Shaky legs and abnormal behavior, MBD?

[chantelrey]

Hi, I've posted here before but got no response. I need to know if my leopard gecko is sick. She hasn't been eating normally recently, and her shed has been abnormal too (sticking to nose and a bit to her toes).
She hasnt eating in quite a while actually and she has gotten thinner as a result.
Today, it was the first time I have noticed her legs sort of twitching, they were lifting off the ground like they were irritated, but later on it just looked like twitching. Someone please help, I need to know if this is serious and needs treatment, and if so, how serious.

This is a female leopard gecko and she is about 3 years old. She lives with no other gecko and never has.

Here is the care sheet:

Sex
- Age & Weight- approx. 3 yrs, weight unknown
- How long have you owned your leo- 2.5 years
- Where was he/she obtained- pet store

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo- once a week, sadly not often
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.- please see above for abnormal behavior.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. - N/a
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)- regular, both brown and white are present
- When was the last time he/she went- last week? She hasnt eaten recently
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on -please refer to above info

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size- 20 gallon
- Type- glass tank
- Type of substrate- carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind- one humid hide with moss, one plant
B) Heating
- Heat source- infared lamp
- Cage temps- cool: mid-70s hot: low 90s
- Method of regulating heat source- dont have one
- What are you using to measure your temps- thermometer on wall of tank
- Do you have any lights- just the heat lamp
C) Cage mates
- How many -none
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding- usually mealworms, recently trying butterworms which she will not eat
- How are you feeding- usually left in dish
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using- Calcium with D3, a couple times a week, but recently I stopped using it. Started up again this week (she hasnt been eating it though)
- What are you gut loading food with- n/a

 

[Olympus]

I'm sorry your female doesn't seem to be acting like herself, let's see if we can figure out what's wrong.

Shaking definitely is a sign of a (minor-moderate) deficiency of some sort, so we can definitely start by addressing that symptom first. Typically the two main causes of MBD or a minor deficiency are too little calcium or too much D3/Phosphorous, both of which interfere with nerve signals to the muscles (hence the shaking). You need D3 but too much will impede calcium absorption into the bones, and an excessive amount will cause the soft tissues to calcify, and since the bones aren't getting the calcium they need the symptoms will mimic MBD. From your description it doesn't seem like excessive D3 is the cause since you were using it very sparingly so it might be a lack of plain calcium.

I would order a thing of plain calcium without any added vitamins (something like Repashy Supercal NO-D, as an example) and put a little bottle cap of calcium in her cage, so she can regulate her own levels of calcium. I would also dust her food with the plain calcium 2-3 feedings, and use the calcium with D3 for the remaining feedings. This should be enough to correct her blood-calcium levels, I think.

Additionally, I would really consider gutloading your feeders. Like that chicken commercial says, "you are what you eat eats," and it's super true for reptiles. A lot of feeders, like mealies or crickets, are not very high in good things like calcium but are very high in bad things like phosphorous. So by gutloading them (and dusting with calcium) you bring up the nutrient values because their bellies are full of good things. Does that make sense? So with something like mealies I would start feeding them fresh veggies/fruit, things like dark leafy greens (collard greens, mustard greens), carrots, squash, zucchini, oranges, pear, apple, blueberries, alfalfa, etc. Gutloading your feeders goes a long way to improving the health of your geckos.

Ok, with all of that out of the way (I know this is starting to look like a novel! Bear with me) I would consider switching out her heat source to an undertank heat pad. These geckos do really seem to respond better to an under-belly heat source than to an over-head heat source, so it may get her metabolism and appetite going if she can warm her belly. If price is an issue you can usually get heat pads for less money on Amazon.com.

I would switch the heat source and see if that gets her eating again, and if not let us know within a few days and we'll give you different advice on how to get her to eat. If she STILL doesn't want to eat you may have to consider encouraging her with some liquid diet (bug juice or something) or maybe even get a fecal done, to check for parasites.

I hope this helped!

 

[chantelrey]

Thank you so much for the reply!!
I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond, I've been dealing with her and everything seemed to be going okay...
Until today I just noticed some sort of abscess on the corner of her mouth. It looks like a scab. I tried running a damp q-tip over it but that didn't do anything. She's back to eating normally but I need to know if this abscess can be treated at home, and if it's serious. Thanks!

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Abscesses usually require antibiotics and the best way to get them into your leo is with injections. I would get her to a vet ASAP. An abscess plus shaky legs would scare me a lot.

I also noticed from your description that you aren't using a vitamin supplment. I would strongly urge you to pick one up and gutload your feeders like Olympus suggested. I usually recommend Repshy Calcium Plus. It's about $10 for a small jar in most petstores that should last you a couple of years. You can also order it online from lots of places. Also using an under tank heating pad is often better for leos especially if your gecko is having shedding issues. The UTH won't dry out the environment as much.

 

[chantelrey]

The shaky legs have stopped. I have her on calcium and she seemed to be doing just fine until she got the abscess on her mouth, thank you though, I will try and get her to the vet asap, I just needed to see if there was a home remedy as I don't have enough money for a trip to the vet.