Recently Bought Geckos: Possible Health Issues

[sangi39]

I recently bought 2 geckos (on Saturday 18th February) and I was immediately concerned with the health of one of them.

According to the previous owner they are both 8 months old, and both male, but there is a significant difference in weight between the two of them.

The current set up follows the Leopard Gecko care sheet provided by this forum, and several others online, solid substrate (wood chippings), water bowl, a bowl for a multivitamin (Nutrobal), a bowl for mealworms (with a closed rim to they can't get out) and they are being fed a variation of small locusts and small crickets. They only have two hides at the moment, one at the warmer end of the tank (heated by a heat mat under the tank) and another at the colder end. The temperature was around 30C towards the start of the week, but with the recent drop in temperature caused by fairly stormy weather it's been dropping to an unfortunately low 25C at night (although this could be a drop in the air temperature in the tank, I need to double check that).

On to the geckos. The first, named Kami, currently ways 48g, which from a cursory browsing seems roughly consistent with his age:

The second, named Kyu, is much, much lighter at just 19g, and his tail is incredibly thin:

Neither seem to be suffering from any sort of discolouration either on the skin or around the eyes, nor do they seem to be excessively pale, and both seem capable of moving quite readily and are increasingly exploring their tank (or they were until the temperature dropped)

I had considered the possibility of stick-tail, but (and I could be misreading this), Kyu's tail still seems to be quite flexible:

I've had a Bearded Dragon for the last 8 years as well, and when we got him off a couple of friends of ours he was noticeably smaller than his brother who'd gotten into a habit of out-competing him for food to the point where my dragon wouldn't even bother to hunt and had to be hand-fed instead. I thought something similar might be happening with Kami and Kyu (with Kami effectively eating everything before Kyu could get to it, and so Kyu's sort of just given up and going for scraps).


I was wondering if anyone might have any opinions on what might be going on with Kyu and if there might be any solution to the situation.



Thank you in advance for any help anyone might be able to provide.

 

[Neon Aurora]

I think there is a good chance that emaciated gecko has cryptosporidium. You should separate these geckos immediately, as it is fatal. It may not have crypto, but it's a possibility and this puts your healthy gecko in grave danger. Separate right away and make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before touching your healthy gecko if you've touched the sick one.

Honestly that gecko may be too far gone to save, even if it doesn't have crypto. To have any chance, you'll need to take it to a vet. You can also make a slurry to try and feed the gecko. I'll link it when I have the chance.

Also, on another note, wood chippings isn't really an appropriate substrate for leopard geckos. You should use something solid such as tile or paper towels.

 

[sangi39]

I think there is a good chance that emaciated gecko has cryptosporidium. You should separate these geckos immediately, as it is fatal. It may not have crypto, but it's a possibility and this puts your healthy gecko in grave danger. Separate right away and make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before touching your healthy gecko if you've touched the sick one.

Honestly that gecko may be too far gone to save, even if it doesn't have crypto. To have any chance, you'll need to take it to a vet. You can also make a slurry to try and feed the gecko. I'll link it when I have the chance.

Also, on another note, wood chippings isn't really an appropriate substrate for leopard geckos. You should use something solid such as tile or paper towels.

Thank for the advise. Another user has suggested separating for a number of different reasons (infection, illness, competition, etc.) and conveniently I already have a spare tank that should just need a heat mat to get set up properly (I can't make it to the nearest shop that sells heat mats in time to get to work, so I've ordered on).

Hand washing after handling my reptiles has been common practice now for several years, so throwing that extra bit in there shouldn't be an issue at all.

I booked an appointment for both of them to see a vet yesterday, but I couldn't get an appointment any earlier than March 8th.

A link for the slurry I can make would be greatly appreciated whenever you have the chance.

And thanks for the tip on bedding. We have a shop that deals somewhat in reptiles about 15 miles away, so I'm going to try to make a trip that way on Tuesday (my next day off) to have a word with them. (note: I've moved a lot. When I first got reptiles about 8 years ago, the nearest vet was a 2 minute walk away and specialised in reptile care, and the nearest reptile-exclusive shop was 5 minutes away on the bus)

I've been saying to friends over the last few days that I'm not sure if it was intentional neglect or just an unintentional lack of proper care, but when I saw how thin Kyu's tail was I just wanted him out of there. They didn't seem overly concerned about it, and they didn't bring it up with me, so unfortunately I don't know if this is a persistent problem, something that developed gradually or something that happened relatively quickly.

All I do know is that if I can get Kyu up to a healthy weight and keep Kami from going the same way then I'll do everything my time will allow me to. I wish I could get this sorted faster, but part of me worries that I won't be able to separate them fast enough or get their care up to a good enough standard fast enough either.

 

[acpart]

You can only do what you can do. Sometimes there's nothing anyone can do to save everyone. Do the best you can and hopefully you'll end up with 1 or 2 healthy geckos. Good luck.

