[teenysidhe]

I'm extremely sad to report that one of my P. klemmeri has died, and I'm unsure what caused it. Maybe some of the Phelsuma keepers here can help figure out why.

I first noticed yesterday that I hadn't seen one of my klemmeri in 2 days. She was very shy (my other one isn't, making it easy to tell them apart) but it's unusual for me to not see her at least a couple of times during the day. After looking into every inch of the viv, I found her curled up deep inside a piece of bamboo. She was in shed, and had removed it from her head, but the rest of her body still was covered in her shed. I keep the humidity high in the viv, and had previously seen both klemmeri shed with no issues, so I'm at a total loss as to what could have killed her. My temps range from the low 70's to about 88 in the basking spot, they have food and water available at all times, I mist twice a day. Diet is Repashy's day gecko MRP.

Does anyone have any idea what could have happened? I'm just devastated at losing one of my geckos, and I'm baffled at what could have killed the little one.

[teenysidhe]

Thank you for the kind words.

Anyone else have ideas? I was hoping for feedback to make sure my husbandry isn't lacking.

[colinmelsom]

My best guess would be that she was being bullied by the other gecko.The submissive gecko will often hide away in a plant or bamboo out of sight of the more dominant gecko.Icertainly dont think that the skin shedding has anything to do with it,unless she was constricted by the shed.

[terradas]

I agree that it could have been bullying. Did you have a male/female pair or young, unsexed geckos?

[teenysidhe]

That's possible, although I never saw any bullying, chasing, etc. I had a young, unsexed pair. They were always sleeping together and sharing the basking spot, but maybe it was bullying that I wasn't aware of. Thank you guys for your input.

[BryanF]

I had a ~ 1 year old Phelsuma klemmeri female that died suddenly two months after I purchased her. Her necropsy showed that her lungs were distended and full of Raillietiella parasites, and she probably suffocated. The strange part is that she was captive bred (of course), and that these parasites use an intermediate host (e.g., a ****roach). The breeder said he fed crickets, fruitflies, and MRP - all typical. It's a head scratcher.

The only sign that something was wrong was that she had an episode of breathing distress after egg-laying, and this resolved within a few minutes. This occurred about 2 weeks before she died.

I have no idea how rare or general this event was. Raillietiella frenatus has been reported in WC Phelsuma grandis on Hawaii. That species was originally described from Hemidactylus on Malaysia, and has been reported from populations of invasive Hemidactylus, suggesting that it can parasitize a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate hosts.

(An aside: these pentastomid parasites are crustaceans, and are closely related to the tongue-worm parasites of fish, which are super cool.)

I'm not suggesting that these parasites also caused the death of your gecko, though they could have. It's just another example of how rare things do happen. In any case, I know how much it sucks to come home to a dead gecko, so I'm sorry.

Bryan

[lauraleellbp]

I don't have any insight or suggestions, just sorry she didn't make it.