Start of MBD?

[Inari Rose]

My young male leopard gecko has been walking strange. His back, left leg is bruised on the lower leg and top of his foot and the knee wobbles around as if the joints don't work/hold properly. He is acting normal, walking around, climbing, eating, and he is not acting aggressive or scared. Aside from his leg he is healthy and happy as far as I can tell. Though I am new to geckos so I don't have much faith in my ability to judge their health yet.

I use paper towels on the bottom of his tank. He shares a 3' x 1 1/2' x 1' terrarium with a young (6" head to tail tip) bearded dragon who I think is female, an adult female leo (weighing 51 grams last I checked), and a medium sized male (about 30 grams). He weighs about 23 grams himself. I know I should not keep males together once they are grown, yes I have been watching carefully for fights, weight loss, and wounds and haven't seen any problems yet. All 4 lizards are doing fine (though the beardie does not seem to be hungry, but that's a different topic all together).

There is always calcium powder available in a dish for them.

Is there anything that may have caused this? Is it really MBD or did he get hurt some other way? It is possible that the other male hurt him but would it be this bad? Please let me know what you think I should do! There are a couple reptile dealers near me I could take him to. I haven't called any vets yet, should I take him to a vet?


[video=youtube;etA0TilFYbk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etA0TilFYbk[/video]

 

[Terrain_pull up]

I'm not sure about it being MBD. I'm not an expert by any means though. If it were MBD the bones would actually look curved (bow legged) and other limbs may also look similar to my understanding. He looks like a healthy gecko except for the leg problem. I'm thinking it might be some kind of injury to either his hip joint or knee joint. If this condition just started it would be a good decision to take him to a vet and get some xrays. That would tell you for sure what the problem is. If the knee/hip is dislocated or something I'll be surprised if anything can actually be done but again I don't know for sure. My two cents for what it's worth. Good luck

 

[Ozy]

Leopard geckos should NEVER be housed together with other species because they have different requirements for survival. You need to separate all of your lizards and take this one to the vet. His leg looks broken.

 

[Savvy Geckos]

I agree with the latter posts, bearded dragons when big enough will actually eat leopard geckos. Also the legs would look bowed and not broken, but MBD is still a high possibility. I would take him to the vet if you can.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Back right leg IMO looks okay. Back left looks mangled. I would guess he fell off something or got into a tussle with the beardie and broke it. I would get him to a vet ASAP to confirm and set it if its broken. I don't have a lot of first-hand experience with MBD but would think it would affect than just one leg if that was the cause.

 

[Inari Rose]

thank you all! I will get him to a vet for x-rays as soon as I can. I have the bearded dragon separated from the leos now. Hopefully my dragon will feel a little more safe and my geckos will also be safer.

I was only keeping them together because I had seen pictured and videos of beardies and leos together. The bearded dragons were never bigger than the leopard geckos though. I'll be sure to keep them separate now.

 

[mörten]

Any update on your little leo and his legs?

 

[Inari Rose]

Yes! I'm sorry it took so long to reply. I've been in texas with my brother caring for my lizards.

He is completely better now bright eyes, no wobbliness in his legs, and back to being very healthy!

Can't say the same for the female though, something is REALLY wrong. Not just twisted/sprained leg wrong, but like bleeding from several places, losing 8 grams in 7 days, and several other things. I have posted a topic with more detail and pictures if anyone can help?

 

[sausage]

im glad to see all is well with the little one.