Caring for a friend's sick gecko

[Golden Gate Geckos]

WOW!!! Good news! Go ahead and give her an additional worm or two with every feeding... after awhile, you can try to use worms on tongs to lure her over to a bowl with several mealworms in it. You may have to drop them in one at a time until she sees them move, but eventually she will learn that the bowl has food in it.

I cannot find words to express how thrilled I am that you have put so much effort into rehabilitating this beautiful little gecko girl! YAY!!!!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

I cannot find words to express how thrilled I am that you have put so much effort into rehabilitating this beautiful little gecko girl! YAY!!!!

You can say that again. Other than the fact I always get nervous, I love seeing that there are new posts in this thread to hear the news. The only thing that bothers me is that if your friend let it get to this point, I don't see him putting in the effort you have to keep her healthy. I sure hope she continues on this path, though. Can't wait for more updates.

 

[WftRight]

She just took four of five medium-sized crickets from the tweezers. I gave her a meal worm that she started to eat and then left alone because she heard the escaped cricket moving. I left her alone for a few minutes while she tore around the cage trying to get the other cricket. I was pleased to see her expending that much energy and making that much noise. I came back to find the cage quiet and her chewing on something. I'll turn the lights on in a little bit to see whether she caught the last cricket or whether she turned her attention to the meal worm. I'm dusting all of these guys pretty liberally with the T-Rex formula for leopard geckos. She never ate the meal worm that I left in the cage last night.

I may try to weigh her tonight. With her eating real food while the cage is dark except for the red light from the other cage, I'm hesitant to turn on the light after dark. I gave her water this morning before work because the room was already light with daylight.

When I last fed her the slurry on Saturday, her tongue seemed to be much longer than it had been in the past. I'm not sure what that means or whether she was just using it more.

How much should I be feeding the healthy leo? I give her about five to ten meal worms a week. I usually notice that she gets one of them. Sometimes I find some of the others hiding under the carpet. She's so shy that I have a hard time monitoring anything that she does.

Thanks again,


Bill

 

[WftRight]

I decided to change her paper tonight. When I removed everything from her cage, I found the meal worm that she had rejected earlier but no cricket. She must have hunted and eaten the fifth cricket. I put the meal worm in a box with her while I cleaned the cage. She bit at it for a while, but she never ate it. I'm hoping that she was just full.

She's up to 31.5 grams, but that's with a full stomach.

She looks dull, and I'm fairly certain that she's going to shed again. I just finished soaking her feet for about ten minutes in anticipation of the next shed. I'm hoping that this one will be easier on her feet.


Bill

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Bill, she could easily be eating 5-10 mealworms a day... or 5-7 medium/large crickets every other day. At this point, I'd let her chase down her dinner and eat at will. It means she sees well, and her predatory instincts are strong. She should start gaining weight now! FANTASTIC!!!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

That sounds great. Looks like she can see, or at least her hearing and scent has more than made up for her sight. About the healthy one, I would just keep a full escape-free dish and let it eat what it wants. You could do the same for her too, actually. My (uneducated) guess about the tongue, is that she is just more "sure of herself" and feeling more comfortable. Not that it "grew", but I would take it as a good sign.

 

[WftRight]

When you talk about her eating 5 to 10 meal worms, are you talking about the big size or the little size? The ones that I'm feeding are about an inch to two inches long. (They are at this link. http://www.flukerfarms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=808 ) They appear to be as big as or bigger than the crickets that I use. I've weighed them at about half a gram each. Are they too big for leopard geckos? I've had a hard time finding a dish that will keep them contained and be small enough for a gecko to reach the bottom. If I'm using these instead of something smaller, how many should I feed each day?

I spoke to my friend today, and he seems ready to take over when he returns. He's not worried about having to hand-feed if necessary. He's committed to buying a second cage for her and is thinking about getting a pair of display cages. I have Showcase Cages for my ball pythons, and he's thinking about getting two of the 24"L x 18"H x 16"D cages and stacking them. Each gecko would have her own cage. (These cages can be seen at this link. http://www.showcasecages.com/cage_details.htm ) Do these cages look as if they'd be pretty good for a leopard gecko? That much height may not be necessary, but could it hurt? If not these cages, can you recommend anything else that looks nice and is stackable?

I'm pushing him towards getting a thermostat to control the temperatures, and he'll have UTH heating.

I gave her meal worms tonight. She took three with no problem. The fourth one got away, and she was chasing it when I left her. I'll check her later to see how her skin looks. If I still think she looks as if she may shed, I'll soak her feet again.

I'm running low on crickets, but if I can get by the store tomorrow for live crickets, I'll likely give her crickets tomorrow.


Bill

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Those are superworms, not mealworms, so that makes a little more sense now.

 

[BluGnat]

This is wonderful news!! What a great reward for your dedication to her - she'll be fat and sassier in no time, hopefully!!!

 

[WftRight]

Crystal shed tonight. I pulled the last little bit off her head and a little off her feet, but otherwise, she got it all. The nightly soaking seemed to help her feet a bit. The shed came off her eyes with no problem. She ate the old skin except for the small part that I removed.

