Fat "pockets"

[Kimby]

Hay all!
I haven't posted in the longest time but I'm stumped here. My question is this... my female leo has developed small (kind of watery looking) what I assume are fat balloons/pockets under her front legs, in the armpit area. (hmmmm.. do geckos have armpits)? Anyway, she's healthy, active and eating a good diet of mealworms, which she seems to love most) and crickets. Is this a normal thing or do I need to be concerned? :main_huh:

 

[berra292]

when they start to get fat and cant store anymore in the tail they use that area. and yes it is normal...(lovehandles. hehe)

 

[lil_katiedan]

It actually houses extra protein that they get from eating alot of mealworms. It's perfectly normal for healthy geckos.

 

[Brian O]

The buldges behind the front legs are excess calcium.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

If it looks like water blisters, it is calcium lymphatic fluid. Cut down on her calcium a bit.

 

[justin-branam]

It actually houses extra protein that they get from eating alot of mealworms. It's perfectly normal for healthy geckos.

The buldges behind the front legs are excess calcium.

i can see an argument arising here From what i have read while researching this myself, I found it is just a storage compartment for whatever they need more storage for, whether it be fat, protien or calcium.

 

[ByRandom]

Haha! We were talking with Pat Kline a few weeks ago about random things whenever the "fat" behind geckos arms and what it could be came up. That's when he said that he had sent samples to a lab, when they came back, it was trace proteins...

 

[Kimby]

Ahhhh....! I am now enlightened!! Muchos gracias to you all! I'm feelin' much better! Now to search other forums for my cat, birds, hermit crabs, fish and rat questions! Yup, my house if full of beasties! :main_yes: Gotta love 'em!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Ahhhh....! I am now enlightened!! Muchos gracias to you all! I'm feelin' much better! Now to search other forums for my cat, birds, hermit crabs, fish and rat questions! Yup, my house if full of beasties! :main_yes: Gotta love 'em!

I may have an answer to your bird question if you want to PM me.

 

[snared99]

Yes a matter of fact i wanted to know what was happening on this topic so i sent a sample to the lab and it turned out to be trace proteins. No this is not to say that calcium or fat can not be there, but i called in a consult on this topic when the results cam in with the Dr. on staff at the labs and she assured me it was quite normal and that she has never heard of calcium deposits in that area. Now once again this is what i found, does not mean its true in every case. more research is needed in this topic to determine what exactly those"watery" bulges can be.

 

[leo77]

So most of it is Proteins???
And I thought it was only fat,he he

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Thanks for the info, Pat! Do you have a copy of the lab report? I'd love to see it!

 

[snared99]

I can get a copy but do not have a scanner to put it on here. I have all my lab results on file at work.

 

[Sandra]

Does anybody have a picture of those buldges you are talking about? I'd like to see them.

 

[Jeanne]

I have a female at home, that has balloons for armpits. I tried reducing her calcium and it didn't work. Did they say what you can do to reduce the size of them?

Does anybody have a picture of those buldges you are talking about? I'd like to see them.

I had posted a pictures of her either here or on Fauna last year. I will try to find it. If I can't, I will get a new picture of her later.

 

[crayolaskies]

You can see them in this picture on either side of her. She used to have really big pockets until I cut down on her calcium intake. Maybe it has something to do with it, maybe not, but it seemed to work somewhat.

 

[Stitch]

Here is another pic:

I cut back on her food intake and it went away in about 1-2 weeks. Of course this reduced the amount calcium intake as well. But from everything stated above I would say it's protein/fat storage.

Jeanne, cut back on the amount of food, I don't think calcium is the main reason for this storage. P.S. When am I going to see those pics of Thing 1? LOL

 

[crayolaskies]

Whoa, Brian, that girl is huge! Is she gravid?

 

[Stitch]

Whoa, Brian, that girl is huge! Is she gravid?

No she's not, that pic was taken about a month after she was done laying her 8th clutch and that being her first season. I unfortunately lost all but two hatchlings due to mold and a temp spike.

 

[Tanga]

I'm going to revive this thread because I know this question comes up a lot, as a matter of fact, I was curious as to what the heck they were when I saw them appear on my leo. Here's a pic for reference. I've cut back her calcium and they're still there. I think maybe she's storing up fat for winter because it's getting colder here (although the temp in her cage is constantly at 92 - 93, I think she notices the days are getting shorter).

Here's a close up pic of those weird little armpit bubbles on my leo.