Sick Gecko..........HELP!!!!

[JessandJohn1991]

Hi there people, My boyfriend and I are new to the site so first of all Hello

I'll start off with saying we got a little girl leopard gecko called Coral back in February 2012 as my boyfriend got her for an anniversary present for me as he new i loved gecko's. She lived on her own and was a very happy friendly gecko and ate really well so in June we decided to get another juvenile gecko called Blackie who we got told was a blizzard gecko (we don't think he is anymore)

So there we were with two geckos around the same age, perhaps Coral was a few months older but they were the same size and lived happily together until earlier this month.

Overnight it seemed as if Coral had lost a lot of weight so we took her straight to our local pet/vet shop and they told us that it was caused by cage bulling from the new gecko and he wasn't letting her eat so we separated them and brought a new cage and heat mat for Coral. Over the week she deteriorated so much she was just skin and bone and no matter how much we tried to feed her it was useless the weight just kept falling off and eventually later on in the week we found her curled up in her house dead it all happened so quickly it was scary.

We buried her in the garden because even though we didn't have her long she was still part of our family.

Now a couple of weeks later we've noticed that Blackie is going down the same road. Hes refusing to eat, there was been 10 mealworms in a dish, 2 hoppers and 2 waxworms in his tank for over a week which he wont touch. We've tried dead food which he wont touch and he is loosing weight rapidly. The only difference is that he isn't lethargic and is very lively and his eyes are always open and bright.

At the moment we have taken him to the vet and we are on a 3 day course of Pancure to help treat/prevent worms and his poop has been sent away to be scanned for crypto and other parasites. We have also given him a warm bath mixed with Pedialyte to sooth any combustion if that's the problem but i seriously doubt it as he is still pooping.

We are force feeding him at the moment with turkey/chicken babyfood watered down with pedialyte with mixed calci in it of which he is taking and licking off his nose but it is seriously not enough for him as he is so small.

We really don't want this gecko going down the same path. I'm going to upload some photos of him in a bath shortly.

Can anyone please help us see what this is before the results come back.

Thanks Guys

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Sorry to hear about your geckos. Great that you've taken him to the vet. If you could give a little more information about your set up and gecko by filing out the below information it might help folks understand your situation a bit better.

About your leo:
- Sex
- Age & Weight
- How long have you owned your leo
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend)

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)
- When was the last time he/she went
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size
- Type (ex. glass tank)
- Type of substrate
- Hides, how many, what kind
B) Heating
- Heat source
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)
- Method of regulating heat source
- What are you using to measure your temps
- Do you have any lights (describe)
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect)
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)
- What are you gut loading food with

 

[SC Geckos]

As Lisa said filling the questions above will help. Did you quarantine the new gecko (for 60 - 90 days) before housing them together? I don't recommend housing any geckos together other than a short time for breeding, but if one had some sort of sickness it could have easily gave it to the other when housed together. I know this doesn't help your situation right now but its more for future reference. Hope you hear back from the vet soon on the results of the fecal.

 

[katie_]

Im afraid it sounds like your geckos have caught something. Unfortunatly when you do not quarantine new babies, they can bring bugs and infect everyone.
If it happened THAT fast I would suspect crypto or some other parasite. I would bring a fecal sample straight to the vet so you know what you are dealing with.
Simple parasites can be treated.

Sorry I didnt read the part that says youve already been to the vet. Good luck, youve done the best you can at this point!

 

[sausage]

im so sorry to hear she died, it so very sad.
I lost my very first two geckos to crypto and unfortunately it dose sound like thats what you have
fingers crossed for the vet results to come back clear.
as already said filling in the questionnaire will give us a better look but it sounds like your doing every thing you possibly can at this point.

all the things that the other lil gecko had including the cage need to be sterilised asap to prevent any further cross contamination.

