jmbryant94
New Member
- Messages
- 6
Hello!
I just signed up for this forum because I went away for a semester to finish my degree and came back to one of my children having massive eye issues.
A little about me and what I have first though. I have four leopard geckos. Sneakers, Kibo, Ghost, and Godzilla.
Sneakers was a rescued female of an undetermined age. When I got her she came from an abusive home that kept her on a calcium sand substrate, a red light, and a water bowl. That's all she had in her tank. Fed crickets once a week and she had recently dropped her tail (because the previous owner thought it was funny to pick her up and hold her by her tail) and there was sand all in it and the crickets in the cage were trying to eat at the freshly dropped tail site. She had a severe decreased appetite when I got her and I'm happy to report that she's quite the chunkers now and is probably spoiled rotten getting crickets, mealworms, locusts, waxworms, and the occasional roach treat.
Ghost is an albino rescue from a chain pet store. He was the smallest in the tank of 22 (yeah, I counted all the Leo's that were in the same tank there) and he had been picked on a lot and kept his eyes shut tight. After a lot of talking with the manager on staff she got fed up and told one of her staff memebers to "just get rid of the lizard" and stormed away. At which point I legitimately walked out of the pet store with a baby Leo in my hoodie pocket. Got him home and situated, he wouldn't open his eyes for me because the light was bothering him as I would later find out. His eyes looked black but are in fact deep red. And he has a hard time seeing things, so he can vaguely see movement. Took a little research to find out that I needed to get rid of the overhead lamp and go to an under the tank heating pad because that was ultimately safer with his eyes. Happy to report that he is a happy Leo (despite being a prince, sometimes when I go to feed him he will purposefully shut his eyes and refuse to eat until I hand feed him). He is now about 6 years old.
Kibo is my newest addition. He's about 6 months old, and I also rescued him from a chain pet store on similar conditions. He was stick thin and emaciated and he looked terrible. Brought him home, bought a whole new set up for him, and glad to report that he's put on some weight and he's gotten so much bigger!
Godzilla is my latest problem child. I left for a semester of school and left the Leo's with my folks with very detailed instructions on how to care for each individual Leo. Apparently his light had burnt out for a week ebfore they replaced the bulb , didn't remoisten his moist hide, he had a bad shed and it got stuck in his eyes which got infected. He scratched at his eyes and punctured his left eyeball. So when I came back and saw him he was in really rough shape and he needed an immediate trip to the vet. Find all this fun stuff out about his eyes and that he also had a lung infection because he was kept at such a low temperature for such a long time. (I had tried a heating pad previously with him under the tank and he didn't like it. Completely avoided that area). So he's currently getting eye drops twice a day, daily warm soaks so he'll open his eyes to receive said eye drops, and getting an antibiotic along with a wonderful slurry as his food supply which I have to hand feed him. He will not regain his eyesight, just trying to prevent the infection from spreading elsewhere at this point. I have plans to move him to a smaller tank and make it MUCH more "brand new blind Leo safe." AKA, he's getting an under the tank heating pad again (Gonna give it another shot), a smaller tank (Because he's in a 20 gallon long), and nothing high up that he can fall off of!
So that's all about me and my babies. Happy to be a part of a community where I can hopefully also get more tips on how to work with blind Leo's and make him far more comfortable for any adjustments he will have to deal with.
Also! Pictures will be included!
I just signed up for this forum because I went away for a semester to finish my degree and came back to one of my children having massive eye issues.
A little about me and what I have first though. I have four leopard geckos. Sneakers, Kibo, Ghost, and Godzilla.
Sneakers was a rescued female of an undetermined age. When I got her she came from an abusive home that kept her on a calcium sand substrate, a red light, and a water bowl. That's all she had in her tank. Fed crickets once a week and she had recently dropped her tail (because the previous owner thought it was funny to pick her up and hold her by her tail) and there was sand all in it and the crickets in the cage were trying to eat at the freshly dropped tail site. She had a severe decreased appetite when I got her and I'm happy to report that she's quite the chunkers now and is probably spoiled rotten getting crickets, mealworms, locusts, waxworms, and the occasional roach treat.
Ghost is an albino rescue from a chain pet store. He was the smallest in the tank of 22 (yeah, I counted all the Leo's that were in the same tank there) and he had been picked on a lot and kept his eyes shut tight. After a lot of talking with the manager on staff she got fed up and told one of her staff memebers to "just get rid of the lizard" and stormed away. At which point I legitimately walked out of the pet store with a baby Leo in my hoodie pocket. Got him home and situated, he wouldn't open his eyes for me because the light was bothering him as I would later find out. His eyes looked black but are in fact deep red. And he has a hard time seeing things, so he can vaguely see movement. Took a little research to find out that I needed to get rid of the overhead lamp and go to an under the tank heating pad because that was ultimately safer with his eyes. Happy to report that he is a happy Leo (despite being a prince, sometimes when I go to feed him he will purposefully shut his eyes and refuse to eat until I hand feed him). He is now about 6 years old.
Kibo is my newest addition. He's about 6 months old, and I also rescued him from a chain pet store on similar conditions. He was stick thin and emaciated and he looked terrible. Brought him home, bought a whole new set up for him, and glad to report that he's put on some weight and he's gotten so much bigger!
Godzilla is my latest problem child. I left for a semester of school and left the Leo's with my folks with very detailed instructions on how to care for each individual Leo. Apparently his light had burnt out for a week ebfore they replaced the bulb , didn't remoisten his moist hide, he had a bad shed and it got stuck in his eyes which got infected. He scratched at his eyes and punctured his left eyeball. So when I came back and saw him he was in really rough shape and he needed an immediate trip to the vet. Find all this fun stuff out about his eyes and that he also had a lung infection because he was kept at such a low temperature for such a long time. (I had tried a heating pad previously with him under the tank and he didn't like it. Completely avoided that area). So he's currently getting eye drops twice a day, daily warm soaks so he'll open his eyes to receive said eye drops, and getting an antibiotic along with a wonderful slurry as his food supply which I have to hand feed him. He will not regain his eyesight, just trying to prevent the infection from spreading elsewhere at this point. I have plans to move him to a smaller tank and make it MUCH more "brand new blind Leo safe." AKA, he's getting an under the tank heating pad again (Gonna give it another shot), a smaller tank (Because he's in a 20 gallon long), and nothing high up that he can fall off of!
So that's all about me and my babies. Happy to be a part of a community where I can hopefully also get more tips on how to work with blind Leo's and make him far more comfortable for any adjustments he will have to deal with.
Also! Pictures will be included!
