Rescued from a neighbor!

[ruski]

About your leo:
- Sex - Male
- Age & Weight - under a year / N/A havent put on a scale yet
- How long have you owned your leo - 3 days
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) - neighbor

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - everyday to feed
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. - only had it a few days, although not skittish at all when handling

- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. - only had for 3 days
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) - No fecals yet
- When was the last time he/she went - N/A
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on - Received this gecko 3 days ago from a neighbor. They kept it in a small possibly 5 gallon cage with open vents on each side and top. Kept with the green reptile carpet that hasnt been cleaned for months and the source of heat was a small basking lamp. He is skinny but not at an alarming stage yet. I noticed there was an abscess behind the right eye and eyes were shut. Also had a full head from the neck to the nose of shed left. Immediately i soaked in warm water and helped with a q-tip and my fingers. Shed came off except for one part of the eye lid which he shook his head while i was holding on to the shed from one piece and it came off. Not eating anything solid as far as mealworms ( always in a dish in the cage ), crickets, or a few wax worms. I set and appointment to a vet i was recommended. Vet removed the abscess which was old and solid and partially stuck to the eyeball inside and leading under the jaw to his mouth. Vet said it was a lot of pieces of the hardened pus inside. Gave me sterile Neomycin and polymyxin B sulfates and Bacitracin zinc Opthalmic ointment USP( if that means anything to you guys lol). I've been applying it via plastic needle into the wound and the eyes as per vet.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - exoterra 36x18x12
- Type (ex. glass tank) - glass
- Type of substrate - papertowel
- Hides, how many, what kind - Half log warm side, humid hide warm side, rock cave on cool side
B) Heating
- Heat source - Reptitherm UTH with thermostat set for 90 and monitored by a probe zoo med therm.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) - 87-90 on warm, 75-80 on cool
- Method of regulating heat source - thermostat
- What are you using to measure your temps - zoomed probe/ infrared gun
- Do you have any lights (describe)- None
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - none
- Describe health, or previous problems - none

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) - GGG slurry (or as close as i got to the blend ingredients wise)
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) - syringe with tiny drops on the nose
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) - Rep cal calcium with d3 and rep cal multivitamins both incorporated into the GGG slurry
- What are you gut loading food with - I breed mealworms, crickets and dubias which he wont eat any of. Mealworms are kept bedded with oatmeal and fed carrots/potatos and bread. Crickets are being fed collard/dandelion greens, romaine lettuce, and a mixture of grains, protein rich catfood, and calcium. Dubia are being fed oranges, and roach chow.

The abscess has been removed. He has been licking up small amounts of the slurry but its better than nothing. Since i had him now going onto 4 days i havent seen him poop. The vet told me to apply the ointment into the wound and eyes twice a day which i have. My main concern is there is a film that is growing over his eye. The vet told me during the visit that the bad shed could have tore or ripped off a very fine film of cornea off his eye(s). This vet comes highly recommended and qualified as per my research and me actually interviewing her because of my concern of cheech's safety and well being lol. So is this possible and can the film grow back/ or is it. Or is this the leopard gecko "eye ulcer" that comes and becomes cloudy and whatnot? I do need to add that this thing in his eye is not covering the entire eye. It has formed around the pupil and only began forming after the vet and me have been putting on this medication. 1/2 of the center of the eye is still clear and shown and his pupil reacts to light accordingly. I will try to get some pictures of this.

I currently own 4 geckos and 2 baby beardies (Whom i got at the NY white plains expo on the 6th) which are all very healthy and have never had issues. However this is my first rescue and im doing all that i can to guarantee his well being and survival.

Also his eyes are shut all the time still and only opens them when i take him out of the tank for the injection and eye medication. once his initial shock of getting lifted up and his eyes/wound messed with he begins keeping them closed again. I worry often and quickly so maybe it's a waiting game for at least a week to see if the medication clears up the eyes?

