New Rescue With Some Odd Features

[Nynecho]

I am soon to be rescuing a male leopard gecko from my local village pet shop.

He hasn't been there for more than a week, and I assume he came from a mill or something. The owner just said he recently came this way from their "supplier"

I took him out of the tank they had him in- sand substrate and empty water bowl- and he wasn't much bigger or smaller than my year old male and 2 year old female. I assume he is just over a year old.

He is very dull, probably from dehydration and cold weather, but he appears to be a patternless with a few paradox spots. He is real pretty despite his condition. He was also squinting the whole time, so he might be an albino. The eyes didn't appear to be injured or anything, so I think he just didn't like the light.

He is pretty thin around his head and hip areas, but his tail is perfectly healthy sized. He is missing half of some of his toes, but none are completely missing as far as I remember.

Here's where it gets odd.
I flipped him over to confirm he was a male, and he had a hemipenal bulge. A bulge. Not two, just one. I think it was the one on the right. This leads me to believe he had two hemipenes at one point but lost one, or was only born with one. There was no scar or discoloration, no scab or open cut, so it was either completely healed or never there to begin with. He is just missing a hemipene. Could this lead to health problems in the future? Or do you think he'll be completely fine with only one?

I recently obtained two gecko sized tanks for free so I figure I have room for him, so why not adopt him? The pet store owner didn't seem to have time to give him the special care he needs, so I feel almost obligated to buy him.

Big Question Is:

Does he sound like he has any signs of crypto? I am not very familiar with the disease, and so I have no clue what to look for in a sick gecko. I don't want to bring in anything that could potentially kill my geckos, so I just need to make sure.


I will go there to take pictures tomorrow, and I will post them here right after. If everything checks out and you guys think he's fine and disease free based on the pictures, I will adopt him next week.

 

[acpart]

I'm not a vet, but my understanding is that geckos with active crypto have pencil thin tails and regurgitate their shed. A gecko with crypto that's not yet killing it may, I imagine, have no symptoms at all. There are special tests for crypto. This is why we quarantine our animals when we get new ones. If you want to adopt it, I would recommend keeping it far from you other animals, handling it last, washing hands well and taking it a a fecal to the vet to have it checked out.

Aliza

 

[Nynecho]

Here he is.I have decided fro myself that he isn't displaying any signs of crypto, and the owner doesn't think he's sick, and I tend to agree. He just most likely came from a mill and got beat up and improperly fed. I am even leaning more toward the side of him not even having mbd, however, I will still supplement his food thrice a week. He is being kept in a 5 gallon there.

 

[LIZARDLOVER]

I don't know, that depression in the head and weakly formed jaw line seems very reminiscent of mbd to me.

 

[Nynecho]

Is that really what that's from? His jaw isn't really too deformed, and I thought the temples showing was just from being so skinny.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

He's skinny and probably could use some good vitamins and calcium. I'd make sure he has a dish of pure Ca in his cage 24/7 and dust all his food with a quality Ca and vitamin supplement like Repashy Calcium Plus. He looks like he's missing most of his toes which makes me think the other things could be 'trom shedding issues but I wouldn't rule out MBD. The missing hemipene could be from shedding issues as well but it shouldnt affect his quality of life in any way. I have a male that prolapsed and had to have one removed last year and he's 100% fine.

I always quarantine new geckos in a diffeerent room than my others for 1-3 months before they go in with the rest. I would definitely do this with a malnourished sick looking gecko. There are many things other than crypto that can be passed to your other geckos. I look for runny poo, lethargy (of course he will be for a while since he's not super healthy), lack of appetite, and if they're not gaining weight (most of the geckos I bring in are juvies) then that raises a red flag. If any of those things pop up for an extended time (more than 2-3 weeks) then off to the vet for a check we go. I'm not risking my others.

 

[sausage]

as already said supplement well, make sure your dusting with D3 too.
he is extremely under weight, the depressions on the head are from him being skinny. it does look like he has had some sort of a mouth issue at some point but if hes eating okay and its not oozy in any way it should be fine.
he dosnt look like he MBD to me looking at the pictures but a vet would be able to give you a definitive answer.

 

[Nynecho]

Someone scooped him up from the pet store before I could... I hope whoever has him knows what they're getting themselves into.