Rescued a couple

[Whitey]

Well, I went on craigslist today and saw someone selling "leopard geco's"... I really didnt think anything of it, so I clicked on the link and it stated that she had two geckos for 10 each with the 10 gallon tanks and everything. So I took a 30 min drive to see them and when I got there, I found two HORRIBLY dirty 10 gallon tanks, with sand, no UTH, no lamp... or any heat source for that matter, water with a mossy build up in it, no hides what so ever and one of the geckos has MBD. SO, I couldnt just leave them, I gave her a 20 and took both of them. I got home, dumped the sand, put in tiles, cleaned up the water, and put in some calcium with D3 and 3 roaches each (they are juvies, maybe 4 months old). Well, they gobbled up the roaches within the hour and are huddled in thier hides now. I would post up pics but I am at work now, so they will have to wait til tomorrow. Im just upset about it. I just needed to vent about this... thats all.

 

[acpart]

Good job.

Aliza

 

[Daidra]

great job richard,sound like they needed some TLC.

 

[Lady_Kiya]

I wanted to adopt a leo who was not properly taken care of. Sadly I just did not have the room.

Thanks goodness you got those two out of there.

 

[Whitey]

Ok, I went home tonight from work and was hoping (crosses fingers) that he would miraculously be fine... but no. BUT, I did get him to eat a roach (small one) but one, none the less. He would not take another one with calcium on it. Going to look up the quickest way to resolve the MBD issue. Anyone with any suggestions that worked for them pretty quickly? It tears me up because he is crawling on his elbows....

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Liquid calcium might help, but it sounds like it might be to advanced.

N8

 

[Whitey]

Liquid calcium might help, but it sounds like it might be to advanced.

Dont tell me that....Im going to have to get some pics of the lil guy. His tail is still looking OK, but not good or great, but not bad. He seems pretty active for the shape hes in, and his back legs are fine. The only problem is his front legs in which he cant use them from the elbows down.... makes me want to cry when I see him "walk".

 

[Dirt McGirt]

I agree that it is very hard to see animals in pain.

But Mbd is a uphill battle and can occur in any lizard that has been fed a poor diet.

Even though it is reversible when caught early, u will most likely need to seek veterinary treatment.

The good thing is there are things you can do as of now to help him recover.
Start by providing him with a UVA/UVB Fluorescent light.

Its good that you are already using Calcium and multivitamin supplements as its vital for improvement.

Also try to provide a varied diet if possible.
Life threatening signs are often seen by physicall changes.

This includes a lack of energy, rubbery bones, bloating, and difficulty in passing stool. Keep a close eye on his behavior as it can be helpful to your vet.

With that said, I do admire the fact that you made the choice to rescue these geckos, and I wish u the best of luck Richard.

N8

 

[Whitey]

Thanks for the words of encouragement... greatly appreciated right now. I have the UVA on him now (as soon as we got home), and got him his calcium (as soon as we got home), and the lady told me he was eating crickets and mealworms, so Im suprised he took a roach.

I am keeping an EAGLE EYE on him actually... its hard right now because I have my first ever eggs incubating at the same time... so, its a little tricky, but if Im successful with bringing this guy back, hopefully it will help me with any little guys I have in the future that MAY develop this. There is a reason for everything, I just hope this reason will help me out with geckos in the future, and that he pulls through it at the same time.

Ill post up pics in the morning when I get home...hopefully someone will have some good news like "he looks like he can pull through" or something like that...

 

[Alusdra]

Did you lose one? Before you were talking about two, but in this post about 'him'?

MBD is a serious thing- but with dedication they should be ok to live a normal (pet) life, though the bones will always be bowed. The problems come if the jaw ends up too deformed to eat, and you will probably have to help with the shedding, but they can get along surprisingly well on their elbows. It sounds promising if they can still grasp and eat the roaches.

I second the vet trip, though. They might have more wrong with them than just the appalling lack of care from before like parasites or mouth rot or crypto or who knows. You don't want to get your other animals sick- strict quarantine!

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Any updates?

N8

 

[Whitey]

No, I havnt lost one. He seems to be doing fine so far, he has spent all of his time underneath the lamp. I have tried to feed him food with calcium w/ D3 but he wont take it. He will take the food without the calcium though. I am staying up late tonight to watch him, thats when I notice hes most active so... Ill snag a few pics here in a sec.

 

[Whitey]

This is the best pic I could get of him tonight... I didnt want to move him but you can sorta see in his front elbow... the other elbow is completely inward (which you cannot see).

 

[Whitey]

This is a horrible picture... I know.. I cant figure out how to zoom in on him... the camera will zoom but it gets all blurry. I try to use ifranview to get it closer but then it makes the file too big... grrr

 

[Whitey]

UPDATE::: Well, I went and checked on the little guy tonight and he is actually USING the bottom portion of his front legs!!! Hes able to stand on them (of course they are pointed inwards), but he was standing on them none the less.

He also took two mealies from the tweezers tonight, one with a bunch of calcium on it. AWESOME..... there is hope for this little guy yet! Im so stoked!

 

[ariana]

i wish you the best of luck with the lil ones
some people arent meant to have pets...she was one of them!
thank god you were able to save them

 

[Kristi23]

Good luck with him!

 

[osbain]

This is a horrible picture... I know.. I cant figure out how to zoom in on him... the camera will zoom but it gets all blurry. I try to use interview to get it closer but then it makes the file too big... grrr

do your camera have "macro" focus? usually a button or setting indicated by a picture of a flower. anyway, he looks like a fighter, im sure he will be fine with your treatment

 

[Whitey]

Hmmm... let me check the camera out... I havnt really played with it at all.

 

[ariana]

when you can can you post some pics of them?