Most you ever spent on one medical bill for a gecko

[Californiaman]

I know it can be costly, but what's the most you ever spent on one of your little darlings.
We just got back from the vet. Lightnin, my giant Trempor albino had an abscess in his hemipen area. Apparently he couldn't discharge a sperm ball and it got infected.
Looks like I'm going to be giving him some anti-biotic shots for the next 21 days.
Anyway, the antibiotics and the visit ran me $149.00.
He'll get better, but the vet says it may be a recurring problem.

 

[JordanAng420]

Oh I could tell you stories ALL DAY LONG.

I had one man spend close to $800 worth of hospitalization and medications for his fire skink. The thing had every single diagnostic test run that an animal hospital could possibly perform on an animal that size. Unfortunately, in the end the skink didn't make it.

I also had a russian tortoise with a $1500 hospitalization bill when it started to eat its substrate and ended up needing surgery.

Leopard geckos are so small though, and everything is so cheap for them. I've seen geckos come back multiple times for multiple things, and eventually it adds up to be a lot of money, so I can totally sympathize looking at it from the client's point of view.

 

[Saphira]

We have spent about $175 I think at one visit but easily as much as $600+ all together treating one leo.

 

[justindh1]

I know it can be costly, but what's the most you ever spent on one of your little darlings.
We just got back from the vet. Lightnin, my giant Trempor albino had an abscess in his hemipen area. Apparently he couldn't discharge a sperm ball and it got infected.
Looks like I'm going to be giving him some anti-biotic shots for the next 21 days.
Anyway, the antibiotics and the visit ran me $149.00.
He'll get better, but the vet says it may be a recurring problem.

My female is almost going through the same problem tho not with her hemipenals, lol! She has a abscess in between the right leg and base of the tail in some gland on her. Antibiotics and the vet visit ran me $145 which is very close to yours. He had to put her out to cut it open and pack it with some gel antibiotcs. I'm sure you probably know what the gel antibiotic is called Maia. I don't know if your vet did as much as mine or if they did more. We dropped her off today and picking her up tomorrow.

This is a new vet that I am going to and seems alot better then the last. Both are suppose to specialize with reptiles but the new one is refered through the local herp society which he is a member of. I am suppose to bring in two hatchlings that need to be culled and he is doing that for free for me. I don't know what that generally cost or how he does it yet.

 

[Blacksupra94]

Paid 95 for nothing basically, the only usefulness I ever got out of the vet was to get the shed out of my Leo's eye, and for them to tell me she's healthy.

 

[GeckoGathering]

Vetinarian Day a Holiday?

How do I start this....
Maybe up front by saying I now
do my own. No I'm not a vet.
But you can give shots, etc. to
your own animals.
You can use your brain and treat for
parasites.
And the only reason I do it is for the costs
I get no good results. Some Vets as far as geckos,
know nothing so they look it up on the web.
I have taken in 3 geckos, and the only reason
it didn't cost me $500 is because the vet
pulled the 20 gram tail off my beautiful 126
gram big boy Conan.
His comment was they grow them back.
5 hours later he was dead...:dead:
SO HE DIDN'T CHARGE ME for the blunder....WOW!
Oh, the other two also died.:dead::dead:
Cat was very sick, not eating or drinking.
Was forcing a little water in him.
Was at the vets 3 days....cost $500.
Died 3 days later. :dead:
Sorry, but I feel we owe it to ourselves
to read and search for solutions to not
only prevent problems, but to solve how
to treat if we get one. They still sell some
treatment products at farm stores.
Your animals can be treated by you...
just can't treat others.
Raised Schnauzers....gave them all their shots.
Geckos..treated parasites (success) with
puppy worming tablets. Hardest part is figuring
the dosage amount.
The vets want too much for so little knowledge of
reptiles, and what if anything they end up doing.
I asked one vet assistant to buy medicine
to treat my animal. He was too mean to bring in.
OK'd it with the long time know vet.
Cost would be $10....
Came by to pick it up. Since I couldn't
bring the animal in. The medicine was $20.
This is where I'd normally let it all out
with some pretty fowl words.:argue:
But since I've been warned...
I'll just say. Take care. HJ

 

[Srt14292]

Thats unfortunate HJ no wonder you treat your animals yourself.
I have just recently had a mishap with Ojo (Bosc monitor) where he was acting really irratic, head bobbing, turns out he wasn't processing the calcium well enough, so a blood sample etc cost me around £140 with the consultation and meds. so roughly $280.
But the good news is he is better now and more alert, he can also actually walk straight which is really good,

 

[rubym]

The most I have ever spent was $325.

