[Asrai]

We rescued a leopard gecko and tortoise that were abandoned under a carport in glass aquariums for 5 days - in the cold (no heat or sunshine), with no food, water, or hope. The tortoise has been rehomed in tortoise paradise with a really responsible and knowledgeable person. We'd like to do the same for the leopard gecko.

Here's the details:
- It's a girl. She's been more active today (since she was brought inside the house and her perfectly functioning under tank heating pad was plugged in).
- We've cleaned house. We've removed the black crystal sand the base of the tank was filled with and replaced with paper towels.
- She's having a problem shedding. I read up on leopard geckos and found she needed a humid hide. I've since sacrificed a disposable storage bowl, cut a entry way and wet paper towels and put it in the tank. I placed this over the heating pad. She went in - and she's been in there (rather than her regular hide (on the cold side of the tank) ever since. It did. Her tail is now complete free, and we helped (wetted q-tip) get MOST of the skin off her face. If you receive her, you must accept the responsibility that she may have an injury of some sort. I've never owned anything that shed, so I just want to forewarn.
- It's chow time. We've added calcium dusted crickets. I haven't seen her eat anything....maybe it's because of the shedding skin that is over her eyes. From what I understand, it's like Jurrasic Park - if she can't see it move, she doesn't know it's there, so she won't eat.

Her habitat is a 10 gallon tank, decorative plant, rock hide, water bowl, regular rock, gothic looking animal skull (it was in the tank...I have no idea why), a make-shift humid hide, undertank heating pad (plugs in), metal mesh top with a quick access lockable opening.

The price to have it all is your expertise. If you have the time, resources and compassion to nurse her back to health, please maker her part of your life.

I am located in the Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Florida) area.

LittleLeopardGecko.jpg

[Asrai]

Thanks for the 29 views. I feel a little scared and lost that nobody could really suggest anything. Ah, well, it is what it is, right? I don't have any hard feelings.

My daughter and I decided that instead of presents, we're going to take her the vet - even if it means she's unfixable. Who knows? Maybe she'll be fine and we'll have a very unexpected new addition to the family (and a lot of reading to go along with learning about reptiles). *shivers*

[Riverside Reptiles]

It sounds like you've done some research and you're on the right track for getting her healthy. The humid hide was smart (and essential) but it may take a few days for the shed to come off. Try not to stress her any more than necessary for the time being (ie excess handling). She's already stressing enough right now with having a bad shed and being moved into a new environment, etc. If after a few days there's still stuck on shed, you can gently help her remove it. Make sure she has proper temps and humidity. Spend some time reading through posts in our leopard gecko forum and ask questions there as needed. Leopard geckos are a great starter gecko and a rewarding pet. I think that in the long run you'll be glad that you invested the time and money into rescuing her.

PS I don't think she's "unfixable" at all. A bad shed isn't the end of the world and certainly isn't uncommon when proper husbandry techniques aren't followed. Get the shed taken care of and then the next step you'll want to take is to get a fecal sample to the vet to have her checked for parasites.

[Asrai]

Update

We took "Sugar" (named by the kids because, "she's so sweet") to the vet. We were really, truly blessed to find such an awesome vet. She was very patient with us and spent nearly an hour debrising Sugars eye sockets. The sockets were so encrusted with "dried" gunk that it pushed her eyes back. The vet explained that the prognosis of a blind gecko is usually grim (I'm not saying impossible, but we're very new to this because she's a rescue). Dr. Z (the vet) managed to find two eyeballs after clearing the mess (a process which almost made both of my girls faint). Other than that, she was about 10 grams underweight.

For the next 10 days, Dr. Z perscribed a volley of treatments every 12 hours, so at 7AM and 7PM, Sugar was given:

- A .02 cc dose of an oral antibiotic called Trimeth/Sulfa Susp 240mg/5ml.
- The next step in the therapy was to flush out her eye sockets (for about a minute each eye) with the cheapest over-the-counter saline solution (available at the local CVS drug store).
- The next step was to soak her in a bath of water (slightly warmer than lukewarm). She seemed to really like the soaks. This was gross for me because it was also the time when she preferred to evacuate her bowels (put on glove, lift lizard, dump water, clean, refill water, lower lizard - happy lizard). Her soaks lasted roughly around 15 minutes.
- The next step was to insert a slender round tube of Neo-Poly-Bac antibiotic ointment and pipe it into her eye sockets. As her eyes improved over the course of the 10 ten days, she liked this less and less.
- The final step was to force feed her 1.0 cc of carnivore care formula mixed with water. This was the step I least enjoyed, because I was always afraid I'd plug up her nose with food, but I did learn some interesting tricks (for instance, rubbing a cotton Q-tip saturated in saline on the under side of her jaw would cause her to whip out her tongue, which would then get a tiny drop of formula on it).

10 days passed and Sugar had two eyes, but wasn't hungry at all. Dr. Z (I still can't even begin to give this lady enough accollaides) gave me a follow-up call and explained that it made sense that Sugar wouldn't eat. In 10 days, she managed to collect 15 grams in bodyweight and she had a full tummy. Her suggestion was to put 3 to 4 small crickets in the tank (with all the things they'd need so they don't bite her) and continue with the soaks and clinically starve her.

