Leopard Gecko in trouble :-(

[inpherno3]

Not sure what to do here folks. My girlfriends leopard gecko has taken a turn for the worse. Just three days ago (which is how long it took to get "added to this forum").

Noticed one day when i went to the cage that she was lying on her back, legs in the air, i thought she was dead out of the blue. But when i went in and grabbed her she moved, hardly at all but she did move. Started reading on anything and everything i could about this issue. Randomly through the day i will check on her and she will have flipped on her back. When misting her to provide her w/ some form of moisture / water (soak in through the skin) she would slowly flip to her side. She hardly has ANY energy at all to move. Which she hasnt attempted to in a couple days, maybe 7 inches and will rest there again. Hasnt eaten crickets (their still chirping) and the mealworms that we got to see if she would eat those have yet to be eaten. Her cage consists of a hollow half circle log (a "home" you could call it) the green flat "grass" that you can put on the bottom of the cage (not sure exactly what you call it but basically carpet for the bottom of the cage that you get for reptiles, some peat moss that we usually moisten with a spray bottle for her along with ceramic water tray.

She is a year and a old and have had nothing wrong with her, we have recently moved and i believe this MAY be the first winter in arizona. We never used a heat lamp to warm the cage which i always thought was a problem due to how warm it SHOULD be in there (88-90f)

Used to be a warming pad for the bottom of the aquarium (which is i believe 10 gallons) but the cord that powered it seemed to have pulled out the back of it and i stepped on it, basically electrocuting my foot) so we replaced it with a heat rock (which now i read is a completly horrible idea) and that was it for the cage warming. After she got sick i read as much as i could to see what could be the issue w/ her i noticed that the temp of the cage. I quickly got as many covers as i could and covered the tank (except for the top of it) to try and warm it till i could get a lamp for her.

We have tried the warm water soaking while rubbing her belly to try and free any impaction that COULD be in her.

After coming home from the pet store w/ the heatlamp, and uv light for nighttime heating i got it setup and noticed a REALLY odd looking something in her cage. I dont know if this was regurgetated or pooped out but it was definatly something that resembeled a slimy, circular "sack" and at the end was pure white almost elmer looking glue substance, not but maybe an inch long at the most total. I do have pictures if people are willing to diagnose this but i have called the vet and since its the weekend he is not there and i left a message. I am trying everything i can for my gf to save this little guy as shes kinda "part of the family" as we all tend to feel towards our pets.

Anything that i have missed please feel free to ask as i will be checking her regularly for replys back.

P.S. I am checking the digital temp we have in the cage (a clock w/ digital temp built into it, i know its not ordinary but its a nice clock lol) to see if i can get the cage to a STEADY 86-92 degrees. I hope that her immune system will kick back in because i can bet that her cage was at least probably 65-70 degrees at night for a few weeks at least.

P.S.S. Used to feed her crickets without a problem, we used to watch her eat them and everything, not so much the past few months, never really got to see her eat one, just heard them making noise ALL night in the cage driving me nuts.

 

[inpherno3]

also

guess i should add, that after i had found that "whatever it was substance" in the back of the cage (not near where she was at originally) she has honestly MOVED, which is more than i can say she has done in the few days we have been trying to figure this situation out. Her eyes were more open, her head was up against the glass. She SLOWLY moved and walked over to her little log home and, with difficulty, got in there and eventually stayed there sleeping. As we were putting the temp in the cage and getting the heatlamp installed, just before she made her way over to the log home she basically rolled on her back, back over on her belly, back on her back, than back over on her belly. Than proceeded to slowly walk into her log home. Hope that little bit helps.

--Scared Leo Owner

 

[bubblez825]

Awwwwww I'm so sorry this is happening to you I have NO CLUE whats going on....I wish you luck though...

The UV light does NOT need to be used it is just light and doesn't admit any heat WHATSOEVER. The best deal you could get is to take the hot rock out unless you want a fried gecko and get a UTH and a thermostat with a digital thermometer to measure the surface temp of the cage.


I hope the best for you guys and the little leo...good luck!

~Emily

P.S. I would suggest getting the number from someone on here of the vet they use and call them just to see if they know whats going on over the phone or PMing someone on here who is close to where you live and get their vet's number :main_robin:.....you should do anything and everything possible to save the little leo and this might help a little to achieve that.....

 

[inpherno3]

it does have a digital thermo like i said, just has a clock that goes along w/ it. I did call a vet but they are closed today and tomorrow so it wont be until monday that i get her to the vet. I will keep people updated but as to what is going on i havnt a clue. Hopefully the dramatic change in temperature, and now closely monitored will hopefully boost her immune system back up to hopefully fight anything that she may have in her.

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

Sorry

Sorry that this is happening to you.

You shoud also PM some of the sponser of this forum and ask them for advice.

In the meantime, if you can take the Leo to the vet.:main_thumbsup:

 

[inpherno3]

back on the back

came back from a work party and hes on his back again, cage is at steady 88.6F. still breathing, which i dont know how they rate of spead they breath, eyes open. Misted with warm water, didnt flip over, kinda curled a little, i turned him over, put the log house back over him, shut the light off. Turned the heat on and hope for the best. If anyone has seen or heard of this before please help w/ some guidance.

 

[Bert-N-Sheila]

Undertank heater.... very very inexpensive REQUIREMENT for a leopard gecko. Really it is. Like $15-20.... not trying to be offensive, but that is the most important and glaring thing at this point.

Other than that:
Vitamins and calcium. Does the gecko get them?
Try getting the gecko hydrated. (Does his head look different...does it look sunken in?)

