get a better understanding of the husbandry would give us better insight to what might potentially be going on.

 

[BobGecko60]

sorry im not to swell at punctuation and typing while im under pressure like I was earlier today when I wrote this post.

Bandit on the other hand - his cage is an 8 gallon tank, he has a 75watt UV light during the day and a 75 watt red light for nighttime. He has a log hiding spot with moistened peet moss at the opposite side of the cage that the light is sitting on. Inside the cage it is 85 degrees during the day and 75 at night. As for the feeders I have two water bowls in his cage one with a bit of calcium in it another with repti-vite in it. And I just got a bottle of electrolyte & vitamin D3. I haven't used it yet. Should I use it? And I am feeding him the carnivore care kit twice daily and I started putting alittle bit of calcium in there. Only once a day though. What else should I do?

 

[JordanAng420]

First what you need to do is lose the UV lights. Leopard geckos are nocturnal, and as long as they are properly supplemented with Calcium that has D3 in it, they do not need overhead UV lights...the red light at night is also un-necessary. Find yourself a nice UTH that is controlled by a decent thermostat. You want to ideally make the cage anywhere between 90-95 degrees on the hotter side, and anywhere from 75-80 or so on the cooler side. I would suggest leaving a bowl of mealworms in the cage 24/7 for the gecko to feed on at it's free will, and also suggest that you offer as much of a variety as possible. I've found that most of my geckos respond well to different types of insects. I'm not sure what is meant by electrolyte/vitamin D3 bottle. Either way, I probably wouldn't use it for any rehabilitation purposes. The more you force feed this gecko, the more it's going to become stressed out, and the more it won't want to eat. Keep offering insects that are fast moving, such as mealworms, crickets, dubia roach nyphs if possible, and the occasional waxworm and/or butterworm. If it still doesn't want to eat, use the carnivore care, but do NOT stress the gecko out by shoving the solution down it's throat. Gently try to drop it on it's nose so the animal can lick it off by itself. You didn't mention a moist hide, so if you don't have one, cut a small hole from a small tupperware container and fill it wil sphagnum moss or moist paper towel. I prefer moss because it retains moisture for much longer than paper towel does. This will help your gecko shed when it needs to...they also like to hang out in the moist hide a lot of the time. Place it somewhere in between the hot and cool side. At this point, your goal should be to get this animal interested in eating live insects...as leopard geckos are insectivores. Try to change up your husbandry a bit, and see how your gecko reacts...I would also have a good ol' general fecal exam done on a poo sample if possible...keep a daily log of this geckos weight, food intake, bowel movements, and shed times, and be prepared to present this information to a veterinarian should the need arise. I hope I could help.

 

[JordanAng420]

To be honest, the swollen eye and the crusty fingers and eye could all be clear indications of too much UV exposure, which leopard geckos are extremely prone to. No more UV lights, IMO. Not a fan.

Also, think about a bigger tank than an 8 gallon...but DON"T switch him now while he's sick. It will most likely prolong his anorexia among other symptoms.

 

[Knibitz]

I apologise for not explaining why. I figured it wasn't something I needed to explain. Geez seems as if everyone here is on my case lately.

Well if you're going to yell, you better back yourself up after it.
Obviously it is something that needs to be explained because saying don't do something without any evidence as to why completely ruins your argument, especially when it comes as oversized bold text.
Take the opportunity to educate rather than just tell someone no
generally makes for a better lasting affect.

 

[JordanAng420]

Edit: It's not worth arguing over...

I've answered the original question, and quite well IMO. The OP needed advice about a situation. Rather than just saying "OMG take it to the vet"...I opted to go over the husbandry before recommending to do so. Sometimes a tweak in temperature or humidity can do the trick.

 

[Knibitz]

Edit: It's not worth arguing over...

I've answered the original question, and quite well IMO. The OP needed advice about a situation. Rather than just saying "OMG take it to the vet"...I opted to go over the husbandry before recommending to do so. Sometimes a tweak in temperature or humidity can do the trick.

but from my personal understanding, this condition seems to be a rather quick downward spiral.
And in that kind of condition, it's not time to try things out and hope they work, it's time to get your animal seen by a qualified veterinarian so you can provide it proper care.

