Desperately Need Help

[plaidtoaster]

I realize I should be taking our little guy straight to the vet, but my husband lost his job three weeks ago and it is not possible. So please, be nice.

History:
My 12 yo twins got a leopard gecko from their grandmother in June. He was purchased at Petco, lives in a 10 gallon tank with a red light during the day and an under tank warmer. There is a small housing unit, water and food dish and a small fake plant in the tank. He eats three crickets and two meal worms per day. He is also given bottled water. The twins have care books and are very responsible with him.



Sunday, we noticed that he was not walking well and refused to eat. His back two legs were wobbly and the knees actually bending the opposite direction as usual. I immediately googled and ruled out injury but suspected calcium deficiency. My husband went to get the powered stuff at Petco. We were informed by Petco that the orange cubes we were feeding the crickets would have all the nutrients he needs. We now know better. By Sunday evening, his condition worsened. He hadn't eaten in two days. I soaked him in Pedialyte because I was afraid of dehydration.


Sunday night, he started his shed. At this point, he has not the energy to do anything about it. Monday, still no food and we are continuing ped baths 2x daily for 30 minutes (a wild guess on my part), now sprinkled with calcium out of desperation. His tail is still fat so I am hoping he is staying hydrated this way? Noticed that the underbelly skin is pulling on front legs making his front legs unable to use. Put him in shed box with warm damp cloth. Belly and legs are now free.

Monday night, I noticed he went to the side of the cage and some shed came off. He only is covered in his head now. Still refusing food. (we are holding it to his mouth and he turns away). This morning, he is in same position as when I left him, discarded shed still laying there and still refusing to eat. Gave me a ped bath ( I understand bathing daily like this can stress him but at this point, I think it is the only way he is getting nutrients) just now.

I have no idea what to do now. I am sick with worry and I am sure we have done a lot wrong and learned but now, I need advice, any advice that may help him but without criticism please.

Summary: He is not eating but still has a fat tail. He has shed completely covering head still and he has no activity.

 

[sausage]

that skin has been on him too long you need to dampen it and remove it carefully with tweezers and qtips. any skin let on legs, toes or tails will constrict causing no blood flow and they will drop off. this is extremely painful.
A picture would be good.
Also what are the floor temps in your hot side (the under tank heater side)?
if your desperate to get food and calcium in him you need to mush the bugs up into a slurry and mix the calcium into it. then you can use a syringe to dot it onto his mouth (be careful not to get it in his nose) he will lick the food off.

 

[plaidtoaster]

OK I got all the skin off of him. My husband is going to get a syringe now. I did crush some up but he wouldn't eat, only lick the calcium powder. I don't know how to measure the floor temps. We have learned several things from another group. Here is what I responded in that one if it helps:

The shed is off! I took him out and carefully removed the head and two back legs that were left. He was quite squirmy during the process (I assure you I was extremely gentle....very afraid to hurt him) so that made me happy to see him wiggling around. I did get him to lick some calcium but no bugs, even crushed up.

I have learned several things from the responses here and we are getting liquid calcium, multivitamins, more sophisticated gauges and now have calcium in tank. I do have a question, if 10 gallons is not the proper size, what do you suggest? His enclosure temp is at 80 and humidity at 50 according to our petco dials. I don't know how to measure the floor temp. My twins monitor those according to their books so I am not sure what they should be? (they are at school)

I can post pics of his tank but there is only a couple things in there right now. I didn't know if it was injury so took it all out to not aggravate it more. He has this fake rock thing that he crawls into, shed box and a shallow lid for water (because I wasn't sure if he could get in his old one) and now I have a cardboard slab with calcium dust on it. It's looking ghetto in there right now.

Aside from his bum legs, his appearance looks more normal now that he has fully shed. He never had a shed problem before and I am sure the shed was just bad timing when he was already not feeling well. I just wish I could get him to eat. Would you suggest a syringe to feed him? how do you get him to open his mouth?


I feel like a new mom again but you all have been awesome!

 

[katie_]

You will want to purchase a probe therm. You can get them at Petco I believe. They have a little probe attached to a cord, and you tape the probe to the floor to get accurate temps.
Dials are junk.

 

[Ozy]

Sounds like MBD. Mush the bugs up with the unflavored pedialyte and some Repashy Calcium Plus. Dab it on his nose between his nostrils with the syringe and he will lick it off. Get a UVB tube light that is no higher than 2% and put it on him for 3 hours a day, every other day. The tube has to be right on top of his tank, because UVB light does not travel very far. I would also leave the calcium (it should be Calcium WITHOUT D3) in his tank. The best tank size is 20 gallon long, but I wouldn't worry about that right now. FLOOR temps on the hot side should be 90-94. Humidity should be around 30-40%. Air temp doesn't really matter to a leopard gecko. They need BELLY heat to digest their food. To control the temps you can go to Lowe's and get a Lutron lamp dimmer for about $10. They just plug into the outlet, then there is a place for you to plug in your heat mat or whatever. I would get one for the heat mat and one for the red light. Just do these things and try not to handle him, because his bones are VERY fragile right now and could break. If you do not see improvement with these suggestions, then you need to take him to the vet and have him humanely euthanized so that he won't have to suffer any more.

 

[Ozy]

If he doesn't lick the slurry off of his nose, then you can rub the sides of his mouth until he opens it then put a couple of drops in his mouth

 

[sausage]

forcing him to open his mouth is very stressful though and if he has got MBD and bites down he could injure /break the jaw.
feeding this way just requires patience, this method is how i medicate my geckos all the time. just keep at it, he will eventually lick it off.

these are really good for super accurate heat readings too and reasonably priced.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_n..._sacat=0&_odkw=infrared+thermometer&_osacat=0

 

[katie_]

And if you do come across some cash, a vet visit really is in order.
My friend pawned her TV to take her puppy to the vet.
I know not everyone is willing to do that, but its a thought.

 

[kara]

What type of substrate (bedding) are you using?

 

[Ozy]

True sausage. I was just putting that in there in the off chance he might not lick it off. Force feeding is better than no feeding.