Rescue Gecko Problems

[electrofelt]

Hi. I have a 4 year old female leopard gecko that I rescued from a friend and have been trying to rehabilitate. I'm making this post because a few days ago she shed her skin, ate it, threw up a ball of the shed skin, and is now not eating. I'm hoping that someone on here has heard of this before or has any advice for me to help her get back on track again. I apologize in advance for this being so long.


Housing information:
1. Substrate: Paper Towels
2. Size enclosure: 20 gallon long glass tank
3. Temps: 93 warm, 86 cool measured with a temperature gun
4. Heat source: Ceramic heater from the top, no under tank heater, I installed it and had it running at the right temps, but she boycotted the warm side of the tank so I uninstalled it.
5. Hides: Three hides, half log on warm side and cool side, humidity hide on warm side.
6. Food: Mealworms, however right now she is not eating solid foods, so instead she is eating mealworm mush offered daily.
7. Supplements: I supplement with calcium/d3 twice a week, and then a general multivitamin twice a week. Also has calcium cup in tank, but as fas as I can tell she does not lick it. She is also getting daily Baytril antibiotic.
8. Age: 4 years old, I have had her for 1 year
9. Behavior: She mostly sleeps all the time, including at night, but she is still alert to sounds and if I approach the tank. Very active and alert when I handle her, and she doesn't mind being handled.


Medical History:
I got her from a friend who could not take care of her anymore. When I got her she was very malnourished, at about 14grams. She has Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) and her legs are very deformed. She also had layers of shed skin wrapped around her feet which cut off the circulation and she lost most of her toes. I got her to start eating again and she gained weight and plateaued at about 26 grams.

A few months ago I brought her to a vet to deal with some shedding issues she was having, as well as a "rug burn" sore on her foot. She was prescribed oral Baytril (antibiotic) injections and oral calcium injections to help with the MBD. She had shedding issues with her eyes, lsot weight (22grams) and stopped eating live mealworms, but she would eat crushed up mealworms, so I have been feeding her that for the last few months. She has gained weight to about 32grams and has plateaued again.


Recent History:
She is a very good eater, active everyday and has been going to the bathroom every 3 or 4 days. However, about two weeks ago she went about a week before going to the bathroom, which is unusual. Since then she has been back to the regular schedule, but her poop is smaller than normal with less solid and more urate.

Four days ago she was not interested in eating, but had just started shedding so I didn't think much of it. She shed overnight and ate all the skin as usual, but the next night she wouldn't eat again. After I had tried feeding her, she threw up a very large ball of shed skin (large enough that it would completely fill her mouth if it was open). Has anyone ever heard of this before? That was two days ago, and she still is not interested in eating.


I am not really sure what is going on with her. I am worried that there is possibly still some shed skin inside her, or she may be constipated/impacted because her stool was smaller than normal this past week. She could also be stressed out just from the trauma of throwing up the shed skin. I am planning on giving her warm baths/belly rubs tomorrow just in case it is impaction. She has not lost any weight so I don't think it is necessary to feed her a slurry formula quite yet. I'm just looking for any advice on what to do. Hopefully someone has some ideas, I am happy to take pictures if needed.

 

[roger]

Hi. I have a 4 year old female leopard gecko that I rescued from a friend and have been trying to rehabilitate. I'm making this post because a few days ago she shed her skin, ate it, threw up a ball of the shed skin, and is now not eating. I'm hoping that someone on here has heard of this before or has any advice for me to help her get back on track again. I apologize in advance for this being so long.


Housing information:
1. Substrate: Paper Towels
2. Size enclosure: 20 gallon long glass tank
3. Temps: 93 warm, 86 cool measured with a temperature gun
4. Heat source: Ceramic heater from the top, no under tank heater, I installed it and had it running at the right temps, but she boycotted the warm side of the tank so I uninstalled it.
5. Hides: Three hides, half log on warm side and cool side, humidity hide on warm side.
6. Food: Mealworms, however right now she is not eating solid foods, so instead she is eating mealworm mush offered daily.
7. Supplements: I supplement with calcium/d3 twice a week, and then a general multivitamin twice a week. Also has calcium cup in tank, but as fas as I can tell she does not lick it. She is also getting daily Baytril antibiotic.
8. Age: 4 years old, I have had her for 1 year
9. Behavior: She mostly sleeps all the time, including at night, but she is still alert to sounds and if I approach the tank. Very active and alert when I handle her, and she doesn't mind being handled.