Aliza

 

[Neon Aurora]

I would honestly set that tank up even without the heat pad and put the healthy gecko in it. Crypto is really contagious and that gecko needs to be away from the sick one ASAP. It is incurable and fatal.

Here is the slurry recipe I know of: Golden Gate Geckos Information

Hard to say if it was neglect or just illness. When I see a gecko in that state, I usually think Crypto. It's called "stick tail disease" for a reason.

 

[michael.a.wyton]

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[michael.a.wyton]

This was my first ever gecko at his worst and he carried the stick tail unfortunately and I was devastated It was something that happened suddenly and was little I could do about it. I originally thought it could have been food competion between my newer gecko and him but he failed to recover after his removal from the terranium. I hope for his sake it's the lesser of the two evils and he makes a recovery but like acpart said you won't know until you try.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[sangi39]

I would honestly set that tank up even without the heat pad and put the healthy gecko in it. Crypto is really contagious and that gecko needs to be away from the sick one ASAP. It is incurable and fatal.

Here is the slurry recipe I know of: Golden Gate Geckos Information

Hard to say if it was neglect or just illness. When I see a gecko in that state, I usually think Crypto. It's called "stick tail disease" for a reason.

Thank you so much for the link. Hopefully I can gather all of the resources for it quickly.

I'd agree with you that it might be hard to tell the difference, but I think you might be right in automatically assuming it's crypto. At the very least that can be tested for, and following all the precautions for it, whether it's there or not, means that the geckos will be safer and hopefully healthier. If it's nothing, oh well, but if it's crypto, at least action was taken. Better safe than sorry and all that.

I can't make any other appointment earlier than the 8th of March for Kami and Kyu to see the vet, but I'm going to ring them while I'm at work to explain the situation to them in better detail. They might be able to get themselves prepared for it so that we can act as quickly as possible.

Thank you all for the advice so far. I really hope it isn't crypto, but I'm going to treat Kyu as if he might have it for the time being anyway. I seem to have become attached to them quite quickly (as I always do) and having had them for less than a week now I'd be devastated to lose one or both of them.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Just an FYI, vets can't test for crypto. In order to do that, you'll need to get a stool sample and send it off to a lab that offers that sort of testing.

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[sangi39]

Just an FYI, vets can't test for crypto. In order to do that, you'll need to get a stool sample and send it off to a lab that offers that sort of testing.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Ah, damn, I wasn't sure about that. I'll have a look into what I can do.

For the time being, they've been separated. Luckily the heat mat I ordered came in just as I was leaving for work, so I set up the second tank and slipped the heat mat into place.

The temperature seems to be holding quite nicely at about 30C (as is the first tank now) and for once hoarding old bowls and hides has paid off.

I'll update as and when I can, and again thanks for all the help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Neon Aurora]

This is a good lab for testing: Cryptosporidium for Birds and Reptiles
I used this lab to test one of my horses for a genetic muscle disease and they were good.

Good job on separating them, and good luck.

 

[acpart]

I imagine that some vets can either test for crypto, or send it out to a lab. My vet was able to do the test (and fortunately it was negative).

Aliza

 

[sangi39]

I imagine that some vets can either test for crypto, or send it out to a lab. My vet was able to do the test (and fortunately it was negative).

Aliza

I'm going in to see ours tomorrow before work to have a quick chat with them about it just in case Even if they can't test for it, or send of to have a test done, they'll still be aware of the situation.

 

[sangi39]

Update: Gecko recently passed

*breathe*

Unfortunately, despite efforts to help him along, Kyu died yesterday afternoon.

Speaking to the vet, and following advice from members here on the forum, it doesn't look like there was much that could have been done to keep him going. I noticed he was suddenly beginning to crash and immediately called the vet to make an emergency appointment, but within half and hour I was ringing them up again to pass on the news that he was gone.

His brother, Kami, is going strong, has been eating regularly with no noticeable issues with his droppings (good colour, good consistency) and he's actually gained a little bit of weight over the past couple of months with a slight increase in his overall length. No signs of discolouration, he's shedding normally and he's still a very active little gecko, but after Kyu I'll certainly be keeping an eye on him, just in case.

It's not the greatest news to pass on. I've only had them for 3 months, and Kyu only made it to 11 months old, but there were clearly issues with his health when I bought him off his previous owners. I really did try everything I could to help him get better, but the vet seems to think he might have already been too far gone when I made the appointment back in February.

Sad times, but with Kami still being seemingly healthy, at least there's some good news coming from this.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Sorry to hear. =( If he did have crypto than there was not much you could have done. And if he didn't, sometimes they are just too far gone to help.

Glad to hear Kami is still doing well and doesn't seem to have caught whatever Kyu may have had.

 

[skellie]

Sorry to hear about Kyu passing. From the looks of the original picture I am amazed he lasted this long. I don't think there is anything you could have done to save him. Did the vet ever see him or did you get a confirmation that it was or wasn't crypto?