 

[JessandJohn1991]

About your leo:
- Sex : Male
- Age & Weight : 5 months (not to sure) and he weighs 21grams
- Morph: We got told he was a Blizzard
- How long have you owned your leo: Since June 13th 2012
- Where was he/she obtained: Small pet store who had him ordered in but they didn't tell us where from.
- Is your leo wild caught or captive bred: Captive bred

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: Every day
- Is your leo acting any different today? No, Hes sleeping on the heated side at the moment but still hasn't eaten.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe: No
B) Fecals
- Describe: Its a mixture, some are quite runny but not completely watery and some can be quite hard.
- When was the last time he/she went: Yesterday
C) Problem : Please see my first thread above

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: Length - 2ft, width-1.5ft and height - 1ft
- Type: Glass Viv
- Type of substrate: Calci Sand
- Hides: 2 hides, one on the cool side and one of the heated side. Also have some plastic viv plants that go along the back of the tank he can hide under.
B) Heating
- What is your main heat source: Heat mat that covers half the tank.
- What are your cage temps: Hot side between 80 and 87
- What are you using to measure your temps: stick on temp gauge
- Do you have any lights: One small dim light that we leave on in the day but turn off at night.
C) Cage mates
- How many: Non

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What are you feeding: Hoppers, Waxworms, Mealworms and crickets (hes not eating them)
- How often are you feeding your gecko and how much per feeding? We are giving him droplets of babyfood and calci every night before we go to bed to keep his strength up.
- How are you feeding: Hand fed, left in bowl and left in tank
B) Supplements
- What calcium suppliment are you using: Calci Dust - Vetark professional
-How are you implimenting your suppliment program: Every day we mix calci in and there is also some pure calci mix in his tank if he wants to lick it.
- What are you gutloading your feeder insects with: Nothing.

Thank you for your comments back guys! Hope this questionnaire helps. No we didn't separate them when he first got him as the pet shop advised us not to when we picked him up. Wished we would of done that now How do you upload photos onto this site because i have some that might be useful. I really hope its not crypto.

 

[Jordycakes]

I'm sure someone else will say, but most of us don't have our Gecko's on sand or calci sand as they can get impaction. I have mine on repti carpet and tiles.
Sorry to hear about your Gecko before <3, but I'm also glad that you've taken this little one to the Vet. It's the best thing you could do x

 

[katie_]

If your fecal comes back positive for crypto you will need to clean EVERYTHING in ammonia. Crypto is immune to bleach from what I hear.

 

[SC Geckos]

I would for sure get rid of the calci sand and use paper towels, tile, repti carpet (just to name a few) That goes for any leopard gecko especially a sick one because it may try to eat the sand because it has calcium in it and cause more issues.
The stick on thermometer only will read the ambient air. What you need to know is the surface temp on the side with the UTH. Get a digital thermometer with a probe that you can tape to the floor above the UTH. The surface temp should be between 90- 92 (give or take a degree or two) As long as this temp is achieved, the ambient air temp really is not very important.
When your gecko does start eating properly again. (hopefully soon) you must gutload your feeders. A gecko will only be as healthy as the feeders it eats. The healthier the feeders the healthier the gecko.
Now, me saying all this and from what you describe, doesn't sound like these issues are the cause of the leos sickness. However, they will help to have and keep a healthy gecko in the future.
Good luck.

 

[sausage]

dont feel bad, we have all made mistakes during our hobbies but its that we learn from then matters. your doing every thing you can now and you should feel proud of it
I hope that this bad experience dosnt put you off keeping leos

fingers crossed that the sample comes back clear, keep us posted x

 

[JessandJohn1991]

Thank you guys it means a lot for your comments. I will hear back off the vet hopefully on Monday so i will let you all know, Also how do you upload photos onto the site because i have some that might help people see what i mean xx

 

[JessandJohn1991]

Thank you for your comments guys, The sand will be coming out straight away tomorrow and I will buy a new thermostat. Here are some photos of him normal, on the underside and his viv. Please take a look and tell me what you think could be the problem. Thanks Guys xxx

 

[katie_]

Crypto is often smelly, and they often have a bruised looking under belly.

