[Jakedn]

I very recently have started rehabbing a leopard gecko that I rescued from someone. He was underweight and dehydrated. He was also covered in dust from calcium sand and there was a large pile of feces in a corner of his old cage due to being cleaned very infrequently. Along with all this he is also missing many of his toes and very few of them are functioning correctly, though apart from an occasional trip he does well moving around.

Since I have gotten him I have kept a full bowl of clean bottled water in his cage at all times and he drank for quite some time as soon as the bowl was placed in his cage. His urates were mainly orange before, indicating dehydration, and now they are pure white.

I have also soaked his feet in warm water and gotten off some stuck shed skin. All that is left is shed skin stuck on one toe that I was not able to get off, it appears that it is causing him pain. I figured I would give him a few days before trying again. If that doesn't work, I will have a vet do it.

At first attempt of feeding, he was unable to catch crickets by himself. Thankfully, he responded to hand feeding with my first try. Since then with each passing day he has become faster and stronger, he is now able to catch crickets with ease, and when they are all gone he even looks up at me as if he is asking for more haha.

Before he was eating well his feces had an irregular shape and was very small. Now, it is fully formed and much larger. Everything looks fully digested. And now, here is where I have found my problem. I believe he may have some parasites as when i went to clean up his poop today, upon approaching the cage the stench of a single fresh poop overtook me, and even made me slightly queasy.

From what I understand, bad smelling feces indicates a parasite load, correct? Or does leopard gecko poop smell this horrible all on it's own?

If it does indeed indicate a parasitic load, I suppose I will get him to a vet with a fecal sample along with a full check up and removing the stuck shed skin.

Also, what would be other telltale signs of parasites?

[Jakedn]

*Bump*

[houseape57]

As far as the stuck shed, I just put a bit of olive/veg oil on a q-tip and give it a rub on the stuck shed. It might not take the shed off right away but it will moisten it enough to let the skin untighten until you or the gecko can remove it.
As far as the stinky poop, a fresh poop is what it is, a stinky poop. As far as thinking his poop is parasitic, a vet check would be good whether you think he is parasitic or not, always good to get a wellness check, it will ease your mind.

K