Gecko health help?

[elizabeth79]

Before I delve with my concerns let me tell you a little bit about each gecko.
I rescue animals, many of them come from terrible situations. I always aim for the under dogs which end well with a lot of work. I've always wanted a gecko, but finding one that is healthy enough in my local area is pretty hard to do. Because I have never owned one before I did my research for a year or so before I even started to look and without even looking two fell into my lap.
A young couple decided to grab a few from who knows where, when things started to go sour for some unsaid reasons they passed them off on the nearest person they could find. I scooped them up because they were NOT being cared for properly, they live together in a very smooshed cage with very sharp rocks that were so misshapen that one bump it could topple one over and easily squash the both of them. They had NO heat source or light, barely any water in their very jagged water dish, and were only fed a few crickets between the two of them on Mondays and Fridays. What surprised me the most was the mold on their substrate.
I know many people will probably tell me I purchased sick geckos, but in all honestly I do not care. I have a vet that is willing to work with me to help them get back on track and that is all that matters. What worries me is their health until I can get them their appointment. They are skinny and before we got them home they were terribly sluggish. After a day with regulated lights and food they perked up and are crawling everywhere! They are also working around towards getting comfortable with my hand and me in general.

I really need to know if they look healthy in general, this was the first day we got them as we brought them home. They are in a completely different set up now, so we do not have to worry about that. What should I look for and bring up at our appointment?

They've eaten crickets with a dusting and really perked up, but what else can I get that they should enjoy? I know meal worms and wax worms, but which do geckos seem to prefer? Anything else?

The bigger one has a small (not open or seeping) lump under the eye, its not affecting the eye but its something I will definitely get checked at our appointment.

 

[tb144050]

The one on the left has a healthy-"looking" plump tail so I am pretty sure it was eating well enough, possibly stealing crickets from the one on the right....the one on the right appears to have a "nonplump" tail. This is probably from not getting enough nutrition. I say "nonplump" because plump is usually synonimous with "healthy" and "skinny tail" is usually synonimous with or suggests Crypto, which is a fatal parasite.

It doesn't appear at the time to have "skinny tail" or "stick-tail" (Crypto), so that is probably good. However, from my 3weeks of reading and googling (because I am new myself to this), I think you should try to separate them, atleast at feeding time. The size & energy difference means that the left one will continue to hunt faster and eat all the food while the *right* one gets skinnier and weaker.

Google "leopard gecko care sheet" for full instructions, but the highlights are:

-90degree F warm floor-temp hide, a hide on the cooler side at around 70F, and preferably a moist hide for shedding.
-Dusting: find and review a schedule for what to dust with how often. They need a little D3-calcium, multivitamin dusting once/week(??), and regular non-d3 calcium dusting on all other food. Also, some suggest putting a bowl of non-d3 into the tank...they will ingest it as needed??
-gutload the crickets!! if the crickets aren't nutritious, the gecko gets no nutrition.
-the temps are most important...it's as vital/fatal as oxygen to humans.
-the lighting is optional(??) but follow recommended guides if you choose to provide daytime lighting and use correct bulbs if you want to view them at night.
-Hides: They love the dark. They are nocturnal after all. Provide dark dark dark hides for them to feel secure or stress will have unhealthy effects.

Good luck.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

The patternless one looks a bit thin. The other one (aside from the lump you say there is) looks healthy. I would bring any information about the setup you're keeping them in to the vet with you. I also take pictures of rescues/sick animals to be able to document improvement. Sometimes it is difficult to see progress when you're looking at them every day so the pictures may help the vet and make you feel more confident in what you're doing to help. They don't look terribly bad for the conditions you found them in so I bet a little TLC will go a long way.

I would assume with a bit of heat, no scary jagged objects in their tank, and good food they'll plump up. I would pick up a cheap gram scale (the one I use is about $8 on amazon) and weigh them weekly. If the skinnier of the two doesn't gain a bit of weight in the next month or so I would recommend separating them at least until they're healthy. If she looses weight I would get her to a vet ASAP. The lump situation probably need vet attention to be remedied. It sounds like an abscess from an insect bite or encounter with a scary jagged object. I would put an UTH on them but most leos do not require light, and tend to be stressed by bright lights near their cage. As long as there is a decent desk lamp or other light in the room that gives enough light to read a soft cover book by, they'll be fine

Good luck with them!