not sure what's going on... help? plz!!!!

[puglover09]

So normally my hubby knows what to do in these situations, but he left a few days ago in the Army!!!!

My gecko Titan, is 4 months old. He has always been a good gecko. He eats very well, a typical day is about 6-7 mealworms with maybe one super. He is a pretty decent size gecko. But anywho, I checked on him yesterday and I noticed that he was holding his left eye closed. My first thought was that he was just sleepy. But the longer I see it I wonder if he is going blind. I get him out to hold him and he opened it for a second and his pupil was huge and then it got small enough to where I couldn't see it, and he shut it back. So I fed him and what not and checked on him today and his eye was the same. He wasn't in the mood to eat and then I glanced in one of his log hides to see a worm or two. I lifted the hide up and to my amazement, there were about 8 worms all dead but one. It looked like he threw some up and there were a couple in his stool. I have NO idea what to do or think!!! So please help me if you can!!!!! thank you.

 

[Krow]

He may have a parasites, but I dont know. Thats just my guess, the only thing i can tell you is take him to a vet, get his stool tested, & maybe do some warm soaks. What are your temps in his cage & do you have a moist hide & 2 other on the warm & cool side? Sorry I cant help more, good luck with him.

 

[puglover09]

the hot side is 91 and the cool is 73. I noticed him licking himself yesterday also. Don't know if that means anything. But he is my second gecko. the first one i got just before him there was something medically wrong because he was pooping mealworms out whole. and he wouldn't eat. So i traded him out for titan but like i said, he has been a perfect little guy and he has everything he needs in the tank and perfect care. My husband has 3 geckos of his own. I just don't get why titan is acting this way.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Sometimes Leos get shed stuck in their eyes. If they can't get it out the eye can get infected and if left untreated, the infection can spread through to the rest of the body. I would get a syringe (no needle) and flush his eye with saline or distilled water. That might bring some relief to the eye. As for the other symptoms, the vet may have to decide whether or not they're related and what to do.

 

[puglover09]

Ok. Thank you both for trying to help me. I appreciate it!! I will try what you said.

 

[Gregg M]

the hot side is 91 and the cool is 73.

You are keeping him too cool in my opinion... Your ambient air temps or cool side temp should be no less than the low 80's and your hot side should be in the mid 90's...Try bumping up the temps a bit befor you do anything... He could be getting what some people would call a "cold"... This does cause one or both eyes to close up...

 

[puglover09]

Ok, i boosted up the temp. how long do you think it will take before I can tell any changes? Today I tried checking his eye for shed, but i didn't see any. A couple hours after I changed the temp, it looked like he was starting to close his other eye. But he had been sleeping, so maybe he was sleepy. I think I am going to call the vet the next day if I don't see any changes.

 

[Haligren]

It might take a few days after you've turned up the temps to see any changes. But yes, definitely get him to a vet! Good luck.

 

[lillith]

QUOTE:
"the first one i got just before him there was something medically wrong because he was pooping mealworms out whole. and he wouldn't eat"

If that "something medically wrong" was a severe parasite infestation, and you put your Titan in your old gecko's tank without thoroughly sanitizing it, that could possibly explain what's going on now. Do you know specifically what was wrong with the other gecko? Was is an anatomical abnormality or just illness (was he diagnosed at a vet)?

I hope you've noticed some improvement with warmer temps, but if not, it could be vet time!

 

[puglover09]

Oh trust me, my husband cleaned the crap out of the cage. The first one we let their vet look over it and they said that nothing was wrong with him which honestly, anyone with a brain would have noticed something was wrong. Then they came up with some excuse to blame on us and at the time we had him on paper towels because he was tiny. Needless to say, we have 3 other geckos that we have had for about 3 years and this sick thing would be a first.

 

[puglover09]

Sooo... no improvements on Titan came acrossed. His other eye became the same and I religiously used saline hoping for a change. Both eyes started to swell shut, and he was completely blind. So he wasn't able to eat or drink. I made the decision to take him to the vet and get him put to sleep. It was a very hard decision BUT I knew that he was blind and nothing could make it better and I wouldn't want to let him suffer like that. So I had a ROUGH day today. And my husband is the reptile guy and he knows so much about things like this. Unfortunately, he is in basic training for the Army. So doing this all alone killed me. I feel like a failure, honestly, that this happened. I did everything and took care of him to the best of my ability. I picked him up from the vet and picked out a pretty spot to bury him. Im just glad that he went peacefully.

 

[Stomlin35]

Did they say WHY he went blind? Or tell you anything about his condition for future reference?

 

[puglover09]

Well the nearest reptile vet is an hour away and so I called the town vet here to see if they could put a gecko to sleep and they said they would need to see how big he was.. blah blah blah... and when I got there I showed him to the nurse and everything and she asked if I wanted them to examine him to see whats wrong and I just said no because Im sure he would not be able to find anything. I think I was the first with a gecko to walk in there just by the way the nurse was acting.