Ivyna J. Spyder
New Member
- Messages
- 18
- Location
- USA
Hi all. I figured with all the long time gecko keepers here, maybe one of you can help me find some closure.
This is something that happened last year, with my second leopard gecko Quina.
Her name was Quina. I'm not sure what kind she was, she was just labeled as a 'designer' but she may have been some sort of partial albino. But she was wonderfully tame and always very healthy. She was around 2-3 years old.
Until last year, around December. At first she stopped eating, which wasn't too odd for winter, but then I noticed an odd shaking in her front legs. I feared it was MBD, despite her getting calcium and D3 supplements. (She had a dish of calcium at all times, and sometimes her crickets/roaches/silkworms were dusted with it)
I took her to the vet (one who specialized in herps) but she seemed just fine when I took her in. No more shaking.
But then, just a few days later, her front legs and feet began to swell up! So back we went... They did an x-ray, but her bones and joints were normal- no sign of MBD and the swellings appeared to just be fluid.
They then did a biopsy, thinking it could either be an infection or something else, but they didn't get a clear result. She was put on antibiotics and we went home. I was also given some special food to syringe feed her because she wouldn't eat.
She kept getting worse though- her back end was paralyzed. It wasn't an impaction- she was kept on shelf liner and she was still defecating since I was feeding her. She just couldn't move her back legs and they seemed numb, but oddly she had feeling in her tail still.
Sadly, before I could bring her back in to get blood work done, she passed away. I did have them do a necropsy, but it didn't show anything clearly. The vet said it sometimes 'just happened'. But what in the world happened? Was it an illness? Injury? Something genetic?
There was nothing in her tank that could fall on her, and she was fed the same insects and supplements I also give to my bearded dragon, and he's still alive and kicking. She never had any significant weight loss- in fact, aside from the paralysis she looked very fat and healthy, and she was always alert. She could drag herself around with her front legs.
She was a cool gecko
I just got a new one after many months, so I wanna avoid anything that could lead to the same fate. What I have changed is switching out the shelf liner- I've heard it can release harmful fumes when heated, so now she's on paper towels until I can get some ceramic tile. No idea if that was the problem, but who knows...
This is something that happened last year, with my second leopard gecko Quina.
Her name was Quina. I'm not sure what kind she was, she was just labeled as a 'designer' but she may have been some sort of partial albino. But she was wonderfully tame and always very healthy. She was around 2-3 years old.
Until last year, around December. At first she stopped eating, which wasn't too odd for winter, but then I noticed an odd shaking in her front legs. I feared it was MBD, despite her getting calcium and D3 supplements. (She had a dish of calcium at all times, and sometimes her crickets/roaches/silkworms were dusted with it)
I took her to the vet (one who specialized in herps) but she seemed just fine when I took her in. No more shaking.
But then, just a few days later, her front legs and feet began to swell up! So back we went... They did an x-ray, but her bones and joints were normal- no sign of MBD and the swellings appeared to just be fluid.
They then did a biopsy, thinking it could either be an infection or something else, but they didn't get a clear result. She was put on antibiotics and we went home. I was also given some special food to syringe feed her because she wouldn't eat.
She kept getting worse though- her back end was paralyzed. It wasn't an impaction- she was kept on shelf liner and she was still defecating since I was feeding her. She just couldn't move her back legs and they seemed numb, but oddly she had feeling in her tail still.
Sadly, before I could bring her back in to get blood work done, she passed away. I did have them do a necropsy, but it didn't show anything clearly. The vet said it sometimes 'just happened'. But what in the world happened? Was it an illness? Injury? Something genetic?
There was nothing in her tank that could fall on her, and she was fed the same insects and supplements I also give to my bearded dragon, and he's still alive and kicking. She never had any significant weight loss- in fact, aside from the paralysis she looked very fat and healthy, and she was always alert. She could drag herself around with her front legs.
She was a cool gecko
I just got a new one after many months, so I wanna avoid anything that could lead to the same fate. What I have changed is switching out the shelf liner- I've heard it can release harmful fumes when heated, so now she's on paper towels until I can get some ceramic tile. No idea if that was the problem, but who knows...
