One of my favourite Leopard gecko's died

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Debbie7054

New member
Came downstairs yesterday morning to find Zora one of my gecko's hatched last year dead. She'd been putting on weight well and showing no signs of ill health apart from her one and only bad enigma syndrome fits last week. She'd never shown any enigma syndrome symptoms at all before but one this one occasion she had a bad one. she was circling around with her head twisting to the right and nearly flipped over quite a few times. I have no idea what started it off but I took her out and held her gently and she calmed down after a while and was back to normal an hour later.

Yesterday morning I found her upside down with tons of shed stuck in her mouth and throat. She'd just started shedding when I went to bed last night and apart from a few toes that needed help with had never had a problem shedding. Since she ended up upside down and in this state. I'm guessing that she had another enigma syndrome fit during the night while she was eating her shed and somehow ended up choking to death on it. I'm so upset to lose her and feel terrible that I wasn't there when she needed help. I guess I'll never know if I could have saved her if I'd been up.
 
Mardy

Mardy

New member
I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am. It's always hard to lose a pet. Unfortunately with enigmas, this is exactly what can happen at anytime during an enigmas life. The enigma syndrome can trigger at anytime. Severe syndromes have been seen to get triggered by something as simple as bright light, or a female going into ovulation or gets gravid.

Sadly hobbyists are usually not informed of the details of these enigma syndrome. Many are still breeding enigmas just because they are pretty and totally ignoring the neurological defect in them. I don't want to hijack your thread with enigma info, so I'll stop here. Again I'm very sorry for your loss.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
No it's fine I had no idea what morph Zora was when she hatched as her mother was a Blizzard and gravid when we bought her. After her first episode I made sure her vivarium was as soft and safe as I could make it but it didn't help. I'm trying to keep an extra careful eye on her clutch mate. She hasn't shown any sign of having enigma syndrome yet - touch wood. I don't know if Zora having it increases the chance of Sparkle having it too or not. I was never going to breed them. I keep looking up expecting to see her looking down at me, which she did every night. I guess I'm going to have to get used to not seeing it any more but it's going to be hard. Her death has left a big hole in my life.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Mardy said:
I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am. It's always hard to lose a pet. Unfortunately with enigmas, this is exactly what can happen at anytime during an enigmas life. The enigma syndrome can trigger at anytime. Severe syndromes have been seen to get triggered by something as simple as bright light, or a female going into ovulation or gets gravid.

Sadly hobbyists are usually not informed of the details of these enigma syndrome. Many are still breeding enigmas just because they are pretty and totally ignoring the neurological defect in them. I don't want to hijack your thread with enigma info, so I'll stop here. Again I'm very sorry for your loss.
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Thanks, Mardy! Wish more folks realized the potential problems of breeding enigmas and were just NOT swayed with the coloration!

What about beginning a separate thread here on the problems enigma owners could very likely encounter?
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Debbie7054 said:
No it's fine I had no idea what morph Zora was when she hatched as her mother was a Blizzard and gravid when we bought her. After her first episode I made sure her vivarium was as soft and safe as I could make it but it didn't help. I'm trying to keep an extra careful eye on her clutch mate. She hasn't shown any sign of having enigma syndrome yet - touch wood. I don't know if Zora having it increases the chance of Sparkle having it too or not. I was never going to breed them. I keep looking up expecting to see her looking down at me, which she did every night. I guess I'm going to have to get used to not seeing it any more but it's going to be hard. Her death has left a big hole in my life.
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Zora is indeed looking down on you, Debbie :). She is very appreciative of your loving care! She is "up there" with other gecko buddies who went before her. May she always rest in peace.

(I know about deaths leaving big holes in one's life.)
 
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Tjmphx

New member
I'm sorry, it's never easy especially on the one we hold closest. Your efforts weren't in vain, sora I'm sure knows where your heart is/was. Take care.
 
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