Help with extremely thin gecko.

[cthood15]

For the past month and a half, my female leopard gecko has stopped eating completely. She was once plump and on the average weight-scale but suddenly she refused to eat. I've tried every day to feed her like I would when I first received her but nothing occurs. When she sheds, it's always stuck and the last time she shed it seemed to get stuck over one of her eyes.

After that she was extremely thin with constantly closed eyes and I don't know why.

The temps in the cage range from 80-90 in the day and 70-75 at night. There are three hides, one moist. There is also another leo in there with her and he is a male. (He was the skinny one at first when I got him but now he's all fat.)

Here are some pictures.

In the third photo, you can see that there is some sort of swelling coming from her mouth. I have no clue what it is. Please help!

 

[Dinosaur!]

It would appear that your gecko has severe mouthrot (stomatitis : Im pretty sure I spelled that wrong). Mouthrot makes it severely painful to eat, and they will refuse food no matter what you do. I recently dealt with a case of this myself. You need to take her to the vet, ASAP for professional treatment, and hope that it isnt to late (considering how lethargic and ill she appears.) You have to seperate her from the male also because mouthrot is highly contagious and can be spread through touch and waterbowls, etc. Not to mention the fact that he will try to breed with her, which would not only stress her even more, but could get her pregnant. (which in her condition is probably a death sentance)

If you could get pictures of the males mouth as you did the females, I will do my best to tell you if the mouthrot spread to him already.

There may be underlying causes of her condition, but you need a professional to tell you if there is anything else wrong. I am only confident that this is mouthrot due to past experience, but I could be entirely wrong. So a vet ASAP if you want to save her life.

I hope this helps a little bit

 

[Dinosaur!]

Also, please fill this out:

http://geckoforums.net/f130-health-medications/70912.htm

This sheet will help us determine if there is anything that you can change in order to increase her chances at survival.

 

[cthood15]

About your leo:
- Sex Female
- Age & Weight She is about a year and a half years old, not sure on weight.. probably not too good.
- How long have you owned your leo Since last Christmas
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) They were obtained from my dad's friend who was a reptile breeder.

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo At least once a day, but they always try to jump off my hand and don't like to be held so not for very long.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. Yes, she doesn't open her eyes and has moved hides.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. No not at all.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) They look alright from what I can tell.
- When was the last time he/she went I'm not sure.
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on Her eyes are never open, she's lethargic, and there's something on her mouth.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size It's a twenty gallon I believe, just more square than long.
- Type (ex. glass tank) Glass tank.
- Type of substrate Was repti-carpet is now paper towels.
- Hides, how many, what kind Three hides. One is the rock ones where you clip it into the tank and the other is the rock one that is a cave. The one with the cave is the moist hide furthest away from any lights.
B) Heating
- Heat source Day and night lamps.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) Hot side 80-90 Cool side 75-80
- Method of regulating heat source Day during day, night during night.
- What are you using to measure your temps A thermometer.
- Do you have any lights (describe) Yes, the day light is pretty bright. The night light is purple.
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) One male.
- Describe health, or previous problems When I received the male he was very, very thin. But now he's grown to be pretty big in my eyes. He's not what you'd see with a really fat tail but he's on the road to.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) I usually feed them mealworms.. but then I switched to crickets for a while because they were out. Since I have been back to meal worms but both of them haven't eaten.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) I use tweezers.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) Repti-calcium
- What are you gut loading food with I place the worms in the repti-calcium

 

[cthood15]

Pictures of my male leo: He seems to be doing alright. Also would you happen to know what morph he is? I've always been interested but couldn't figure it out.

 

[Dinosaur!]

Okay, I see quite a few things that should improve their health if they are changed (besides seperating them, which is a must.) .

