leos having siezures. need info

[h.o.f.r]

I'm new to leopard geckos and was referred here by a fellow bp.net person. So has anyone heard of or has seen seizures in geckos? More specific bell albinos. I purchased 2.2 this year. All from different breeders and so far 1.1 has had seizures. I had to have the one male euthanasied and trying to give the female a couple more days to see if she pulls through. Both were fine one day and the next was just spasiming every time I'd open the tub. They were bought months apart and none of my others have had this happen so don't think its anything contagious. Also has been several month since the male was put down. But they both were right about 35 grams when it happened. Idk please any info would be helpful. I keep them in a rack with a hot spot of 87 and the cool side about 78. One hide but it runs the length of the tub so they can regulate temps inside of it. Also have a moist hide on the cool end with vermiculite and moss. I use newspaper for substrate. I have only had her about a week when this started. I got her from M.A.D Geckos who in turn got her from JMG. Please if I left out any pertinent info ask I will endeavor to answer. I just want healthy little lizards. Here is the link to the other forum where I posted virtually the same question. Maybe something someone there says will be helpful in leading you to a suggestion for me. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...es-(-need-info&p=1931685&posted=1#post1931685
Thanks

 

[SC Geckos]

What did the vet say?

 

[h.o.f.r]

What did the vet say?

Haven't been to the vet with this one yet. I'm out of town working. The wife is letting me know what's going on. Our reptile vet is a 2 hour drive from us and she can't make the drive. The first time I was told probably neurological issues was his best guess and the humane thing would be to euthanasia. So less than happy with the vet.

 

[katie_]

I would guess if the geckos are unrelated to each other thats its caused by something environmental.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

I would guess if the geckos are unrelated to each other thats its caused by something environmental.

Yeah, the chances of this being genetic when they're not related and bought from different breeders is extremely small. I honestly don't know what would cause seizures in a leo and won't pretend to, and obviously the very first thing you should do is take it to the vet. But was all of the stuff you're using disinfected? That's the only thing I could think to try until you can get it to a vet.

~Maggot

 

[sausage]

Iv herd that a lack of calcium can cause seizures. but i kinda agree with the others, an environmental factor looks likely. one of my mack snows has a seizure once brought on by scented candles.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Iv herd that a lack of calcium can cause seizures. but i kinda agree with the others, an environmental factor looks likely. one of my mack snows has a seizure once brought on by scented candles.

Wow, that's strange. Did you every figure out what exactly it was in the candles that caused it? Granted, a lot of them have really terrible things in there.

~Maggot

 

[rebecky45]

What about the newspaper ink? Maybe it's an odd kind or something? Perhaps switch to paper towel for a bit and see if that helps? Just a thought...I'm just throwing something out there.

 

[9AC5]

Iv herd that a lack of calcium can cause seizures. but i kinda agree with the others, an environmental factor looks likely. one of my mack snows has a seizure once brought on by scented candles.

The leo of mine that had advanced MBD did have one or two seizures in the time she was around. So I guess the the calcium could be a problem?

 

[sausage]

Wow, that's strange. Did you every figure out what exactly it was in the candles that caused it? Granted, a lot of them have really terrible things in there.

~Maggot

yeah it was really scary, what had happened was my mother decided that the reptile room smelt like cabbage (as i had fed the feeders cabbage lol) so she place several candles and those oil burners round the room. one of which was near said geckos viv. after a while she all off a sudden started to fit was weird and i totally freaked out at my mother over it.
once the candles were out and moved she was fine and has been ever since.
they were that yankee candle brand or something, so their really high in scents and chemicals.

 

[h.o.f.r]

Yes the tub was disinfected. It hadn't been used in a month or more prior to her going in to it. She has been moved into a 10 gallon viv in the family room where she can be monitored more closely. As for environmental idk she has the exact same set up as all the others and the same tub type until she started this whole thing. I will get her paper switched to paper towels and see if that makes a diff. I have a vet appt for her the day I get home so hope she makes it until then. But please keep the ideas rolling. I will try about anything to save a pet.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Yes the tub was disinfected. It hadn't been used in a month or more prior to her going in to it. She has been moved into a 10 gallon viv in the family room where she can be monitored more closely. As for environmental idk she has the exact same set up as all the others and the same tub type until she started this whole thing. I will get her paper switched to paper towels and see if that makes a diff. I have a vet appt for her the day I get home so hope she makes it until then. But please keep the ideas rolling. I will try about anything to save a pet.

What about the other things in her tank though? Were they disinfected? And is she getting calcium?