P.S. im very sorry for the long novel here lol. I do really appreciate anyones input.


Right before seeing the vet. Im not sure but i think his coloring became slightly better too. His yellow wasnt as vivid upon arrival but few days in his new home and the yellows became brighter i think.

cheech at the vet after lancing the abscess. That gunk in the corner of his eye is the medication they put on. As well as on the wound and inside.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Dinosaur!]

It sounds like this gecko is very lucky to have ended up in your care! I can only think of one thing...

First, try popping the very back segment off on a mealworm, squeeze a little bit of the "juice" out, and dabit on his lips. Keep the mealworm against his mouth and he may take it. If he doesnt you could try and shove the end of it into his mouth while he is licking. He may spit it out, but sometimes it helps get rescues off the slurry and on to real food (to much experience with rescues ... )

Good luck with your new gecko, and I have a feeling that he will get much better very soon

 

[ruski]

Thank you! I will definitely try the mealworm thing. Any ideas on whatever is floating around his eye? I know there isnt any picture yet but i've just tormented him with his medications and 30 minutes of feeding with the syringe just wanna let him rest til i can snap one tomorrow.

 

[Dinosaur!]

It could just be an eye cap An eye cap is just a leftover peice of skin that wasnt shed completely on the eye. If it is a skin cap, it should come off with his next shed, but if it doesnt come off another vet visit may be required. I don't know if it is one for sure though, so a vet trip might still be required if it doesnt clear up in a few weeks... Either way, I hope that his eye improves! And I hope that the mealworm trick works for you

 

[indyana]

I agree that it's a bit of a waiting game with his eyes to see if the ointments the vet gave you are sufficient to clear up what is likely an infection. I'd keep doing what was prescribed and monitor him. If you get to the end of the treatments and he is still having eye issues, a return visit and stronger antibiotics may be necessary.

Great work with the rescue! It's wonderful when people take the time to help an animal in need.

 

[ruski]

Thank you for the help and support it is much appreciated! He's just sleeping around in his warm hide and moist hide now for the most part. I'll keep monitoring the eye and so far he has been lapping up little drops of the GGG slurry, not as much as i would like him to but some is better than none i suppose. It is about half the thawed ice cube maybe even abit less since it gets messy and alot of it ends up on the paper towel or on his neck lol. Once he wakes up tonight we will see how he does with the mealworms. Again thank you for the help all

 

[ruski]

Update:

Finally pooped after acouple days on the slurry. still keeping eyes closed unless i take him out. Eyes seem to have cleared up of whatever was floating about inside as well. Still showing no interest in worms or crickets and sleeps all day in the warm moist hide or warm dry hide. Ointment is being applyed twice a day still. Never thought i would be so glad to see poop lmao. So far so good we shall see what happens in the next week.

 

[Kjenkins]

Is he an albino? In the pic he looks very light colored. The reason I ask is albinos are very light sensitive. All of my albinos keep there eyes closed a lot.

 

[Dinosaur!]

Kara has a great point. Your gecko seems to definately be albino. Is he near any bright lights or an open window? I know that some of my albino babies won't even open their eyes in my room with the dull light on. I also have to keep my curtains closed to keep my other albinos from starving themselves by not opening their. I'm glad to hear that he pooped though! Keep us posted!

 

[ruski]

im not 100% sure of his morph since his owners had no clue. His cage is about 4-5 feet from the window and there is a cardboard box/ large sterilite container containing all my gecko stuff in between his cage and the window so his enclosure is not lit up by light its pretty shady. It obviously got some light on it from the room being lit up by one window. Whatever was in his eye before is not as invasive but its covering the top portion of his eyeball in a crescent moon shape and his pupil is still revealed. I've been trying to get some pictures none are good enough once i do i`ll put it up.

I gave him yesterday to relax instead of being force fed on a daily basis. Only applied medication twice yesterday and going to be twice today as well as his feeding.