 

[ChristinaJ]

He's definitely not a blizzard, he appears to be a Muphys Patternless, there is no way for me to tell you his hets and I would strongly suggest never to breed him if he does pull through this for that reason.

The description you gave sounds like crypto, hits and kills very past and leaves watery smelly stools as Katie mentioned. It COULD be a different parasite though. Hopefully you hear back from your vet and it is good news.

Get the gecko off of the sand and onto tile or paper towel ASAP, sand kills geckos, its as simple as that. The ambient temps don't matter. You need a thermometer with a probe reading the floor temp. Your UTH needs to be controlled with a thermostat as well to help it regulate the proper temperature.

 

[JessandJohn1991]

Hi guys sorry I haven't got back to you quicker. We have some excellent news though! We brought some really small black crickets this morning and have been gutfeeding them with various fruit as advised eg, orange, apple and lettuce all day. We thought we'd give one a try and see if he would eat is as he hasn't eaten anything solid for weeks. So we put it in and straight away he went for it! RESULT!! so we tried another and yet again he went for it, poor little guy looked like he was starving. Eventually he ate 7 small crickets and a small hopper before we decided to stop as we didn't want to over feed him. We will try again tomorrow night and see if he will take them. Why do you think he appetite has come back almost overnight? Could it be the course of worming treatment he was on or that we had gutfed the crickets before hand. Also these crickets are very small considering what we were trying to give him before.
He is now off the calci sand and is on some tiles. We have brought a thermometer and the temp on the warm side was 89.6F and the cool side was 77.1F.

Also the vet didn't really mention anything about his underside and said it was his organs but he wanted a poo sample to check for everything. When he said everything he said it was a total check and cost us £80 where the crypto test was only £14 so i'm guessing it would pick up any bacterial infection as well. When we get the results back we will ask and if not we will send off for him to have a bacterial examination as we want him to be completely in the clear

We are so over the moon that hes actually eaten something! Just thought we would update you. x

 

[JessandJohn1991]

He's definitely not a blizzard, he appears to be a Muphys Patternless, there is no way for me to tell you his hets and I would strongly suggest never to breed him if he does pull through this for that reason.

Why wouldn't you breed him if you don't mind me asking? not that we are planning to just out of curiosity x

 

[ImNotYogi]

Why wouldn't you breed him if you don't mind me asking? not that we are planning to just out of curiosity x

I'm not a breeder but I've read breeders advising others to not breed unless you know the genetic history of the animals. Potential buyers will want to know the history so they'll have an idea of what it may look like as it ages and any offspring it may have. Obviously a breeder and/or someone more informed on genetics can give a better answer and clear up any misinformation on my part. But anyway, it's great that your boy is eating. Hopefully he makes a great recovery.

 

[sausage]

thats fantastic, congrats.

even though some geckos pull through serious illness they can some times still be carriers so its bes not to risk it.

 

[SC Geckos]

Why wouldn't you breed him if you don't mind me asking? not that we are planning to just out of curiosity

Because if you don't know the exact genetics of the animals breeding you will never know what exactly the babies are. (which is a very bad thing if you sell/give them to someone that plans on breeding them) for example, You never want to mix different types of albinos (three types) or snows (four types) together. Since you don't know the genetics you have no idea if the gecko is het for albino or any other morph. If you do decide to breed sometime down the road, buy from a breeder that can give you the genetics of the animal you but along with its parent and possibly grand parants. That way you have a complete history of the animal.

 

[Ozy]

For gut loading I use Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Diet and the gel water stuff. For supplementing I just dust every single thing she eats with Repashy Superfoods Calcium Plus. Also Repashy Bug Burger, Super Load and Hydro Load are good gut loading options. I use this routine because it is simple and I know my leo is getting all of the nutrition she needs. Glad to hear he ate something! Fingers crossed!!!