Medical History:
I got her from a friend who could not take care of her anymore. When I got her she was very malnourished, at about 14grams. She has Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) and her legs are very deformed. She also had layers of shed skin wrapped around her feet which cut off the circulation and she lost most of her toes. I got her to start eating again and she gained weight and plateaued at about 26 grams.

A few months ago I brought her to a vet to deal with some shedding issues she was having, as well as a "rug burn" sore on her foot. She was prescribed oral Baytril (antibiotic) injections and oral calcium injections to help with the MBD. She had shedding issues with her eyes, lsot weight (22grams) and stopped eating live mealworms, but she would eat crushed up mealworms, so I have been feeding her that for the last few months. She has gained weight to about 32grams and has plateaued again.


Recent History:
She is a very good eater, active everyday and has been going to the bathroom every 3 or 4 days. However, about two weeks ago she went about a week before going to the bathroom, which is unusual. Since then she has been back to the regular schedule, but her poop is smaller than normal with less solid and more urate.

Four days ago she was not interested in eating, but had just started shedding so I didn't think much of it. She shed overnight and ate all the skin as usual, but the next night she wouldn't eat again. After I had tried feeding her, she threw up a very large ball of shed skin (large enough that it would completely fill her mouth if it was open). Has anyone ever heard of this before? That was two days ago, and she still is not interested in eating.


I am not really sure what is going on with her. I am worried that there is possibly still some shed skin inside her, or she may be constipated/impacted because her stool was smaller than normal this past week. She could also be stressed out just from the trauma of throwing up the shed skin. I am planning on giving her warm baths/belly rubs tomorrow just in case it is impaction. She has not lost any weight so I don't think it is necessary to feed her a slurry formula quite yet. I'm just looking for any advice on what to do. Hopefully someone has some ideas, I am happy to take pictures if needed.

So let me get this straight.The only problem u have right now is shes gone off food for a couple of days ?? If your worried about impaction put a drop of castor oil on her nose.If u can, I would not feed her for 5 days to get her bowels straightened out first and then slowly introduce small prey.I'm sure other ppl will chime in on some other suggestions but I would start there

 

[electrofelt]

Haha, yeah I guess my post was pretty long to be asking about her not eating. She has just been a little sick for a while, so I wanted to get all the information in.

Today she actually threw up again, but this time it was sphagnum moss from her humidity hide. I took it out and replaced it with paper towels. I don't know why she ate it, but it was pretty big so I am very glad it came out that end instead of the other. She also went to the bathroom right after, so things are moving, but it was only a little bit. She hasn't eaten for 5 days. If there is some shed skin or sphagnum moss still left in her belly, but she is pooping, should I treat for impaction? I'm afraid if there is more in there, the oil will cause it to go through her intestines and cause an impaction, but I may be over thinking it.

Anyways, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

It's not unusual for a fully grown gecko to go off food for several weeks. Sometimes they just don't feel like eating. As long as their weight is good, it's not a problem. But if they start to loose fat in the tail further investigation is called for. As for the sphagnum ingestion, it's good that you switched it for paper towel. One of mine did the same thing and threw it up. Now my troops get spag only during breeding season to lay eggs in. I like the paper towel better because it's also much cleaner. I think your temps should be around 95 on the warm side, it's better for digestion, and UTH is what's been recommended for many years. While the antibiotics are working their way thru her system, she will be "off" in her regular habits, like pooping and eating, maybe for a month or so. Some people like using a nutribac to restore helpful bacteria in their digestive system that antibiotics kill.

 

[electrofelt]

Oh wow, a few weeks is a lot longer than I thought. When they go off eating for a while, is it normal for them to stop going to the bathroom? I'll keep doing weigh-ins to make sure she isn't losing any weight. And I will try the UTH heater again, she just wouldn't go on that side of the tank when I had it on. I'm almost 99% sure I had the temps right, but I'll try it again anyways. I'll keep an eye on her, but I guess I can stop worrying as much as I have been Thanks for the tips.