Leopard Gecko Sundrop's condition

cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
I am glad to hear she is at least holding the Oxbow down. The vet really needs to dig further and find the reason she is regurgitating and has failed to put on weight. This has been going on for too long. She should have gained weight while on oxbow quickly. She may benefit from a one time dose of B-complex which can help stimulate appetite. Ask the vet.
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
cricket4u said:
I am glad to hear she is at least holding the Oxbow down. The vet really needs to dig further and find the reason she is regurgitating and has failed to put on weight. This has been going on for too long. She should have gained weight while on oxbow quickly. She may benefit from a one time dose of B-complex which can help stimulate appetite. Ask the vet.
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I just called the office to have her call me back today as she had left a message yesterday that I didn't get until now. She mentioned an Xray. Would this be a good idea? I just have a thing against Xrays and I don't want them done unless it's really something that should be done.

I'll see what she thinks our next course of action should be besides the blood work.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

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SamanthaLovely said:
Temps. Cool side/air temp is 75-76, around 80 on hot days. Warm side floor is just about 100.
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Sam it's important that you provide the temperatures on the caresheet if you want her to improve. 100 is too high. You really need the thermostat. This may be why she continues dehydrated and continues to decline. She has already suffered a slight burn.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
SamanthaLovely said:
I just called the office to have her call me back today as she had left a message yesterday that I didn't get until now. She mentioned an Xray. Would this be a good idea? I just have a thing against Xrays and I don't want them done unless it's really something that should be done.

I'll see what she thinks our next course of action should be besides the blood work.
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Get the X-ray.
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
cricket4u said:
Sam it's important that you provide the temperatures on the caresheet if you want her to improve. 100 is too high. You really need the thermostat. This may be why she continues dehydrated and continues to decline. She has already suffered a slight burn.
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I've looked before for a thermostat I can plug the heating pads into. The only ones they sell in this area are hardwired into the wall for central heating and air. The only thing I can do is try to buy something online but it will take up to 8 days to transfer on my pay pal.

We switched to the small heating pad but everytime I checked her she was freezing. It was around 89 all the time but it didn't penetrate her moist hide for whatever reason. So we switched to the large one and sat her moist hide on the edge of it. The temp on the floor of her moist hide is only 80.

She only ever stays in her moist hide. I assume for either the moisture or the heat. When I have to take her out for food she snuggles up on whatever skin she can reach.

I got the shed off her. I couldn't justify leaving it on. I was gentle and only didn bits at a time. I didn't want her to get constricted by it.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
SamanthaLovely said:
I've looked before for a thermostat I can plug the heating pads into. The only ones they sell in this area are hardwired into the wall for central heating and air. The only thing I can do is try to buy something online but it will take up to 8 days to transfer on my pay pal.

We switched to the small heating pad but everytime I checked her she was freezing. It was around 89 all the time but it didn't penetrate her moist hide for whatever reason. So we switched to the large one and sat her moist hide on the edge of it. The temp on the floor of her moist hide is only 80.

She only ever stays in her moist hide. I assume for either the moisture or the heat. When I have to take her out for food she snuggles up on whatever skin she can reach.

I got the shed off her. I couldn't justify leaving it on. I was gentle and only didn bits at a time. I didn't want her to get constricted by it.
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She is not going to lay on the warm side if it's too hot. Add as many layers of paper towels needed to reduce the temp for now. I do not place the humidity hide over the uth, it will dry out too fast and some materials can crack. That is why you must use both a low watt bulb along with the UTH in roder to raise the air temps slightly on the warm end.
 
brooksylc

brooksylc

New member
You can manually dim the UTH with a lamp dimmer (available for around $10 at most hardware stores) until a thermostat can come from an online source.
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
cricket4u said:
She is not going to lay on the warm side if it's too hot. Add as many layers of paper towels needed to reduce the temp for now. I do not place the humidity hide over the uth, it will dry out too fast and some materials can crack. That is why you must use both a low watt bulb along with the UTH in roder to raise the air temps slightly on the warm end.
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Would a Variac be sufficient?
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
So the vet called me and we talked about sundrop. We're working on getting her weight back up. Now when she was weighed at 14 we may have had a mistake with our scale. It normally stays in one spot but I had to move it today and it was sitting on something sort of slanted. When I weighed her on a flat surface she weighed in at 16. So it could have been a scale issue.