Just pulling strings at the most obvious of course.

 

[inpherno3]

had one at one point

but like i said, it electrocuted me, i have yet to get another, the tank at this point is a steady 88-90 degrees, and shes flipping on her back and staying like that. Trying to get a hold of the vet

 

[RepBex]

does the gecko get calcium ?

 

[nats]

If you could post a pic of your tank set-up, that would help.
Are you measuring the temp at floor level?

 

[inpherno3]

he was getting calcium for as long as we had him, ran out of it and wasnt able to get any for a month. Yes i am measuring floor temp as the temp sensor in the thermo is at the bottom of the unit. He is still lying in his log home, but it seems as if his front right ankle seems swollen. Not black and blue, just a tad bigger than the rest of his leg. Vet wont be able to be seen till tomorrow, and with time schedules i hope i can make it! :-(

 

[RepBex]

i really think a vet might be needed
its good of you to have called a vet

 

[OSUgecko]

Flipping over on the back - sounds like a neurologic problem. It might be brought on by improper supplementation or temperatures? How is the cage staying at 88 degrees without a heater? Definately take him to a good exotics vet ASAP, and make sure that you have a detailed description of the gecko's environment.

Hope it gets better soon!

 

[inpherno3]

thanks guys

thats what i was hearing it was neurological, which is NOT good. I am keeping the cage at a steady 88f through a heatlamp w/ a 75w sun glo bulb, and a 50w UVB light for the night sleep, which i have to put a little blanket on the top of her cage near the side of it to keep a degree of temperature or two in the tank at night, which it for 2 days now has not gone below 85 degrees. I have misted lightly her tank and a little on top of her home to try and create a small amount of humidity in the box (i live in arizona where humidity is at near nothing in the normal air)

I took the heat rock out ASAP as soon as i was misting the cage from the top (due to the spacing for the bulb, just temporarily till shes cured *crosses fingers*) it started to steam off..... yea took it out asap and left the heat lamp in it.

I am thinking about tonight, just before night sleep to take her out of her cage, every so slowly, and basically clean EVERYTHING out of the cage, and put down newspaper, and to clean as quickly as i can the inside of the cage. Put newspaper down, her water bowl back in, im not sure if i should put the peat moss back into the cage or not due to possible contamination with anything. I want a speedy recovery in any form possible for her, not sure if this would cause more stress than needed at this point or is it a good idea?

 

[lillith]

Does the swollen leg sound gouty to anyone? or like some other metabolic issue?

In AZ, depending on where you are the temp is just right until winter comes...I can kinda see how this might have started.

I hope you saved the blob and took it to the vet with you...did you go today? what did they tell you?

As suggested, pics here might help us more. Cell phone pics even - borrow someone's!

A clean tank is an excellent idea, just be sure you rinse and rinse and rinse if you use any disinfectant. If you have a shoebox container you can keep the gecko in there while you clean. I personally would pull the moss for now until you are sure it isn't causing a problem. Use damp paper towels in the moist hide for now.

Best of luck to you...perhaps you could try the Golden Gate Geckos Slurry, it's on the sticky up top in this section. If you're not raising mealworms, I think somewhere between 150-200 mealworms is roughly '2-4 handfuls'.

Really truly, I hope your herp kiddo pulls through!

 

[lytlesnake]

Yes the flipping on her back does sound neurological, but you never know. Is this gecko a female or male? If female, the thing she passed out could have been an ovum (undeveloped egg), and she could have a second one that is causing blockage. In that case, it's conceivable that flipping on her back relieves the pain somewhat, which would explain why she's doing that. It's the most logical reason I can think of for this behavior, and the "thing" she passed could well be consistent with this theory. Tell the vet that she may have an undeveloped egg blocking her up. An X-Ray will quickly reveal if this is the case.

Of course if the gecko is a male my guess is wrong. I don't think that lack of supplementation or a UTH is the cause of this problem, and I don't think contaminated peat moss is either.

The "Slurry" is a good recommendation, but if the gecko has a blocked oviduct or something, eating may be painful.

Best of luck!

 

[THE WHISPERER]

If the floor temp is 90 and the heat is coming from above than wouldn't the floor be the coolest part of the tank. Does any one else think that it might be flipping due to neoro problems from being to hot? Inferno we really need pics of your set up with the light on it so we can see its placement please. unless you have found out somthing from the vet yet. also I was wondering if the heat rock and light were on at the same time, and if they were on opposit sides of the tank?

 

[inpherno3]

eggs?

This leopard gecko hasnt been near any of geckos ever in its life, other than maybe the store we got her from, over a year and a half ago, she has been alone by herself with no other male around. So i highly doubt that its a egg of some sort. The inside of the thing looked like the disgusting cut open geckos that were impacted, that brown mush stuff... that was on the inside of the weird sack, at the end was a really similar to a marshmellow texture and color... very odd honestly. her poop has always had a little white at the end which this may have been something she finally pooped out (even though it was QUITE bigger than normal poo)

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I'm so sorry you are having problems with your gecko! I agree, a vet trip is in order. Also, keep in mind that reptiles need a thermal gradient... not a constant temperature. They need a place to be warm and a place to cool off. Over exposure to higher temperatures can cause neurological issues and the parathyroid gland to go into overdrive.

I really recommend a UTH for floor temps at around 90 degrees over about 1/3 of the bottom of the tank.

 

[lytlesnake]

The white part of the poo is their liquid waste. They don't pee, so that's how it works.

I believe female leopard geckos can sometimes ovulate even if they don't mate, though I could be wrong. In any event, hopefully the vet can help your gecko.