I began to panic after a week. Her once plump torso suddenly started to shrivel. She didn't touch the crickets. The Vet-tech, Mickey, (super awesome lady and owner of herps) gave me a follow-up call and suggested using mealworms, or a little of cooked eggwhites (mashed) and a tiny bit of applesauce (for a treat). I bought some meal worms (probably the most horrifically scary little bugs on the planet) and one fell out of the dish - right in front of Sugar - as I was putting the dish in her tank. She saw it!!!! She did this super cute little hunt, her tail wriggled, she struck - missed - struck again - missed again - and then in the magic moment, struck and ate the meal worm. I silently screamed in delight! Wow!

So, here's where we're at of January 7th. She is eating about 3 or 4 meal worms a day, as long as I drop them one-by-one in front of her. She aim is hit-or-miss. She's missing a lot. I have read that meal worms as a regular diet is not ideal. I have emplored a great use for tweezers and ripped the legs off a cricket, but she refuses the cricket, and even with the legs off, it still moves way too fast for her. So, here's my questions:

- Is there anything else - slow moving - that I can feed her that will have the same nutritional value as a cricket (and doesn't come out of a can)? I've tried canned, she won't go for it.

[acpart]

I think that mealworms as a staple is fine. I raise my babies on them and would continue with my adults, but they prefer crickets (except for one male who is very healthy on a mealworm diet). I do recommend that you try superworms. They are much bigger than mealworms, move around enough to stimulate a feeding response, but don't move as fast as crickets.

Aliza

[Airedale]

Sounds like everything is going fine. I'm glad she's doing better. If she has trouble with eating, you can use meat flavored baby food to help feed her (Make sure it doesn't have anything with a long name in it, you know, all those chemicals) And also, I have never had trouble with plugging a nostril. In fact, I sometimes put drop of baby food on one nostril so they will lick it. They love it.

I know you will hate me for this, judging from your reaction to mealies, but I use roachs (no, not those pest kinds). They are great, but, I think they are illegal in Florida. I would stick with mealies, and try crickets once a week to see if she'll eat them.

Sorry I can't help anymore,
Jim

[Asrai]

Thanks for the responses! Aliza, I took your advise and tried the superworm. She gobbles down 2 a day. She's actually gaining some weight - Yay! I started to get really concerned because she was using the bowl I left the mealworm in (with calcium powder) as a toilet. I'd clean everything out, next morning there'd be a healthy, but still icky package from her in the bowl. As gross as it is, I'm relieved to see her making-pooh on a regular basis.

The plan is to try to reincorporate little crickets. Each time I try to give her adult crickets she freaks out and runs back into her hide. She just doesn't like them. I have a mondo set of tongs now, so I'm sure I can convince her to start taking them, but it takes practice, just like it did with the mealworms. There was NO problem with the superworm....(hold that thought for a second)...and I think she's beginning to associate tongs with food.

(Back to that thought) I think she needs a pair of glasses. Her left eye kept gumming up. It was perfect-o after her treatment for about two weeks. Then she shed and her shed came off fine (with some assistance around her feet), but the following day, her eye gummed up ever so slowly. I flushed it with saline and it opened, but by morning it gummed up nearly half-way.

From everything I read, this particular symptom might be a result of a Vitamin-A deficiency. So, I got some of those fluker orange cubes for the worms. It lists Vit-A as an ingredient and (as I've learned) the best way to get something into her, is to get something into them. She had a super quick turn-around on her shed (only 1 week later she shed again) and this time, I pampered her to get the shed off. It's two days out and her eye was looking good last night. (I have to do her weekly cleaning on her tank, so I can't look at the moment). I'm thinking lack of Vitamin-A is the culprit (I noticed it's an ingredient in the Carnivore Care formula I was giving her (from the vet)). It makes sense that the eye problem started after she quit treatment....but...there's more and I'm not sure how to say this....

When Sugar "notices" a worm, she does this super-cute tail wiggle (like a cat) and she can see it when it's moving, but each time she strikes, she over shoots the target. I have to hold the wiggly worm in the tongs for feeding. I want her to enjoy her hunt, but I fear there's something wrong with her vision. I surfed around online and found a video of someone feeding their Leopard Gecko and it was doing the same thing. (You can find it under "funny gecko eating worm"). I don't think it's funny. I think it's a sign of something. Am I being paranoid? Is this common? Again, I apologize if it's a silly concern, but I'm not a reptile person - I'm just a responsible rescue-er.

And, again, thank you so much for responding to my post!

[Palor]

Sounds like you have done a wonderful job with your rescued leo. Still going to rehome her or is she now a part of the family? Glad to see such a great person with a new pet

[cooldragons123]

hi do you still have the gecko and if yuo do i would like to take it thanks.

[acpart]

I have a number of leos with terrible aim. I have about 3 that I pretty much have to hand feed. I don't know why that happens. Maybe someone will make glasses for leos at some point.

Another good source of vitamin A is Herptivite vitamins made by rep-cal and Repashy's calcium plus. These would be powders you'd sprinkle onto the feeders.

Good luck trying the crickets. The really small ones are fast and hard to catch. If that doesn't work, you could also try 1/2" or 3/4" crickets which are bigger but not as scary as adults.

Aliza