Need some help (new to the forums)

[AREP24]

Hey my name is Eury, I received my Juvenile Gecko about a month ago and he's doing fine except that one of his back legs is stiff. When i first got him, he leg was fine but I noticed that when he moved around for an extended period of time, his leg would get somewhat stiff but he would still move around the cage.

He is approx. 5-7 months old. He is housed in a 20 gallon tank with paper towels as substrate (for now). He has three hides, a humid hide, a log hide and a tube hide. I use an under tank heater with a temp of 90-95F for the hot spot, cool side approx. 75-80F, Warm side approx 84-89F. Finally I have a water dish and a small calcium dish available for the gecko.

He feeds on med-large crickets every day and would eat anywhere from 5-10 crickets in one feeding. I dust the crickets in Calcium (Repti calcium) once every week and dust the crickets in Vitamins (Repti Cal Vitamins) every once every week. I typically Dump a few crickets at a time in the tank and he runs/lunges for the crickets. He is very active when feeding a loves chasing after them even with the stiff leg. At times I hand feed him so that he doesn't have to run around too much but he still chases after them.

By the way he's a Mack Snow and is putting weight on rather well. No weight loss and tail is getting nice and fat. He eats well, runs around and is very active. I just don't know why his leg is stiff. He also poops on a regular basis, Once every day and all seems Healthy. I am still in the process of finding a certified reptile vet in my area. I also don't handle him much because he's skittish and would sometimes hiss if he is touched.

Sorry for the long post but im new to this forum and wanted to give as much info as possible. I will post a picture as soon as I can.
Thanks

 

[acpart]

Welcome to GF. A video, if possible, would be lovely. I have some geckos that seem to have loose hip or knee joints which makes their legs look stiff when they walk. If I see a video I can see if the same thing is going on with yours as with mine.

Aliza

 

[AREP24]

This is about a week after I received him. You can see his left back leg is stiff and has been that way for a while.



This is a most recent photo of him. Again you can see the left back leg stiff. Although stiff, he will still move around and will chase after his food no problem as if his leg was normal. His front legs are tucked in a bit because he was leaning forward. His front legs and right back legs are strong and healthy, no MBD from what I can see unless that's what left leg has.
The Forum won't let me upload a video for now but i do have a video of him running around chasing after crickets. As soon as I figure out how to post it i'll upload it.
Thanks

 

[DrCarrotTail]

That is a very odd issue indeed. It could be some deformity in his leg or joint that causes it to lock when it is moved a certain way. He may grow out of it or it may get worse as he grows. I think getting him looked over would be the best way to find out what is going on. As long as he's eating and gaining weight and it isn't causing him any undue discomfort or stress I probably wouldn't be hugely concerned.

Arav.org is a great place to check for reptile vets in many areas.

 

[AREP24]

Thanks for the reply, I was more curious than anything about his leg seeing ad how he's very active. Thank you for the vet resource I'll try to get him to a vet as soon as I can.

 

[acpart]

This looks very much like what I have been seeing with a number of my hatchlings (I can't come up with a picture right now but will try to do that when life calms down --don't hold your breath). It seems as if the "knee" joint is loose on these geckos and bends the wrong way, so instead of bending the knee so that the "knee" part faces toward the gecko's head, the leg stays straight out when they walk. I've had a few geckos that started out with this problem and it got worse. I've had a few that didn't seem to have the problem but then it developed. I had one that started out with the problem and it has totally cleared up. Nearly all (possibly all, but I'd have to check) the geckos come from one pairing. The parents of this pairing are both proven breeders for several seasons that never had problem offspring before. The female is being retired as a breeder. I would bet that if you were able to hold the gecko and gently bent the "stiff" leg, that it would bend normally, if the issue is anything like what I'm experiencing with mine. It does seem to be a question of the joints being too bendy rather than too stiff.

Aliza