As i was in the middle of writing this i saw the little guy exploring for the first time with his eyes somewhat open! and was able to snap a couple pictures to better show you guys.

Here is the enclosure: (sorry i tried to get the window in the shot too, he is the one on the left of the plastic bin in the top left, its darker because of my cameras focus on the sunlight)



His eye(s) look pretty good in this picture:



Another of his eye : you can see the gap under his eye lid where whatever is on his eye is retracting to still cant catch one of that stuff swimming around



Also his pupil was enlarging and closing rapidly as he was trying to focus i think ( my concern is some damage to his eye from the lights on his previous setup which was by the windows and with a basking spot lamp)



And last one, here you can see him squinting. He was licking at the glass a lot while exploring but seems to be a lot of improvements to his performance and health since a week a ago almost now:

 

[Kjenkins]

im not 100% sure of his morph since his owners had no clue. His cage is about 4-5 feet from the window and there is a cardboard box/ large sterilite container containing all my gecko stuff in between his cage and the window so his enclosure is not lit up by light its pretty shady. It obviously got some light on it from the room being lit up by one window. Whatever was in his eye before is not as invasive but its covering the top portion of his eyeball in a crescent moon shape and his pupil is still revealed. I've been trying to get some pictures none are good enough once i do i`ll put it up.

I gave him yesterday to relax instead of being force fed on a daily basis. Only applied medication twice yesterday and going to be twice today as well as his feeding.

As i was in the middle of writing this i saw the little guy exploring for the first time with his eyes somewhat open! and was able to snap a couple pictures to better show you guys.

Here is the enclosure: (sorry i tried to get the window in the shot too, he is the one on the left of the plastic bin in the top left, its darker because of my cameras focus on the sunlight)

View attachment 65802

His eye(s) look pretty good in this picture:

View attachment 65803

Another of his eye : you can see the gap under his eye lid where whatever is on his eye is retracting to still cant catch one of that stuff swimming around

View attachment 65804

Also his pupil was enlarging and closing rapidly as he was trying to focus i think ( my concern is some damage to his eye from the lights on his previous setup which was by the windows and with a basking spot lamp)

View attachment 65805

And last one, here you can see him squinting. He was licking at the glass a lot while exploring but seems to be a lot of improvements to his performance and health since a week a ago almost now:

View attachment 65806

I'm pretty shur you have some type of albino tho. The coloring of his eyes are pink. Possibly a bell or tremper albino. I'm leaning more to the bell side tho. He looks good for everything he's been through keep up the good work.

 

[Dinosaur!]

He certainly has a nice setup! I don't think that much light would bother him very much Just keep doing what you're doing, and keep us posted please! I want to see this guy become a big ol' fatty

 

[ruski]

I definitely will kara thank you!.

Lol well autumn, as you can already tell from my trend of multiple daily updates you will get to see every minute of him becoming a fatty .

As a real update i just finished feeding him maybe 2 cc's of the slurry. but to begin the story of this update let me begin by saying my hands sweat easily and a lot when handling something gentle which in this case is this little guy. so for the past 2 days i thought nothing of it that after a slow and fragile 15-30 minute feeding sessions i had some perspiration on my hands.

Well during todays feeding the reason i stopped at 2 cc's maybe even less ( due to alot of drops ending up on the paper towel) i felt a warm stream on my hands, a lengthy one at that. I placed him back in his cage and saw my hands were covered in clear liquid.

My assumption is that it is urine... maybe from being scared?? which leads me to my question what exactly do you think that is? I didnt see it in action but it felt like a small jet stream of warm water hitting my hand for acouple seconds and looks clear.

Also to give more detail on my feeding: I hold him in my hands with his front legs somewhat restrained or resting on my index finger, and i do this very gently. At the first second that he begins to wiggle around i flat palm my hand so he can take a breather or a walk and then once he is settled we repeat the process to give him a few more drops of food. And i obviously stopped after he urinated(???) on my hand under the assumption that it was out of fear/ or panic on his part.