 

[JordanAng420]

There is already a veterinary appreciation day

How do I start this....
Maybe up front by saying I now
do my own. No I'm not a vet.
But you can give shots, etc. to
your own animals.
You can use your brain and treat for
parasites.
And the only reason I do it is for the costs
I get no good results. Some Vets as far as geckos,
know nothing so they look it up on the web.
I have taken in 3 geckos, and the only reason
it didn't cost me $500 is because the vet
pulled the 20 gram tail off my beautiful 126
gram big boy Conan.
His comment was they grow them back.
5 hours later he was dead...:dead:
SO HE DIDN'T CHARGE ME for the blunder....WOW!
Oh, the other two also died.:dead::dead:
Cat was very sick, not eating or drinking.
Was forcing a little water in him.
Was at the vets 3 days....cost $500.
Died 3 days later. :dead:
Sorry, but I feel we owe it to ourselves
to read and search for solutions to not
only prevent problems, but to solve how
to treat if we get one. They still sell some
treatment products at farm stores.
Your animals can be treated by you...
just can't treat others.
Raised Schnauzers....gave them all their shots.
Geckos..treated parasites (success) with
puppy worming tablets. Hardest part is figuring
the dosage amount.
The vets want too much for so little knowledge of
reptiles, and what if anything they end up doing.
I asked one vet assistant to buy medicine
to treat my animal. He was too mean to bring in.
OK'd it with the long time know vet.
Cost would be $10....
Came by to pick it up. Since I couldn't
bring the animal in. The medicine was $20.
This is where I'd normally let it all out
with some pretty fowl words.:argue:
But since I've been warned...
I'll just say. Take care. HJ

These are the types of situations that make me EMBARRASSED to be in the reptilian veterinary field. HJ I am so sorry about your bad experiences.

Please don't let those experiances sway you into thinking every vet is a money hungry jerk who doesn't know the first thing about reptiles.

There ARE some vets out there who i've worked with that DO know what they are doing.

I've seen animals die from at-home-treatment that was just ordered off the internet without any prescription, etc. There are a LOT of counterfeit veterinary products out there. Case in point: Advantix flea and tick prevention for dogs was counterfeit a few years back. Bayer had just recently decided to start selling their product OTC. Advantix comes in different sizes for different weights of dogs. What was happening, was that the tubes marked 1 lb. - 10 lbs. were actually filled with the 51 lb. - 100 lb dose!!! Many many dogs were sick and some died. It was a giant mess. In the end, it was discovered that the tainted vials of Advantix were counterfeit, and ordered from an online company without a veterinarian's permission. The point is, you don't always get what you order, and when it comes to medicine, that can be dangerous.

I can understand that a lot of people lose faith in their herp vets, but please remember as far as at home treatment, there ARE some things that CAN NOT be treated by the owner themself. After all, there is a reason that we veterinary professionals go to school for as long as we do.

 

[IanT]

I have not had my leo's to the vet because I have not had any problems with them I could not treat at home, nothing major or different then any other experienced keeper would do, Now I have had to treat a few pythons for a few things, so usually the vet cost me around $60 that's visit and meds if needed. My vet is not a herp vet but does his best with it. Like example if I take in a python with an RI he will agree yes an RI load up the syringes for me and i'm on my way. But it also helps that he and I have the same books.

 

[justindh1]

It is the same as is almost any profession. Heck it is the same with the doctors that we deal with to work on us. How many people die and get screwed up more because of the doctors. My girlfriend almost died 5 months ago because of a retard doctor who could get his head out of his butt! I have had bad expereinced with vets in regards to my herps. After doing my research and getting several references from members of the local herp society and local breeders, I have found a great vet who keeps reptiles and knows alot about them. Finding one who specializes and keeps reptiles is the best way to go. Most vets don't work with reptiles enought to fully understand them.

 

[gothra]

I didn't keep a record on the exact costs; but 2 of my geckos had cost me about $1000 each for the whole treatment (which includes all the medicine and numerous visits). One girl was diagnosed with follicular stasis and required surgery, she didn't make it after 6 months. The other was Lemsip, his tail had infection and had to be amputated. And then one year later, his remaining stub seems to start infecting again, and so we need to take him back to the vet for so many times that I can't even remember.