Anyways. The vet was telling me we should think about picking a cut off weight where if she goes under we should have her put down.
Basically I told her we don't want to just keep her alive, we want to get her better and if that can't happen for whatever reason then we'll have her euthanized.

We're probably looking at a choice between having the blood work done and having an Xray done unless we can get some extra money together. It's looking like $330 plus taxes for it all. Unfortunately with rent, phone bill and car insurance we can't do it.

Neither of us has credit so we can't get a credit card. We don't make enough so we can't get a vet loan. I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to build credit if I can't get a credit card. I don't have credit so I can't buy a house to do it. I'm pretty lost on the subject.
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
I'm so very sorry to let you all know that we had Sundrop euthanized today. I'm so sorry. I went in with every intention of getting tests done and getting her better but the vet refused to do the blood tests. She said Sundrop was too small and it might push her over the edge.
Now looking back I feel that she bullied me into making the decision to have her put down. I wanted so badly to make her better. I really feel that I failed her.

Regardless of all that I'm glad she isn't suffering anymore. Now maybe she can feel better. It's just so hard to come home to an empty tank. I'm going to bury her in her (dry) moist hide. She felt safe and warm in it. I'm going to plant a garden of Sundrops over her grave and we'll make a nice sign. I really wish there was something more I could do for her now but all I can think of is a garden.

She was so special to me. There will always be a special, secure, warm spot in my heart for her where my love will keep her warm and happy.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
It breaks my heart, but honestly I do believe it was too late. Of course we will never know, however the need for such extensive tests would probably have ended her life anyway. The reality is not all can be saved. Most health conditions need to be tackled right away, if not there is no point.

RIP Sundrop
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
cricket4u said:
It breaks my heart, but honestly I do believe it was too late. Of course we will never know, however the need for such extensive tests would probably have ended her life anyway. The reality is not all can be saved. Most health conditions need to be tackled right away, if not there is no point.

RIP Sundrop
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I understand. I've beaten my self up alot today about not getting something done sooner. I feel really bad because we were so worried about Cherish and Sundrop wasn't as bad in the beginning. I can't even pinpoint when she went from the way we got her to how she was now. It happened so gradually that I didn't see it until it was too late.

We just had her buried in the garden under the window. A praying mantis came out and is sitting vigil by her grave. Some legends say that the praying mantis can perform resurrections. So if there is another life for her I hope she is perfectly happy and healthy in it.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
It's a lot to handle when you have more than one sick gecko. Expensive and very time consuming. There is a difference between just keeping reptiles and keeping them in optimal conditions. All you can do now is focus on improving the conditions of the ones you have now and enjoy watching them thrive. Keep in mind that the more you have, the less you will be able to provide for the ones you have, so please fight the urge. I know it's hard to see reptiles in poor conditions at stores, but by bringing them home you will only open up space for more to come and suffer. Just try to avoid going to the petstores as much as possible. I buy most things on line for that reason.

I don't think I'm liked very much at some pet stores. :biggrin:
 
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SamanthaLovely

New member
cricket4u said:
It's a lot to handle when you have more than one. Expensive and very time consuming. There is a difference between just keeping reptiles and keeping them in optimal conditions. All you can do now is focus on improving the conditions of the ones you have know and enjoy watching them thrive. Keep in mind that the more you have, the less you will be able to provide for the ones you have, so please fight the urge.
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I'm not looking to get another one for a long time. Right now we're focused on getting them each a larger gallon tank (30 or so) and making some more natural looking decor/hides. Like this guy: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...mate-naturalistic-vivarium-complete-leos.html

I've also been thinking about some sort of vet or vet tech schooling. It might be a better way to help out than me floundering about not really knowing what I'm doing.
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
Yes! Don't they look happy? They have several options and places to climb. They have light and dark areas. None appear overweight and their colors are nice and bright.
 
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