Help. Gecko Lathargic, not eating and somewhat bloated... Details inside!

[Shandley]

About your leo:
- Female
- Age: 12 & Weight:
- Owned her since she still had full black stripes
- Where was he/she obtained: Pet store (reputable for reptiles)

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: Every 2 days or so. Sometimes longer.
- She's lethargic and not active at all. She'll sit in her poo corner with her eyes closed and look up slightly. She'll do this for hours on end.... very odd for her.
- About 6 years ago she had a molting problem but that's long past.
B) Fecals
- Describe: Smaller than usual.
- When was the last time he/she went: A couple days ago.
C) Problem
- She's super un-active. As above, she's lethargic and not active at all. She'll sit in her poo corner with her eyes closed and look up slightly. She'll do this for hours on end.... very odd for her. She seems kind of... bloated.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 30 Gal.
- Type glass tank
- Type of substrate: Carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind: 2, one wood, one plastic
B) Heating
- Heat source: 150W lamp and UTH
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side): Unknown but nothing has changed.
- Method of regulating heat source: Thermostat on UTH
- What are you using to measure your temps: Thermometer and IR Camera
- Do you have any lights (describe): 150W Incandescent
C) Cage mates
NONE
Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Crickets and Mealworms... as much as she'll take... sometimes 5 in a day, sometimes 10 in a week.
- How are you feeding: Dust crickets and drop in. Mealworms in a dish
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): Repi-cal
- What are you gut loading food with: Leafy greens mostly.

 

[im faster]

post pictures..

but my guess is she is impacted.. and you should take her to the vet

 

[Shandley]

No prob.... what do you want to see?

 

[im faster]

just take a couple pics one from top one from underneath

 

[Shandley]

Here ya go. There's a side one too.

 

[im faster]

good god.. she needs to see a vet asap..

 

[Shandley]

Errr.... explain please

 

[im faster]

He tail says she is gaining no nutrition from the food she is eating.. if she is..

she is impacted and needs vet attention if you want her to live...

 

[Shandley]

Can you see impaction in the pictures??

Oh I hear you. Her tail has always been small since the day I got her. I see other peoples Leos and see their huge tails and that got me worried. It is on the smaller size of what her tail can be but she was checked out by a vet back when I was worried about her. The vet told me that as long as she eats and keeps a steady diet, there is nothing to worry about. Is that not right? It's REALLY hard to find a reptile vet around here.

 

[im faster]

i would try to find a herp vet..

no leos tail should ever be that thin...

and you should do it asap..

as far as seeing the impaction..

you said it your self.. she is extremely bloated.. and she ist trying to poop but cant..

 

[Spots]

You are not measuring her temps at all ?! How do you know nothing has changed then ?

She needs to see a vet. There are many other people on here that may have other suggestions but her tail is very thin. When you say its always been like that, do you mean her tail was thin when you got her as a baby? Cause they are thin but they usually fatten up with a good diet and care. You've had her for 12 years and its always been pencil thin? That's not really a good sign and a vet sayng that tail is fine when it doesnt appear to be so, worries me . As for the bloated ness, do a quick search on here. I read some forums similar to that but can't recall them off the top of my head. but the best thing is to see a vet

Good luck !

 

[Shandley]

Thanks for the good luck.

Do you mean her temps or the cage?

I didn't post her weight either (60grams).

She's had a skinny tail for at least 10 years.... It never got fat. She's pretty much been in good health a spirits her whole life until just recently.

I will do my best but the closest herp vet is a ways away and not open until monday.

Any suggestions until then??

 

[Spots]

I mean the temps of the cage. Since you had her for so long, she must be used to the temps. I just know that my temps were good for a few years then they were way to low all of a sudden one year so without a temp reading, I wouldn'thave known.

As for what to do, I wish others would comment in this thread. She looks very bloated and I havent come across that yet with my girls. Did you do a search on here ? There is a search function above.
Even if you could call the vet for advice thatd be good until you can go in.

Has she been pooping ? Maybe give her some warm soak s twice a day for 15 mins will help her to go. And in terms of food, there is a slurry recipe as a sticky note on this forum too that could help. I use stuff from the vet instead but others have had great success with the recipe. My concern is the bloated Ness which I have no idea how to help.