Hence the reason I also recommended vet.
it wasn't a simple jumping the gun. It was my personal understanding of the issue, which you viewed differently.

 

[JordanAng420]

Yes, apparently I do view it differently. I belive that proper husbandry should be established before jumping to conclusions. I believe that a massive amount of research should be done before caring for any animal. The "rather quick downward spiral" you refer to just might be due to a lack of or too much of something that is being provided or not being provided in the animal's enclosure. The vast majority of health issues in reptiles are caused by a lack of supplementation in husbandry. THAT is why the basics of how the subject is being kept is necessary to understand before providing any kind of advice...be it by someone with a "title" or not....

I do not recomment against taking the animal to a quaified veterinarian...in fact I support the idea...as long as you can find one who REALLY knows what he or she is talking about...which is hard to find nowadays....

I have been to vets that have told me that I need to feed my geckos romaine lettuce and apples. It takes a while to find a vet that really knows what he or she is doing. Usually, it's the vets that keep reptiles themselves that really understand and treat well.

Listen, i'm not here to fight. I just think this person needs some guidance...and rather than just automatically saying..."take it straight to the vet"...why not try to help out with the husbandry issues if there are any (which apparently there are a few of that need to be addressed...since I asked ) After all, that's what we're here for, correct?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

A decent thermometer is needed as well, one with a probe to measure floor temp. ZooMed makes a good one, they are under $10 at most pet shops.

 

[monkeytechahoo]

Angela, you said that you took your gecko to the vet and they gave you a medication to give the lil one. You gave it as prescribed and that it's been 2wks since the baytril was finished and your lil one is still doing poorly. Did the vet not want to do a follow up? My cat/dog vet actually sent me to a vet they knew handled reptiles better than they did. It's an 1hr drive for me, but worth it.

Here's a link that the forum has to help you find a reptile vet in your area.

http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

I'm not sure of where you are so I can't help with vet recommendations. I'm in agreements with getting an under the tank heater and getting rid of the lights, but I'd get back to a vet as well.

 

[Eureka]

The OP needed advice about a situation. Rather than just saying "OMG take it to the vet"...I opted to go over the husbandry before recommending to do so. Sometimes a tweak in temperature or humidity can do the trick.

Is this directed at me? :blank:

Well first off no one said "OMG take it to the vet". I suggested a qualified reptile vet because the gecko sounds like it's in very poor condition. Even if husbandry mistakes have been made, which obviously need to be fixed immediately, I would take it to a qualified vet to be checked out. That is the best advice I could give at the time. Your post was very good and helpful, better than I could ever do.

 

[JordanAng420]

No it wasn't directed at you Erika. Sorry if you got that impression.

Again, I agree the gecko certainly needs a veterinarian, there's no denying that.

I simply questioned the husbandry because it wasn't originally stated. I figured we could help out with that part to start off with, until the gecko can be taken to the vet.

I'm starting to feel really ganged up on, guys. Come on.

 

[Jordan]

hey Maia, after reading through this post.. you did the right thing, and i think it definitely has helped the OP more than just the usual 'vet'.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

A trip to the vet won't correct husbandry issues

 

[Eureka]

No it wasn't directed at you Erika. Sorry if you got that impression.

Again, I agree the gecko certainly needs a veterinarian, there's no denying that.

I simply questioned the husbandry because it wasn't originally stated. I figured we could help out with that part to start off with, until the gecko can be taken to the vet.

I'm starting to feel really ganged up on, guys. Come on.

I didn't mean for you to feel ganged up on; I'm not upset at all over this. It just seemed like it was directed at me since I was the first person to reply and all I stated was take it to a qualified reptile vet. No hard feelings, honestly. I'm not experienced enough to be giving in depth husbandry advice, figured someone more experienced would reply with that, like you. No comparison, your post was much more helpful than mine.

I will admit now I feel like my contribution (or lack of) was pointless though.

Any updates, BobGecko60?