Rescued Gecko wont eat and wont open eyes

[starry492]

We recently rescued a leopard gecko from an ad we found online. We were able to determine that she was female and that she was very malnourished (will post picture soon). The people we got her off of claim they only fed her dried crickets rolled in calcium powder. She refuses to eat anything at all. We can not get her to eat worms, crickets or even a slurry. She wont open her mouth no matter what we try and I am starting to get worried. She is very thin, with no fat in her tail. She is basically skin and bones. She does drink water and has only pooped twice since we have had her. She also will not open her eyes more than the tiniest little slit. Our vet and other gecko owning friends have suggested putting drops in her eyes but nothing seems to help. Any advice on how to feed her and maybe about her eyes would be greatly appreciated. I am very concerned about her but I knew as soon as I saw her in their tank that I had to take her. She had no moist hide, no bedding and no water bowl. She was in a tiny little fish tank even though she is an adult and she was housed with a male who is quite large and very very healthy. Could that have something to do with it?

 

[indyana]

I don't really have any good advice if you can't get the gecko to eat at all besides consulting with your vet. It does not sound as though she is doing well at this point.

 

[Sungoldgecko]

It would be better to post a recent picture. Provide her will a good enough space. UTH to heat up in a corner at 90 degrees. Provide fresh water all the time. Place a hide, spray some water for humidility 2 times a week. and remove any food that is untouched after 3 days. Stimulate her to eat by giving live insects ( crickets, mealworms or dubia roaches ) dusted with vitamin powder. A container cup of calcium powder on the side. It may take her 2 weeks before you can see her eat. Check for her droppings. It needs to be black well formed, if its white to yellow then that is just urates crystals and not really digested food. Heating is important to establish her metabolism going. Consistency of providing her what she needs may brought her health back. You said that she was housed with a large normal looking gecko. Of course, its possible that her food is being eaten all by the healthy one. She need to be kept separated until her appetite returns. But a picture is worth a thousand words. She could be to emaciated to return back to her normal state of health if she is not eating for a long time.

 

[starry492]

I have checked the temps and her warm side is around 90 and her cool side is around 75ish. We have a hide for her and have been spraying every few days to make sure the humidity is good. She will not touch any calcium powder that we put in a dish for her and if we leave food in a dish she wont touch it either. Her eyes wont open so I am not entirely sure she even knows the food is there. We managed to "force" feed her 3 worms yesterday but she left the last one hanging out of her mouth for quite some time and we had to remove it. Her droppings are more of a greenish yellow color with a little black in it than anything else. I tried to contact the person that I got her off of and they could not give me an exact time of her last feeding so I am not sure how long she has been without food. Judging by how she looks it has been a very long time. The two pictures are one of her and one of the male she was housed with. You can tell the difference in their health and eating by the pictures. We took him too because I was scared that he would end up the same way. I read somewhere that she may have ulcers on her eyes and that could be why they are not opening but i think it could be more due to exhaustion from being so starved because she has opened them a few times.

 

[indyana]

The eyes will probably need treatment for infection (usually a vet will prescribe antibiotics and ointment). She may have an underlying issue such as parasites for her to be so thin, or it could just be that the male bullied her and took all the food.

If you can't get her to take gecko slurry and medicine though, she isn't going to survive for long in her current condition.

 

[starry492]

We tried a slurry and she wouldn't go for it. We tried putting the drop on her nose but she wont lick anything, even if we run our finger across her mouth like the other geckos we have do. I am going to try and get a little dropper today and maybe place the slurry in her mouth. Trying to do all I can at home because there is only one vet in our area that takes geckos and they can't get us in for another month and a half because they are so booked. I am on the call list if they have a cancellation but I am trying to do what I can at home until we can get her in. Everything the vet has told me has just been over the phone and unfortunately we are stuck in a catch 22 because the vet wont prescribe drops for her eyes until they see her but I don' think she can see the food to eat. I am not entirely sure she will make it long enough for us to have the appointment. She has very little movement too, When we have her in her tank she stays in one spot most of the time and when we take her out, aside from grabbing on to our fingers for support she does not want to walk around or crawl on us or anything. She just sits there. I am worried about this too, could it just be part of exhaustion from being starved?

 

[discoverlight]

Have you considered looking for "Jumpstart" by Zilla? Try to see if any petstores or reptile stores around you carry it, because some don't. But it's a caloric supplement that adds sugars and oils to a reptiles diet (it's for off-food reptiles) and can make your little guy strong enough to start eating slurries and other things, although you'll probably need to buy a smaller syringe because the one it comes with is pretty big. Ive heard mixed results but as far as at-home remedies go, you could try it out.

 

[Sungoldgecko]

We tried a slurry and she wouldn't go for it. We tried putting the drop on her nose but she wont lick anything, even if we run our finger across her mouth like the other geckos we have do. I am going to try and get a little dropper today and maybe place the slurry in her mouth. Trying to do all I can at home because there is only one vet in our area that takes geckos and they can't get us in for another month and a half because they are so booked. I am on the call list if they have a cancellation but I am trying to do what I can at home until we can get her in. Everything the vet has told me has just been over the phone and unfortunately we are stuck in a catch 22 because the vet wont prescribe drops for her eyes until they see her but I don' think she can see the food to eat. I am not entirely sure she will make it long enough for us to have the appointment. She has very little movement too, When we have her in her tank she stays in one spot most of the time and when we take her out, aside from grabbing on to our fingers for support she does not want to walk around or crawl on us or anything. She just sits there. I am worried about this too, could it just be part of exhaustion from being starved?

Hi again. Just looking at her condition. I don't want to keep your hope too much. Her condition may be to late and serious to return her back to her state of health. But just try the best you can at what you are doing. If she comes through she comes through. If not, cheer up because you have tried to give this gecko her chance.