 

[Dog Shrink]

First thing that came to my mind was if she could possibly be egg bound... At the very least you could take her to ANY vet and get an xray done to see what's going on in that abdomen. The skinny tail for so long is quite odd... makes me thing she has a nutrition absorption issue. what kind of greens are you feeding your crix? Hope not spinach... spinach is not good for herps (can't recall why off hand... think it has something to do with a chemical that is in there and vitimin absorption. Have to double check on that if you need/want me to). The best things to gutload your feeders with is apples (minus the seeds and core as the seeds when ingested have arsenic properties), potato and carrots imo. Not too sure of many home remidies to aide with egg binding, as far as I know at this point most of the recovery is done thru surgery since she can't pass anything on her own which could also account for the lack of poo.. what ever is binding her up in the middle could be pressing on that intestine preventing her from passing stool. I really hope you can get her to a vet soon... Best wishes...

 

[Shandley]

Her cage temps are 30-35 Celsius on one side and 25 on the other... (That's 86-95F on the hot side and 77 on the other). They pretty much always have been this temperature. I have a probe attached to a Greenlee meter. It's accurate within 1 degree C. I don't know why I didn't post that in the first post.

It's funny you should mention egg bound. She has no mate to en-pregnant her but yesterday when I felt around her abdomen, I thought, Hmmm... kinda feels like an egg. Is it possible she can produce and lay eggs if she is not pregnant?

In case it's impaction, I fed her a drop of mineral oil and a bit of prune babyfood. She's not too thrilled to eat but she'll reluctantly lick whatever I put on her nose.

If you have any more ideas, please let me know.

 

[im faster]

it is possible for her to lay infertile eggs ..


as for other ideas.. she really just needs to see a vet

 

[lillith]

I'm following suit, find a good herp vet ASAP!
It looks like chronic malnutrition. Did she bloat suddenly, or did this slowly creep up on her? You can see her ribs and then just BLOAT. If she were a humans, I'd say kwashiorkor...but obviously, she's a gecko...

What leafy greens have you been using, again? And have you only given calcium without vitamins? It could be the effects of a longtime nutritional deficit causing these symptoms. Does she have wet hides, what's the substrate in there?

I hope you find some answers, soon! She's sucha pretty girl...

For kicks, I googled kwashiorkor, and Wikipedia's article mentions this:

"One important factor in the development of kwashiorkor is aflatoxin poisoning. Aflatoxins are produced by molds and ingested with moldy foods. They are toxified by the cytochrome P450 system in the liver, the resulting epoxides damage liver DNA. Since many serum proteins, in particular albumin, are produced in the liver, the symptoms of kwashiorkor are easily explained. It is noteworthy that kwashiorkor occurs mostly in warm, humid climates that encourage mold growth."

I bring this up because a few years ago, aflatoxins in feed for mealworms were the eventually found to be the culprit in geckos sickening and dying for no apparent reason. Have you switched suppliers recently? How long do you store the mealworms you feed her? what are they kept in?

I know I'm kinda grasping at straws but I'm trying to help...

 

[Shandley]

I'm sorry I haven't responded.

She bloated up within a week.

I've used mostly iceberg lettuces hearts and cuts of fruit I eat (apples, strawberries) to feed the crickets.

I dust the crickets and meal worms in Herpcare cricket dust which has vitamins.

She does not have a wet hide (I'm sorry, I know I wont hear the end of this). I followed a book (off hand I dont knwo what it is called) that detailed what to use to build up her tank and a wet hide was not in there.

The mealworms always come from the same store. There is sometimes an issue with supply because everyone buys their mealworms at that store so constant new stock is always rotating. I keep the mealworms in the tank in a feed dish with bran. I will drop in anything moist (apple bits and whatnot) for an hour or two so the worms can hydrate.

I hope that covers what you were asking. I really appreciate all of the replys so far and I really hope she overcomes this.

I've been giving her warm soaks for 15min at around 90-93 degrees. I have fed her prune babyfood. A bit of news... she pooped out the white thing that normally comes with her poo (I was told it was a concentrated pee and calcium bit but clarification here would be nice). I kept it in a bag to show the vet, when I can get in. Just after her bath, she pooped a very slimy but small poop. It looks just like the prunes I fed her. I wonder if she passed it quickly and it's not an intestinal blockage.

Sorry for being long winded. I am wide open to ideas here.

 

[im faster]

the only idea that you should be taking from this is get her to a herp vet asap..

 

[Shandley]

Yes yes.. that is in the making.

By the way, what does a vet charge (ballpark)?