Immediately after eating, she ate two more superworms and a mealworm that I didn't realize was crawling in her cage. I'll likely give her crickets tomorrow. I gave her crickets last night or the night before, and she killed all four but only ate two of them. I was happy that she was at least hunting them well enough to kill all four.

She lost about a gram during the shed. She's back down to 30.5 grams from the 31.5 grams that she reached as the shed started.

Here's a pre-shed picture as she goes after a superworm in a dish of T-Rex Leopard Gecko Dust. That dish never really worked for keeping the mealworms contained, but it does give her a source of calcium which is probably the biggest component of the T-Rex dust.

Here's a picture of her soaking after the shed. She's a long way from being the picture of health, but she's on the right track.

Her owner comes home Tuesday, and we're tentatively planning on his picking everyone up on Wednesday evening. He'll need to make a bigger cage one of his first priorities. I left her in the little one while she was blind because I didn't want her to get lost as easily. Now, she'll need something bigger to accomodate more movement, possibly a bigger water bowl, a humid hide, and enough separation so that mealworms from her dish don't immediately get into the water.


Bill

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

This so great, Bill! My guess is that in some ways you will be relieved when she goes back home, but even more you will miss her. You have done an incredible job with her rehabilitation, and it's impossible not to become bonded with her after you have been through so much together.

Please look in your private messages...

 

[Scott&Nikki]

I love the good news in this thread. You did a great job! I would trust you with my animals any day, which is a lot more than I can say for 99% of people I know. Make sure you give us updates on how she is back with her owner.

 

[WftRight]

Well, my buddy was supposed to come home yesterday and pick up his animals tonight. I called his home phone and his cell phone this afternoon, and I couldn't find him. In celebration of our last night together, I gave Crystal half a dozen small crickets and a superworm last night. She was in great spirits. The night before, she took two superworms, got a funny look on her face, and went in her hide. I guess she was full. Last night, she was in full "little dinosaur mode." She hit everything hard, and when something got away, she chased it down. They both seem to like crickets better than superworms, so I gave both of them crickets. Shy, the other leo, still stayed in her hide most of the time. I'd see a cricket wandering past the entrance; I'd see a flash of color; and then the cricket would be gone.

I figure something may have held my buddy up at the refinery. Maybe they needed him to work an extra day. Another possibility is that he came home to find something seriously wrong with his house. If he's having to straighten something out at home, he won't want to bring animals back to a house that isn't fit to keep them.

In any case, we celebrated again with another six small crickets and a superworm. If she's here again tomorrow night, I'll not feed her quite so much. I am happy that she's getting so much calcium. The crickets hold the T-Rex dust very well.

Back when my breeder friends were trying to help me get her feeding, they gave me a couple of wax worms that they had hatched. She wasn't eating then and wouldn't take the wax worms. I didn't want to feed them to Shy because I wanted to save them for a treat for Crystal. Now, I have little moths. Does anyone have any idea what to do with the moths?


Bill

 

[KiKi]

im glad she is doing so muchbetter and im sure you will miss them

 

[WftRight]

My friend came to get his animals this morning. We talked a bit about what I'd recommend as the best path forward for Crystal. Mostly, I just repeated the advice that folks have been giving me. I weighed her just before he arrived, and she was up to 33 grams. He's borrowing my cage and thermostat. I gave him her favorite tweezers, the bowls that I bought for the cages, and those crazy hides made of plastic cups from McDonald's. I see him every day at work, so I'll be able to keep tabs on how things are going. I'll let you know as she passes milestones. Here are two pictures that I took this morning with him holding her.


Bill

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Bill, Crystal looks wonderful! I'll bet your friend was blown away with how you have rehabilitated her! You have set an example for ALL of us on what it takes to be committed to these beautiful, gentle creatures for their care. You took on an 'impossible' project. You took an ailing gecko to the vet when her own keeper said it was hopeless. You took the time and effort to come here to this forum and ask for help and share your journey with Crystal. You went above and beyond to make her life have quality again.

You are my hero, Bill. If you every decide a leopard gecko of your own in is your future, please contact me... I will be honored to give you one. After all, that's what I would want for one of my own babies.

 

[BluGnat]

Late on this thread, but seconding Marcia. What an amazing, wonderful thing you've done, Bill. You are a wonderful example of hope, and an inspiration. I'm hoping you find yourself unable to resist the allure of owning your own, because that would be a fabulous environment s/he/they would live in.

 

[WftRight]

The forum was changing when I received these pictures, so they're about a month old. However, they are the newest pictures that I have. My buddy hasn't said anything about her recently, but I assume that she's still doing well. He said that he was once feeding her off the tweezers and that she grabbed a tweezer and held onto it for several seconds. When she realized that she didn't have the worm, she let go and went after the worm.

In this third picture, she's eating a meal worm.

Bill

 

[Josh'sGeckoCloset]

Oh my goodness that is so amazing! Great job!!

 

[Alusdra]

I just read through the whole thread- great job! The eye looked so bad to start with, but now it's so clear. She looks great. Hopefully she'll have another 7 years ahead of her.