First, you need to have a UTH, or under tank heater, for them, not a lamp. Leopard geckos absorb heat through their bellies in order to digest food, and lamps heat up their backs which has no benefit to their health. Geckos without UTH's tend to not eat as much because they know they can't properly digest the food which can make them sick. Also, heat lamps stress geckos because they are nocturnal, and they dry out the air (which could have caused the shedding problems). Be sure that you are measuring the floor temps of your tank, not the ambient (air) temps. The air temps don't matter as much to your geckos health, but the floor temps are vital.

Second, your gut loading and supplementing is a little off.
-For supplementation, a leopard gecko needs calcium WITH vitamin D3 dusted on their feeders every other feeding or so. Vitamin D3 is what allows the geckos to absorb the calcium that they intake.
- They also need a multi-vitamin that contains vitamin A. Vitamin A keeps skin healthy (good sheds) and keeps their eyes and body healthier.
-You should consider getting pure calcium (no D3) to keep in the tank at all times, or at least until these guys are healthy.
- There are all in one supplements you can buy, but I have no experience with them. The members who do use the all-in-one should chime in! (HINT HINT )

-For your gutloading schedule... Well gutloading means that you are feeding the bugs before you give them to your geckos in order to make them super nutritious. If you just give them the feeders straight from the store, it is pretty much the equivalent of feeding your geckos card board. For mealworms, they should be kept on oats, wheat bran, or a commercial gut-load, and fed carrots, kale, and other nutritious foods for moisture. Im not to sure on crickets though, as I don't use those... (Other members, please input!)


Your female certainly appears to have mouth rot, which is a very very painful infection where pus hardens between the teeth and gums, causing swelling, bleeding, and extreme loss of appetite. You have to take her to a vet in order for her to survive.

The male doesn't appear to have it, but keep an eye out for even slight swelling around his mouth, and take him to the vet also if possible. He has very interesting colors, but his morph is a mystery to me also.
Seperate them to be sure that he won't catch it (if he already hasn't).

Please take this advice, or your gecko may not pull through If you work to make these changes though, you will hopefully see some good improvements for these geckos, and you will have very friendly and healthy geckos in the future

 

[cthood15]

Thank you! I am going to take her to a vet as soon as possible and follow your suggestions!!!

 

[Dinosaur!]

No problem, and please keep us posted on her recovery, and/or what the vet says!

 

[JennyBeen]

Reading this thread and being new to geckos, might I ask then if the best way to deliver vitamin A would be through gutloading those insects? If I remember correctly, vitamin A is found in leafy vegetables and many fruits. So, for example, if I gutload my mealworms with sweet potato or carrots prior to feeding, they should be delivering that nutrition to the gecko indirectly?

Just wanting to be sure. I, like everyone else, want to make sure my geckos can have healthy, easily removable sheds and have everything else they need!

 

[Dinosaur!]

While the gutload does provide a large boost of nutrients, and is vital to your geckos health, a powdered vitamin supplement is essential for your gecko to recieve the neccesary levels of the vitamin in order to maintain a healthy, and properly functioning, body.

I hope this answers your question By the way, those vegetables and such that you mentioned are great gut-load choices, and I would reccomend using them regardless!

 

[indyana]

- There are all in one supplements you can buy, but I have no experience with them. The members who do use the all-in-one should chime in! (HINT HINT )

I use one of the all-in-one supplements called Repashy Calcium Plus. Sometimes, it is sold in pet stores as Leopard Gecko Calcium Plus. You just dust that on their food every meal, and it takes care of calcium, D3, and multivitamin supplementation, including vitamin A. I also keep a little dish of pure calcium, no D3 or phosphorus, in the cage at all times for my gecko to lick if he wants more calcium.

Gutloading is also a great way to boost nutrition and even immune health. I'm always throwing up this link because it's one of the best pages I've found with a rundown of what foods are best to feed bugs for gutloading. Check out the little "Foods to Boost Immune Health" section on this page for things that might be especially helpful for your female's recovery. Just feed to the bugs for 24 hours before feeding them to your geckos.
Much Ado About Chameleons: The Anatomy of Gut-Loading | Ingredients & Nutritional Info

Anyway, I hope you will let us know how your geckos are doing.