Well, what happened?

[Khrysty]

(Operating under the understanding that most of you are not veterinarians, and those of you that are cannot give veterinary advice over the internet)

I've had one of my leopards for about three years. We got her as a hatchling, she was a rescue from an owner who didn't know a whole lot about leopards. She had mouth and tail rot and because of the issues with her mouth, she was unable to eat. We got her treatment and she recovered fully within 5 months or so.

Last year, after no signs of health issues since the initial problems, we decided to breed her. She laid one egg that whole season, just one.

(This may not be relevant, so you can skip if you want)
It hatched (a female) but died 4 months later of unknown causes. We found the hatchling over the heater, all shriveled up one morning. She displayed no health issues up until that point (did she maybe burn herself to death?)

This year, we bred her again, since she seemed to have no problems with laying the last time. She's laid two clutches so far, a month apart. She was maybe two weeks away from laying another clutch and displaying completely normal behaviors two days ago.

Then that night, she regurgitated about 15 mealworms (she'd eaten the night before) and seemed unbalanced when she walked. When we woke up this morning she was dead, lying with her belly in her water bowl.

What the heck? We have her body in the freezer..would you try and find someone to perform a necropsy? With the hatchling's death, would you think the issue possibly genetic? Would you scrap the other eggs or let them hatch and watch them?

What about the other leopards I own? They all look 100% fine...I'm wondering if maybe I should get them checked out too? The male she locked up with is looking just fine, too. He's eating regularly, defecating regularly, exploring at night, etc..

 

[acpart]

I'll just add one of my experiences that was somewhat similar so you have other examples: I had a perfectly healthy female that I had gotten from a reputable breeder several years before as a juvie. Never had any health problems, all her babies were healthy. One night, probably last summer, I was feeding the geckos superworms and all of a sudden I heard a noise: she regurgitated a (dead) superworm and just died. My brother is a vet, though not a reptile vet so we did a necroscopy. The only positive finding was some blood in the abdominal cavity, though it's not entirely clear that it didn't get there from the necroscopy process. The only thing I can think of is that she had some kind of aneurysm (rupture of a major blood vessel). I still have some of her offspring including her daughter who happens to have an abdominal hernia. I don't think that is in any way related to the death of the mother. So, it's possible that these geckos were the victims of a stroke or aneurysm. Based on the range of opinion I've seen on GF, there are undoubtedly some people who will say that if there is even the slightest suspicion that a gecko may possibly have a problem, it shouldn't be bred and all offspring should be culled. This is more exteme than I'd ever want to go, but you'll have to use your judgement.

Aliza

 

[Khrysty]

I forgot to add that, like yours, there was blood involved. It looks like it was coming from her vent..it was all over the substrate (shelf liner), and my fiance said that when he picked her up, it was crusted to the vent.

Maybe something ruptured in her stomach? The eggs still looked intact

 

[LZRDGRL]

I had a few females die during the egg-laying season this spring. I assume inner bleeding. Maybe something ruptured when the eggs were on their way out? I wouldn't throw away the eggs but let them hatch and see what happens. You'd be mad at yourself if you culled completely healthy babies if the mother had an internal problem. If it is indeed genetic, you can still cull the babies right after birth if they're badly affected. If they're healthy, you'll have a nice legacy from your deceased female :main_yes:

I also had a gecko die of a stroke (necropsy performed by the new reptile vet in town). When geckos get too hot, I think that can lead to a calcium problem in their system, and they can get a stroke. Now I wonder if my gecko had been too close to his overhead heat lamp maybe. I buy 50 watts now, and not 75 (and never 100). Just in case.

Chrissy

 

[sausage]

sound like she was probably egg bound if they if your saying the eggs were still inside her. if not and she had just layed them, then could well have ruptured somthing in the laying process.

 

[Khrysty]

I don't think she was egg bound, as she was not due to lay her eggs for at least another week.

Stroke from overheating is a possibility, however, that I hadn't considered. She was kept in the only tub that didn't have vent holes (I hadn't gotten a chance to drill them) and it was a particularly hot night. The regurge would make sense then too, I think. I'll make sure no one else is in that position again, and hopefully that was the only problem.

We opted not to have a necropsy done. We buried her body in the backyard with a tiny little gravestone above it.

RIP Guinevere

 

[sausage]

the poor thing probably suffocated :O

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I'm sorry you lost your girl

On another note, it's really a lot faster and easier to use a soldering tool to put vent holes in tubs. Takes about 1 minute to do a 15qt. Plus there's no shavings or sharp edges.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I'm so sorry you lost your gecko girl. In the 15 years I have been working with geckos, I have lost females in the way you described. In most cases, it was a result of the oviduct becoming infected and/or rupturing from the ovary causing internal hemorrhaging.