~Maggot

 

[katie_]

Did you paint anything? Do you cook with teflon? Does your girlfriend use perfumes or air fresheners? You do have any plug in scented inserts? Did you rinse the bin well after being cleaned with chemicals? What are your feeders housed in? Do you clean their enclosure with chemicals? What do you feed to your feeders? It could be a lot of factors.

I highly doubt this is genetic, but I would highly stress a vet visit. If you lose her I would pay for the autopsy to get done so you can prevent this from happening you more of your stock.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Did you paint anything? Do you cook with teflon? Does your girlfriend use perfumes or air fresheners? You do have any plug in scented inserts? Did you rinse the bin well after being cleaned with chemicals? What are your feeders housed in? Do you clean their enclosure with chemicals? What do you feed to your feeders? It could be a lot of factors.

I highly doubt this is genetic, but I would highly stress a vet visit. If you lose her I would pay for the autopsy to get done so you can prevent this from happening you more of your stock.

He's got a vet appointment made, he just isn't home to take her yet - just in case you missed it. I agree though. All good things to check.

~Maggot

 

[katie_]

Oh I did miss it.

 

[h.o.f.r]

She is doing a little better tonight. She is moving around a little bit. As for sanitizing I have a portable dish washer that is only used for reptile dishes. My bps and geckos share a reptile room. It is on the second floor of my home. It is ventilated and temp controlled at 76*. I use cascade to clean the dishes in the washer and use a 10% bleach water solution to sanitize then they get put on a shelf to air dry. I have enough hides, food, and water dishes that they get to sit for about 2 weeks before they are used again and always rinsed in hot water before being put back in. I don't paint anything anywhere near my animals. My racks are all melamine or ap racks. Gecko worm, calcium and water dishes are all rock hermit crab dishes from petsmart and the hides are the 5 x 12 black plastic flower trays purchased from a local garden center new never used for anything but hides. The moist hides are zip lock storage containers with soothed out holes in the lids filled with vermiculite and moss. I cant spell for crap but its the type that starts with an s and everyone recomended to me. Animals in the room are: 8.14 ball pythons, 0.1 dumerils boa, 4.11 leopard geckos, 0.0.2 stepped runners, 1.1 eastern collard lizards, and 0.0.1 rose hair tarantula. There are no air fresheners of any sort in my reptile room except the open bag of aspen bedding for my dumerils boa. They all have a steady supply of calcium and dusted worms. I understand that this may not be genetic but the husbandry is exactly the same for all 15 of the other geckos. Same style of tubs, hides, food, water dishes. Everything is the same. Neither of the two bells that this has happened to were in the house at the same time and were located in different positions in the rack. With everything being redundant in the husbandry of all the geckos I can't for the life of me figure out why this has only happened to 2 bells and not to any of the others. I just hope the vet can give me a good news on Monday. I am making the trip to a known reptile vet because I was not happy with the local exotic vets attitude with my last one. I care for my animals and do the best I can for them and I feel horrible that I'm not there to get her to a vet sooner but my job makes sure I can provide the rest of them with everything they need. O and My worms are kept in a 3 drawer storage container with a mix of chicken starter and wheat flour with fresh apples and orange slices changed out everywhere day. Please keep the q&a's coming. She will goto the vet dead or alive hopefully alive but I don't want see any animal suffer while in my care. Thank you all for the help.

 

[jemjdragon]

The chicken starter you feed your worms, is it medicated or not medicated? Some chicken starters and chicken foods are medicated and that might be your problem if the one you use is medicated. It should say on the tag attached to the feed bag and is not always written on the front of the bag itself.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

The chicken starter you feed your worms, is it medicated or not medicated? Some chicken starters and chicken foods are medicated and that might be your problem if the one you use is medicated. It should say on the tag attached to the feed bag and is not always written on the front of the bag itself.

God only knows what's in those things. Switching to a cricket food might be a good idea.

~Maggot

 

[jemjdragon]

To be honest, the local feed store by my house sells not medicated organic chicken feed (which is what my duck eats) so it really depends one what kind he has. A lot of chicken food is medicated though because chickens have a lot of diseases.
I agree that it would be smart to change it to cricket food and ground oatmeal to see if it helps.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

To be honest, the local feed store by my house sells not medicated organic chicken feed (which is what my duck eats) so it really depends one what kind he has. A lot of chicken food is medicated though because chickens have a lot of diseases.
I agree that it would be smart to change it to cricket food and ground oatmeal to see if it helps.

Still, you can't be sure what's in that stuff meant for chickens, even if it's "organic" (which isn't even always true, as there aren't many regulations on what can be called "organic" and what can't), is safe for a gecko. Not saying it's necessarily a problem, but I personally wouldn't be comfortable using it unless every single ingredient was researched and proven safe for geckos.

~Maggot