Sad results of not feeding CGD - Severe MBD :(

[Izzy's Mom]

I got a call on Friday from a lady who bought a juvenile crestie from me last year. The baby was about 6 months old and 10g when I sold it. I instructed the woman on proper care and feeding, but despite my advice, she 'pampered' her gecko by feeding it fruit baby food (she claims she added calcium to it), crickets once a month and adding calcium supplement to the drinking water. She said it never liked the CGD so she didn't bother buying it.

Just over a year later, when she called me to come take a look because she thought the gecko had injured its jaw... this is what I found.

I was horrified... the gecko weighed only 16g (at 1.5 yrs old) and was suffering from advanced Metabolic Bone disease. It's jaw was like rubber, hanging open and it had not been able to remove its shed skin from its toes which were all bound up into little 'fists'. I had to remove as much skin as possible to free up the toes, but I am afraid she will end up losing some. That is... if she lives

I have been syringe-feeding the CGD along with liquid calcium and D3 supplements for 3 days, but she is continuing to lose weight. Today she vomited up the last feeding of CGD I gave her, so I have switched to honey-water with some calcium powder dissolved in it. She again vomited and almost choked to death. The vet said there is not much hope and they will euthanize her if I choose... just not sure how much time I should give her to see if things turn around.

I just wanted to beg all the newbies out there to PLEASE feed the Crested Gecko Diet!! Try different flavors, or even force feed by putting some on your gecko's nose to make them lick it off. Do whatever you have to do to make sure they are getting the nutrition they need. The excuse that your gecko doesn't like it will come back to bite you in the end.

Sorry for this rant, but as I watch this precious little thing wasting away I feel compelled to warn others of the dangers of thinking you can mix your own food that is nutritionally balanced.

 

[Izzy's Mom]

Just wanted to post an update... poor 'Rusty' passed away this afternoon. At least she isn't suffering anymore

 

[Aimless]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I do think it's possible to go CGD-less, but without experience and knowledge it's not necessarily a great idea

 

[vgorst]

A no-CGD is not necessarily a problem. It's providing suitable multi-vit/UVB and calci-dust supplement that's the key. I know of cresties that have grown and bred on invert only diets, the bugs are just well gut loaded and supplemented. That may not be the best for a first time owner but it depends on the individual animal really.

Shame that the little gecko had to go through that, it really doesn't take a lot of research to find the importance of D3 and calcium in reptiles RIP little gecko

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Sorry to hear that Rusty passed away. May he rest in peace.

FYI, cresties can do well being fed crickets.

Please read:

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...ciliatus/66758-crested-geckos-care-sheet.html

 

[Cor8et]

RIP Rusty :sad:


Really sickens me why owners leave it so long without doing anything to help, its not hard to see there something going wrong. Ask for help :-x, we have all asked for advise at some point, there no shame in it.


This would be a good sticky for others to see what happens before hand. What a price to pay Rusty

Sorry for your sad news Izzy's Mom

 

[Embrace Calamity]

This is exactly why I don't think I could ever breed and sell animals. I know things like this would happen, and I just couldn't handle it. Such a shame that these people are allowed to be alive.

~Maggot

 

[Emmasarah]

A no-cgd diet is possible, for experienced keepers who spend time balancing their diet and monitoring their health. For beginners, this is extremely dangerous. I don't feel that we should include no-cgd advice in basic care sheets as this is what happens when we do.
RIP rusty. My heart dropped when I saw that picture. Poor little guy.

 

[aquamentus_11]

The first 2 pics are literally abominations. I never would've guessed that the gecko in the first pic was alive. I'm glad she's gone and no longer has to live like that, but I'm sorry for you.

 

[Astral Wench]

Poor little gecko.

I'm a new to owning my crested geckos, but I try to feed my little ones every night with at least a little CGD that I've mixed up in my yorker bottle. I just drip a little on the tip of their nose and keep going until they've had enough and get bored. That way at least I know they are getting a little nutrition every night, even if they choose not to eat anything else I leave out for them later. I also have a close friend who is very knowledgeable about my gecko friends so I have someone to fall back on if I'm worried they aren't doing as well as I think they should (he helped me remove some stuck shed the other day on one of their tails and helped me set up a humid hide).

I work in a vet clinic and I've also met some pretty stubborn people. People who can't help themselves but to do things their way even if it makes their pets inadvertently miserable, and most of those people never see the problem as themselves. There are always going to be those people in the world, and I'm sorry that your little baby had to end up with one of those. Those kinds of people should not be responsible for taking care of another life.

 

[Frinta]

Thats kinda twisted aproach on the matter, GCD is easy to use and works well practicly, in theory experienced keepers want to avoid synthetic vitamins, espicially on more sensitive species. CGD is far from ideal in my head

 

[Izzy's Mom]

I appreciate everyone's heartfelt replies to this thread, it was quite a traumatic experience to watch little Rusty suffer as she did. I do believe that cresties can be kept successfully without using CGD, but since it's the vast minority of gecko owners who I would consider to be 'experts' in nutrition, I would strongly recommend using the CGD as a main staple of the diet. Unless you spend a lot of time researching the species and studying their nutritional needs, most of us are probably unqualified to 'guess' at what they should be eating.
The CGD or other commercial diets have been formulated by actual experts who are the ones responsible for introducing this species to the trade. They have spent years researching and their formulas have been proven over time to produce healthy well balanced geckos. SO... I still strongly recommend that owners use these commercial diets as the framework for their feeding regimen, supplemented with dusted crickets and the very occasional fruit 'treat' like baby food. It seems that the major problem comes from using the baby food as the main diet (even when mixed with vitamins/calcium), as was the case with poor Rusty.

 

[Kristy]

Sorry to hear about Rusty. Poor thing. I work in an animal hospital too as someone else mentioned. I can't stand dealing with people that are clueless. Why should they be pet owners if they don't want to take proper care. Animals are not stuffed toys. I did research for a year before I bought my first crestie. Same with my gerbils and my fish. Sorry Izzy that you had to deal with this.

 

[LSeelt]

Oh, the poor thing! I rescued a crestie today from a woman who was feeding it just crickets (not dusted or gut loaded), and I'm so thankful that she is no where near this stage of MBD. Why people wouldn't just do CGD as a minimum is beyond me. I understand the argument of CGD vs balanced natural diet, but the balanced natural diet is really tricky for beginners and going to get crickets every few days/each week can be a drain on some people. But for people who want to just make it easy, CGD is just fine. Another animal victim to what makes someone feel good over what is best.

RIP Rusty.