 

[ruski]

new update:

from observing his walking it seems like he is a little bit more energetic now. Also eyes have cleared up and he has them open now when moving around instead of bumping into stuff with closed eyes.

I have stopped the slurry and trying the mealworm thing and also with crickets. I mash the head of the cricket with my tongs and try to feed it to him by tapping on his lips. Althought he lunges at the tip of the tongs because he smells all the "juice" from the mealworms/crickets on the tongs but i managed to get a few crickets in lol.

So far he took 2 mealworms that were cut in half yesterday. Didnt really go for the mealworms today but he took down 3 crickets. The crickets werent very big but id say two were 1/4 of an inch and the third was close to 1/2.

It's not much but im trying to get the scent and flavor to him so he can start hunting again instead of being hand fed.

P.S. i couldnt snap a pic in time but yesterday when i put him in the plastic bin to feed at first he layed on his belly, flattened it out and raised his from arms up off the ground and froze for a few seconds when i was offering the mealworm (tryed it whole and alive at first). Has this happened to any of you or have you seen this behavior before?

 

[indyana]

Glad he's trying to eat on his own!

 

[Dinosaur!]

I'm glad to hear that he is eating better now As for the leg thing, I only had one female do that to me a few years back while she was in my lap. About two seconds later she took a huge dump on my favorite pair of Harry Potter sweat pants She never lifted her legs like that again, and I don't know why she did it the first time... Maybe someone elses gecko has done that before?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Great job! Good news is he doens't look that skinny so now that he's eating he should be fine! As long as he gets 2-5 mealworms or the equivalent every other day or so he should be able to at least maintain his weight. Reptiles need a lot fewer calories than warm blooded animals! I'd let him improve at his own rate and not try to get him to eat more than he needs

He's certainly a lucky guy to have found his way to you!!

 

[ruski]

I'm glad to hear that he is eating better now As for the leg thing, I only had one female do that to me a few years back while she was in my lap. About two seconds later she took a huge dump on my favorite pair of Harry Potter sweat pants She never lifted her legs like that again, and I don't know why she did it the first time... Maybe someone elses gecko has done that before?

It was interesting although no poop certainly not on my clothing luckily although he had been urinating on me lol

 

[ruski]

Great job! Good news is he doens't look that skinny so now that he's eating he should be fine! As long as he gets 2-5 mealworms or the equivalent every other day or so he should be able to at least maintain his weight. Reptiles need a lot fewer calories than warm blooded animals! I'd let him improve at his own rate and not try to get him to eat more than he needs

He's certainly a lucky guy to have found his way to you!!

Thank you I appreciate that. I'm certainly trying my best! So far he is doing about 2 mealworms a day with the exception of the crickets once. Always find him with calcium on his chin from the little dish I leave in his tank lol. Still doesn't show any interest in hunting yet, I spend the first 20 minutes dropping them live around the container to spike his interest and nothing. I'm sure once he gets some more energy he will get back to normal.

 

[ruski]

Quick update:

So eventually cutting the mealworm and trying to feed like that came to an end pretty quickly since he lost interest. I didnt want to pry his mouth open for force feeding so i tryed to interest him in live mealworms for a prolonged amount of time. Eventually he started sniffing them out and shaking the tail but not lunging for it. Sniffs, licks, and gently nips at it and then walks away several times.

I must admit i was confused at why he wouldnt eat them since he seemed interested. But i forgot one thing:

Which is that I also crush the head on 2 crickets and leave it in his cage, they still shake around for a little bit catching his interest throughout the night. I have noticed 2-4 crickets are gone from his cage. Pooping on a healthy regular basis now and although i have not witnessed it im pretty confident he is eating the crickets.

After some time has passed and he put on some weight i will post some picture updates.

silly me weighed him and forgot to record it in my book >.< i will post current weight soon

That is all for now, thank you everyone again for the help and input!!