Super complicated situation, really need help!

[Samurai]

Hi everyone,
So, I’ve got a really complicated situation going on with my geckos, and I could really use some help figuring out what is going on. I have 8 leopard geckos in my home, and 6 of them are blind. Each one of them has their own reason for their blindness, and each has a different intensity. Around 6 months ago my friend bought her first gecko from a reptile show, and not knowing what to look out for she ended up with a blind gecko herself. Immediately she found herself having problems to get him to eat. Since she knew I had dealt with this issue myself in the past she asked me to check out the situation. When I got there to see things for myself I found a gecko made of skin and bones, with the skinniest tail I had ever seen. She told me that he was like that when she bought him, and that the breeder didn’t give her much information on him when she got him other than he was a few months old and was a male. I helped her the best I could and gave her all the suggestions I could think of. Nothing really seemed to be working for her, and after so many months of him eating only one cricket every now and again, she was getting to discouraged to continue trying things. She turned to me once again and asked if I could take him in for awhile to see if I could get something to work that she couldn’t, knowing I had dealt with many blind geckos. I agreed to taking him in, and right away noticed the same issues she had been describing with getting him to eat. After trying every idea, I had gotten to work in the past without success, I decided to try the last thing I could think to attempt. I placed my friend’s gecko in with my oldest and blind gecko. Immediately they got along perfectly, and he began eating as if he had never had a problem. Due to how well this plan seemed to work, I have been keeping them in the same enclosure for a few weeks now. Everything seemed to be working great, until the past week. I have noticed that her gecko has become even thinner than when he came to stay with me, which I didn’t think was even possible. While he’s gotten thinner, he has been eating increasingly well. Another thing I just recently realized was that all of the fecal matter in the enclosure is entirely runny. Along with noticing problems with her gecko, I have noticed issues starting with my gecko. She has a seemingly very bloated belly. At first, I thought that she was pregnant due to her being female and him being male, but after noticing all of these other issues I am no longer sure that this is the case. She has also changed in personality. I have spent an immense amount of time handling her over the years I’ve had her and she is my most affectionate gecko. Lately she will no longer let me pick her up, and today she began showing signs of aggression with her tail when I placed my hand in the enclosure. Along with this her appetite has gone down drastically. I am not sure what is going on with this situation, and it seems like there could be numerous things playing into it. If anyone has any ideas or think they may know what is happening I would be super grateful to hear your thoughts. I will try anything to keep from losing them. Thank you in advance for any responses!

 

[Samurai]

 

[acpart]

Welcome to GF! I saw your post in another forum as well, and I agree with their advice: while I'm not a vet and can't say definitively, consistently runny poops and severe weight loss despite eating are symptoms of cryptosporidiosis. There is a special test for this that the vet can do which is different from a regular fecal exam. My vet was able to swab the vent and get a sample. Unfortunately, if that is the case, it's highly likely that now your entire collection has it since it is so contagious. How do I know this? I inadvertently introduced a gecko with crypto to my collection and my entire collection is positive. I can no longer breed, buy or sell geckos and have over 70 geckos with crypto (nearly all of which remain healthy at this point) to care for the rest of their lives. So please, take the two geckos (the one that you got from your friend as well as the one he's housed with) to a vet and have them tested.
If you want to go a step further, if your friend remembers which vendor she got the gecko from, she should email him/her to let them know the gecko has crypto (if it's positive). If there is no response, I feel strongly that she should go public (i.e. Facebook, etc) about it to protect other potential buyers.

Aliza

 

[Samurai]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply! And first off, thank you for a kind reply. I'm sorry it took so long for me to answer back, but I had been greatly upset by the number of rude responses that had been given on other sites I had posted the same issue on. Anyways, as far as we know he did not end up having crypto in the end. The vet seemed to think it was either kidney failure, liver disease, or some kind of blood infection (based on the symptoms in the last few days). This vet seemed to be very reputable and I really trusted his opinion. Sadly, however, with how far the symptoms had advanced and with the shape Totes was in he seemed to think there was a little chance he could recover but it was very doubtful. Because of this, and the fact that he seemed to be in quite some pain, the vet told us it would not be a bad decision to put him down. After thinking it over very thoroughly, we decided it was most humane to euthanize him. We did this with heavy hearts, but did't feel right making him to continue enduring the pain for a very slim chance of recovery. The vet told us he "could see a little glimmer of a chance at recovery, but not enough to make him the least bit hopeful". This was enough for us to say both the gecko and ourselves had fought as hard a battle as we could. Thank you again for your kind response. It was quite a bright spot after reading so many ugly comments. Thank you

 

[acpart]

Sorry for your loss. I sent you a private message on the other site which does repeat some of what I posted above (sorry, I'd forgotten what I'd already posted to you).

Aliza

 

[indyana]

Sorry the little one could not be saved. How is your older gecko doing that he was living with? I would keep an eye on her for any drastic changes in health, just in case he had something contagious.

 

[Samurai]

Thank you. That's okay, thank you for the responses!
Samantha

@acpart

 

[Samurai]

Thank you. I have definitely been keeping an eye on my other gecko ever since. She has not been doing the greatest. She has stopped eating, doesn't move around much, and her tail seems to be slowly thinning. I am not sure if the tail thinning is due to the illness or if it is just from the avoidance of food. I would like to take her for testing to figure out what is happening. However, I am struggling to see the point in paying for more expensive tests when the previous testing done on the original sick gecko has come back with no results. I will do whatever I can for my gecko and understand spending money is something that comes with keeping animals, but if it is not going to give results like the tests before it is just money wasted in my mind. I just cannot justify spending more on top of the $900 already spent on the situation for no result.
Thank you,
Samantha
@indyana