Gecko has an Eye Problem

[alx009]

About two years ago my best friend gave me his leopard gecko and the setup -a 20L tank to keep since he was moving out of state. Even though I'm more of a fish guy than a herp guy I agreed to take him (not sure if it is male or female but I always think of it as male) in and care for it. I discovered my friend wasnt keeping him in the most ideal conditions so I swapped out the sand (or crushed walnut shells) for newspaper bedding, replaced the heat bulb with a heating pad to create a gradient in the tank and such. At first I did put in a moist hide but over the months I never saw the gecko use it so I figured it wasn't worth the trouble. Maybe I was wrong about that. I feed it a mixed diet of mealworms and crickets. Mostly mealworms as they are much more convenient for me.

for the last two years I have never had any problems with the gecko. Then a few days ago he shredded but I noticed something is wrong with his eye. he wont open his eye and there is still flakes of skin around the area. He also looks like what may be a splinter (or maybe more skin) stuck in his eye. He does have one of those hollow half logs in the tank which could be where he got it from...

I'm not sure what to do, its been 2 days now with him like this and I want to help the poor thing. I've thought about maybe grabbing him and gently pulling away the stuff in his eye with some tweezers.But I am not sure if this would be a good idea. I have never handled him before so I wouldn't want to put it under further stress or even cause it to drop his tail.

I have just graduated from college and am looking for a job. I can barely afford to take care of myself, much less take the gecko to the vet. What can I do?

 

[alx009]

Update: I carefully removed the thing in his eye with a pair of tweezers. also did a quick saline rinse. He didnt really object to being handled. He's able to open his eye now. I think he'll be fine.

 

[acpart]

See if he'll let you pick him up. If he will, grab hold of the edge of the shed and pull it out. It will be fine, and much better for him if you can get it off before it scratches up his eye and he gets an infection. If you can't hold him, see if you can at least pick him up for a moment and wrap him gently in a towel so you can deal with the eye. They don't drop their tails all that easily. It's important to get the shed out soon so it doesn't get infected at which time a vet visit will be imperative.

Welcome to GF.

Aliza

 

[acpart]

I guess our posts crossed. Glad it worked out.

Aliza