Blind Leopard Gecko.

[MushuSpyro]

Hey so I have a Leopard Gecko, and she's blind.
I've come across a vibrating food dish by Exo-Terra..
Does anyone know if it's any good, and if it will help my gecko?

She can't see or catch live food, even when trying to hand feed her..
The vet had no other suggestions but hand feeding or force feeding. I've tried force feeding, but it's too much stress for my poor Spyro

Please get back to me guys, it's important

 

[mörten]

Awe poor thing Have you tried feeding her with a tongue wnd letting the worm/cricket be really close to her mouth so that she can smell or taste that there is food nearby?

 

[MushuSpyro]

I've tried with the tong thingy, she just was having none of it..
I'm running out of options D: I'm going to try feeding her with tongs again..
Do you know if the Exo terra vibrating dish is of any good?

 

[B&B Geckos]

I've never used the product. However, I had a gecko that ate by feeling with its snout. I believe it was far-sighted. I used a light plastic container (makes more noise) as a food dish; as with my other geckos...as soon as it smelledl prey and felt the scratching on the plastic, it would go to the food dish. Then, it would find its food by feel. How long has it been blind? Are you sure she's blind...it sounds a little like a symptom of enigma syndrome... I've seen some that repeatedly strike at prey missing multiple times before finally catching it prey. Are you feeding mealworms or crickets. If you're feeding crickets you may want to clip the hind legs or all the legs on one side to slow them down and make them circle.

 

[MushuSpyro]

It was the vet that told me, but I don't think the vet was a very good one, or had many experiences with reptiles. I'm searching for a better, more experienced vet. I did research Enigma Syndrome, and that's what I thought it was. The pet store I got her from weren't taking good care of her, so not sure how long she's had it. She's been like it since I got her, but it's just got worse. Before she would know where food was, and after a couple of strikes would get it. But now when she hears it, and tries going after the crickets, she goes the wrong way or runs into something I feed her crickets, and mealworms, but very rarely. Other than that everything else is fine with her :l

I'll try that with the crickets though, thank you

 

[DrCarrotTail]

What vitamin and mineral supplements are you using? Sometimes blindness can be caused by a deficiency.

I haven't used a vibrating dish but if I were a blind gecko i might be pretty wary and/or scared by something like that. Usually the bigger the vibration the bigger the animal coming to eat you. B&Bs suggestion of a dish that crawling mealworms make a "scratchy" sound in seems like a great idea to me. I would try that before investing in the vibrating dish.

 

[MushuSpyro]

I've been to the vet this morning (a different vet place) and they told me they reckon she's at stage 3 of enigma syndrome.. :/ They said as she gets older it will progressively get worse until the kindest thing to do is euthanize..

She's always had Calcium, and gutloaded live food. The vet (first one i visited) told me to just use calcium, but not too much.
What kind of Vitamins/Supplements are there? The vet I saw this morning said she is completely blind, but didn't go into details of how or why.

She said that Spyro will become absolutely dependant on me, and that she'll suffer, So I should get her PTS..

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I addition to calcium Leo's need a multi vitamin powder. I'm sorry to hear yours has enigma syndrome. I've never owned an enigma gecko but from what I've read all of them have the syndrome to some extent and they tend to get worse as they get older. it tends to be triggered by noise and bright lights so keeping her in a darker room that has as little traffic as possible or covering her cage to block some light may help. Best of luck with everything :/

 

[MushuSpyro]

Thank you :/ If she gets worse and starts to suffer a great deal, I'll have her pts so she doesn't have to suffer anymore.. until then I'll provide the best care and get her the multi vitamin powder too.. thank you for replying.

 

[B&B Geckos]

Sorry about the bad news. Don't give up though, Dr's predictions are often wrong. Best wishes.

 

[MushuSpyro]

thank you xx