Dead skin over eyes

[the_big_dill]

Hi all,

My gecko has been with me for a few years now, all healthy, feeding mealworms along with calcium without and with D3 on occasion. Living on carpets which were cleaned regularly with an under-tank heater. Everything was fine until i noticed that one eye was leaking a viscous liquid about a week ago, which worried me, however at the time there was nothing i could do.

The situation has gotten no better, and the other eye has been covered by dead skin, and it looks as if she is trying to lick it off, if i touch it she starts moving away. I had to hand feed her when she had one eye working, now she won't eat at all... What do i do?

I am doing an undergrad in Engineering right now, spending 16-19 hours on average away from home and I hate to say this, but i feel like i do not have the time to look after the gecko as much as i use to especially when problems like this occur, and no one in my family has the will to research and understand gecko care themselves.

Besides her eyes, her claws look like they have dead skin on the tips as well. Otherwise she acts like she used to.

Any help would be appreciated,

Phil.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

There could, of course, be some underlying heath problem that is causing the retained shed and if you want to play it safe I would bring her to a vet. The shed she has is an indication that she does not have enough moisture in her environment. You should engineer a moist hide - tupperware with a 2-3 inch hole in the top and some moist paper towel, vermiculite or sphagnum moss inside. For the next week or so I would also soak her for 10 minutes in warm water once or twice a day to help her get the shed off. If she can't get the shed off herself after a couple of days you can gently use a q-tip to try to rub some of it off or tweezers to help with the stuff on her feet (I would hesitate to use tweezers on the eye skin unless she is still and you can be EXTREMELY gentle). If the shed persists you might need the help of a vet to get it off. Her eyes underneath the shed may also need vet care if it has been there for a while. The shed can cause scratches on her cornea or harbor bacteria.

If the shed does come off smoothly adding a bit of water to a moist hide once or twice a week should prevent the issue from returning.

 

[SC Geckos]

I agree with Lisa in regards to the humid hide and the shed on the toes. As far as the eyes go, if she has been having an issue with one of her eyes like an infection of some sort it is very possible that it has started to/or has spread to the other eye too. I would take her to the vet soon to try and prevent any potential permanent eye damage.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Oops - posted on wrong thread...lol sorry!

 

[sausage]

you still need to use the similar technique listed above to remove the shed from her head. you could use warm damp cotton wool to moisten the skin on the head then peel it off. the longer its left over the eye the more chance you have of it getting infected.

 

[Ozy]

She needs to see a vet.

 

[SC Geckos]

The more I look at the picture the more swollen her eyes look. Sad.
Did you take her to the vet???

 

[the_big_dill]

There could, of course, be some underlying heath problem that is causing the retained shed and if you want to play it safe I would bring her to a vet. The shed she has is an indication that she does not have enough moisture in her environment. You should engineer a moist hide - tupperware with a 2-3 inch hole in the top and some moist paper towel, vermiculite or sphagnum moss inside. For the next week or so I would also soak her for 10 minutes in warm water once or twice a day to help her get the shed off. If she can't get the shed off herself after a couple of days you can gently use a q-tip to try to rub some of it off or tweezers to help with the stuff on her feet (I would hesitate to use tweezers on the eye skin unless she is still and you can be EXTREMELY gentle). If the shed persists you might need the help of a vet to get it off. Her eyes underneath the shed may also need vet care if it has been there for a while. The shed can cause scratches on her cornea or harbor bacteria.

If the shed does come off smoothly adding a bit of water to a moist hide once or twice a week should prevent the issue from returning.

Thank you very much for that response.

Now that i think of it, there isn't enough moisture in there, i am going to solve that problem as soon as i can.

Should i purchase some Terramycin in the case of eye problems?

What in regards to the feeding problems?

 

[katie_]

No you need to see a vet before you purchase medication without medical advice.

 

[sausage]

i agree with katie. see the vet first and you can always ask them about buying and using that. Many medications available in stores can do more harm then good.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

In regards to the feeding problems you're having -- geckos are visual predators and usually won't eat if they can't see. I would agree with Katie and Sausage that taking her to a vet before using medication is important. If your gecko loses its eyesight there's a good chance it will slowly starve to death. My vet was fairly convincing when my gecko had an eye infection that eye medication alone doesn't usually work for clearing up infections and a more holistic approach to treatment is necessary. He prescribed shots, and two different kinds of eye meds for my guy - it took several months for his issues to clear up but he's doing better than ever now.

 

[sausage]

Iv just had the same experience with one of mine, hes had two courses of antibiotic and and about 6 weeks of eye ointment and hes only just starting to show signs of improvement. When It comes to eye problems in geckos it seems to be a very serious issue, most eye issues if herd about (mainly on here) they never seem to fully recover from.

 

[the_big_dill]

Well here is the story:

Getting a vet that deals with geckos on any time i have available is pretty much impossible in my area...

I found a local guy (vet tech) who helped me with her problem, unfortunately it was too late, and she lost sight in both her eyes

Will have to hand feed her from now on.

I find it a bit surprising that any living creature will starve to death with a loss of a sense... Even if you can't see something and your starving, wouldn't you at least try to eat it???

In any case, i appreciate the help and comments everybody replied with.

 

[sausage]

but if you cant see it to catch it how are you ment to eat

 

[katie_]

Well here is the story:

Getting a vet that deals with geckos on any time i have available is pretty much impossible in my area...

I found a local guy (vet tech) who helped me with her problem, unfortunately it was too late, and she lost sight in both her eyes

Will have to hand feed her from now on.

I find it a bit surprising that any living creature will starve to death with a loss of a sense... Even if you can't see something and your starving, wouldn't you at least try to eat it???

In any case, i appreciate the help and comments everybody replied with.

This would never happen to a gecko who was looked after properly. They dont have secondary senses to help them hunt incase of this. Its never suppost to happen.
It makes complete sense that it wouldnt be able to eat after its eyes rotted away.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Try to start providing the care he needs and he may get better by leaps and bounds if there's no underlying infection or other issue. When my gecko's eye cap was removed his eye looked like it was shot. It's now only a bit filmy and I can see the pupil dilating with light. I'm not convinced he can see out of it but its a whole lot better than it was the first month after the cap came off and keeps getting better. I may just post some new pictures to the thread I started about it.

Even when he was at his worst my guy would eat crickets when they were mostly contained in a red solo cup. He probably still could see a bit but I also think the noise of the crickets scurrying around the cup stimulated his prey drive. Just a thought.

Best of luck.