Possible Impaction

[Jenn_tigercat]

About your leo
- Sex - Unknown
- Age & Weight- around 1 month - 5g
- Morph - possibly High yellow
- How long have you owned your leo - 1 month
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) - pet store

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - only for feeding and that is only to move him/her into the feeding tub
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. - Still active sleeps during the day comes out at night
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. - none that i know of
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) - normal
- When was the last time he/she went - 7 days ago
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on - Stopped eating on the 16th of March has refused mealies since then. Has not defecated since then as well. There is a little black dot in abdomen and I am thinking Impaction. Will be going to a vet in Vista tomorrow to find out for sure. I have been giving mineral oil and soaking for 15 minutes but doesn't seem to be helping. Abdomen also looks clear.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - 10 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank) - Glass tank
- Type of substrate- paper towel
- Hides, how many, what kind - 2, one on the hot side and a moist hide on the cool side
B) Heating
- Heat source - UTH
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) hot side - stays around 92, cold side is ambient room temp.
- Method of regulating heat source - Thermostat
- What are you using to measure your temps - Digital thermometer with probe
- Do you have any lights (describe) - none
C) Cage mates - none never will
- How many (males, females) - NA
- Describe health, or previous problems - NA

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) - mealies
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) - separate feeding container with mealies just dropped in.
B) Supplements (describe how often) - pure calcium in dish in tank, dusting mealies with Calcium with D3 and multivitamin 3-4 times a week
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)- rep cal
- What are you gut loading food with - flukers cricket quencher and high calcium cricket feed


He will be going to the vet to see what is going on tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be to serious. Here is a picture of his abdomen.

 

[sausage]

he black dot is an organ. all geckos have the same dot. it dose look a little bigger than normal so i best you get a vet to look.
also if it hasnt eaten then it wont poo because theres nothing to poo.
fingers crossed for the little one. good luck
x

 

[Jenn_tigercat]

Well he went to the vet and is in fact impacted. An x-ray was done to show that he was in fact impacted as well as the start of MBD. She also gave him subq fluids and electrolytes for dehydration. Seeing as he hasn't eaten in over a week that wasn't a surprise. He is on baby food as well as a calcium Gluconate solution that he will get once a day. Have been giving him mineral oil as well as soaking him. Not sure how he became impacted since he has always been on paper towels, so I am guessing came from his food.

 

[sausage]

awww poor thing. well im sure hell pull throught.
unfortunatly mealies are a great food stuff but the extra hard shells they have can cause a problem if the geckos stomach isnt up to it.
keep us posted

 

[TripleALeos]

Sorry to hear that but glad that you got him the proper care and treatment.. Hope the little guys pull though for you.. Keep us updated on his progress..

 

[fl_orchidslave]

A few of mine get freshly shed worms, for various reasons. They are easier to chew and digest without that shell. I've given the calcium gluconate by using the recommended amount, add a dab of water, dot on lizard lips and it was licked up with no issues. No stress trying to force it into their mouth! That's how I give all oral meds.

 

[Jenn_tigercat]

He did poop tonight. It was small but at least his digestive system is moving again. Will keep him on the baby food for a few days before trying a couple of small mealies. He likes to lick the baby food off of my finger I have dabbed the Calcium Gluconate on his lips and he just licks it off.

 

[im faster]

is it gone? if not post a pic

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Jenn, progress has to start somewhere Glad things have started moving along.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Sorry to hear your lil leo has an impaction... has he always been in your care? If he was kept on sand at the petstore where you got him ingesting some sand in addition to too many mealies (not varying his diet) could be the culprit for the impaction. Keeping him a lil extra active will also help the GI to regulate and avoid GI stasis as well as increase appetite. Keep in mind that with most animals "movement makes movements". You could also try the gecko slurry (or gecko soup) that is posted in a sticky at the top of the health forum insted of the baby food. From what I understand it is a little more nutritionally balanced for leos.

Keep us posted good luck.

 

[sausage]

what baby food are you using?