Leopard Gecko passed large amounts of blood

[s3cretz]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, one of my SHCTB Leos passed away last night while I was not home. This gecko was a male and seemingly very healthy, with no noticeable signs of weight loss, infection or otherwise. Upon arriving home, I noticed he had passed a large amount of blood and bloody feces in around 4-5 different spots on the paper towel substrate in his enclosure. It was too late when I found him as he had already passed away. I inspected the exterior of his vent, which had obvious traces of blood but no trauma of any type. Towards the middle of his chest, there was a small green spot (I'm not sure if this would be something internal from post mortem or the root cause?). I've been researching all day and have not found many stories like this and the cost of necropsy is more than I can afford.

Has anyone had experience with situations like this? I haven't found anything like this on geckosunlimited or other forums either. All of my Leos are kept individually, but my fear is that if this is something that could be airborne that it might infect all my other geckos. FYI..this was about a 6-8 month old juvenile/sub-adult. Any help/ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Dog Shrink]

Sorry to hear about the sudden loss of your leo. If you could please fill out our care questionaire it would give the membership a lot more information to work with in helping you figure this out.

About your leo:
- Sex
- Age & Weight
- How long have you owned your leo
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend)

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)
- When was the last time he/she went
C) Problem
- Please briefly descrive the problem and how long it has been going on

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size
- Type (ex. glass tank)
- Type of substrate
- Hides, how many, what kind
B) Heating
- Heat source
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)
- Method of regulating heat source
- What are you using to measure your temps
- Do you have any lights (describe)
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect)
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)
- What are you gut loading food with

In my experience with animals, mammals mostly, generally when you see massive amounts of blood being passed via vomit or excriment it generally is indicitive of internal bleeding. I am uncertain if this holds true for herps but Im sure some more experienced keepers can help in this matter. Do you recall if there had been any trauma recently to your leo such as dropping or falling? The small green spot you saw in his chest may have been his heart or other internal organ. Fl_orchidslave had posted a thread recently with some anatomy photos that may be helpful in figuring this out. http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=71169

 

[robin]

just from the quick description of what happened it sounds as if a) it became impacted on something or b) there was some type of internal to say the liver or something like that, perhaps from an injury or something. but honestly without a necropsy you wont be for sure. chances are it is NOT something that is airborne or communicable.