Stuck shed in eyes!

[Tasha]

About your leo:
- Sex: Female
- Age & Weight: H.D April, weight is unknown right now, I need a new scale
- How long have you owned your leo: Since late june
- Where was he/she obtained: Friend


A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: Not often
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. : She is usually very alert and was quite the little piggy.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe: N/A
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) : Very small
- When was the last time he/she went: Few days ago
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on:
One of my geckos won't open her eyes, I'm sure its from stuck shed. It's gotten to the point where she won't open one eyes and is now starting to not want the other open either. The other day I was rubbing the mainly closed eye with a q-tip and she eventually managed to open it. Both eyes are slightly cloudy.


Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 10 g.
- Type (ex. glass tank): Glass
- Type of substrate:Paper towel
- Hides, how many, what kind:2, rock arc and plastic container filled with moss
B) Heating
- Heat source: Under the tank heater
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) : Unknown, no thermo.
- Method of regulating heat source: None
- What are you using to measure your temps: Nothing
- Do you have any lights (describe): Any light that come from my room light
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): Housed alone
- Describe health, or previous problems: N/A


Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Mealworms
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect): Hand feeding right now
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): Calcium dust
- What are you gut loading food with: Mealworm bedding ? I would need to find the name

 

[Dinosaur!]

I did deal with this kind of problem with my boy, Meat head, and since he didn't go to a vet in time, his eyes got horrible. check this out---->http://geckoforums.net/f130-health-medications/96100.htm . but your geckos issue may be entirely different, so I would definitely recommend a vet. also, it would help us a lot if you could fill this out -->http://geckoforums.net/f130-health-medications/70912.htm I hope your gecko gets better!

 

[Poppy243]

Is the moist hide warm at all? I know placement of it can vary from person to person. It'll either be in one of three places: the warm side, the middle (so it's kind of warm but not as warm as fully on the warm side), or the cold side. If the moist hide is on the cold side, she may not want to go into it because it's cold and damp, especially with winter setting in. I personally think the moist hide should be in the middle or on the warm side, that way it's humid and warm and makes them want to hang out in it. Wouldn't it be gross to hang out in a cold, wet bed? YUCK! I especially keep my Clem's humid hide damp when she's shedding, I don't feel that she necessarily needs that humidity any other time. I do try to rewet it every so often when she's not shedding as well. Get her eyes better first, and if your humid hide is on the cold side, or even in the middle, maybe try switching it with the warm hide for next time, and see if you see her in there more. I haven't had any experience with the eye issues yet, thank goodness. Clem had a close call but we got it off before anything happened. She hasn't had any issues since getting the humid hide into the cage, and she likes hanging out in there too!

 

[Tasha]

@Dinosaur
Okay, sorry, I was in such a rush to get to work I forgot all about that part. Edited my main post!

@Poppy234
I honestly never really thought about that. I rearranged her enclosure so she has a moist hide on the warm side too.

Update
I think it might have gotten to this point because I work a graveyard shift, babysit during the day and on my days off I would be off somewhere else putting time into my relationship. I'm not doing any of that this week to spend it with my animals since I have more than one leo. And I need to start making more time for them, tired or not. All my other leos and snake are doing fine, nice and fat and active. Just not this one and I want to change that.

I had Cheeto [the leo in question] out as soon as I got off work this morning. With a little help from my sister and gently messaging I managed to get out small bits of stuck shed from her eyes and she ate about 5 mealworms, still in the process of seeing if she'll eat more mealies before I put her away to chill out. She's small and hard to handle and I'm afraid of stressing her out too much--last thing I want is that precious tail to drop. I'll see about a vet though, I have the money, I just can't drive and finding a ride is a little difficult.

Thank you for the response!

 

[Poppy243]

If Cheeto is in the juvenile size range, which is like 15-30g in my opinion, she's much less likely to drop her tail than you may think! That's very good news. For reference, my leo Clementine was hatched in July, and is between 25-30g. My other leo, Poppy, is HD unknown but she's over 45g now, so she's at least a few months older than Clem. She was 21g when I bought her at the end of July, and she's basically doubled in size, so she's probably around 8-9 months, and is about sub-adult to almost adult size. (All that information is for you to roughly gauge where your Cheeto falls. Obviously, size varies based on care and how much they may have eaten and so on, but general trends are helpful for a rough guesstimate.) The bigger they are, the less likely they are to drop their tail if they are handled normally. The tail is their precious! Your gecko may be jumpy and nervous when handled, but may not actually feel all that threatened, you know? But, obviously, it doesn't hurt to be conscientious of the possibility that she could drop her tail. I'm always conscientious but I try not to keep that from handling my big girl, Poppy, who is a bit jumpy, as normally as possible. Mostly I just try to keep her from running out of my hands! LOL

 

[ShelbyLu]

Earlier this week, I rescued a tiny little bearded dragon who could not/would not open his eyes. He is from the same clutch as my beardies who weigh 28 grams and 33 grams and he's only weighing in at 11 grams. TINY. He is completely under developed.

He could open one eye a little bit and could not open the other at all. Because of this he was basically blind and was failing to thrive because he couldn't hunt, etc. I took him right to the vet and they were able to work the shed out of his eyes with a warm, wet q tip. He is also taking antibiotics.

We're almost a week in and his eyelids are still pretty swollen and he still keeps his eyes closed about 50% of the time. The vet thinks his eyes bother him from the infection that got in them after his shed didn't get cleared. He would also wake up the first couple of days and his eyes were glued shut again. But now that doesn't happen anymore.

So, I know yours is a gecko and not a beardie, but I thought the information might be helpful. Our guy was left so long with the problem that his eyes are going to take a while to be okay. So, you'll probably want to take him to the vet because it's likely that he needs medicine to really get well. I'm worried that Hermes has MBD because he couldn't hunt, so not sure what he was eating, but I'm sure he had very little calcium before us.

Anyway, your issue just seems similar to what we're going through with our little beardie, so I thought I would chime in.

Good luck!

~Shelby

 

[Tasha]

An update

I'm kind of on a look out for any vet that will see reptiles around my area. I've had to take my snake to the vet before, but that was in Gray, TN. That's a little outta my range right now since I can't drive and don't think anyone would take me that far! Ugh!

As for Cheeto, I'm hand feeding her and she's pooing! She at least she is keeping it down and that's my main concern, making sure she eats.

Thanks again for the responses! I'll eventually try to get some pictures of her when I can.