Help Me Figure Out What Killed My Crested Gecko So I Make Sure it Never Happens Again

[warac67]

Yesterday I lost my crested gecko Sandile. She was in a 2 week long full body shed that moved to the lower part of her body. I have pictures of her the day before she passed and when I was cleaning her tank I noticed that she was walking strangely. I thought that maybe the shed was locking her leg temporarily and once she shed it would get back to normal so i'd give her a day to see if it would fix itself and then take her to the vet. I had her for two years from when she was a tiny baby. Please help me figure out what happened to her so I can make sure it never happens again.

 

[Aimless]

It should not take so long to shed.

Can you give all the details of her care -everything from temps to feeding, etc- so we can try to help spot the problem? Pics of her cage would be very helpful. Had you recently introduced another gecko? Was she bred? Did she eat bugs, and if so what kind? Gut loads, supplementation, lights used, etc... We need all the detail you can provide to help diagnose a care issue.

 

[warac67]

She ate repashy CGD a bottle cap full a day crickets about every two weeks. I mist her tank once or twice a day normally when she started shedding I sprayed more 3-4 times. She always ate well and was healthy. She was kept in room tempture 75-65F with no lights. She was never bred. I did house her with another gecko that was a similar size the breeder in bought them from said it would be okay to house them together. They were together for about a year with no problems. Both ate well and stayed plump. After Sandile passed I took everything out of the tank and sanitized it fully and am keeping spike her tank buddy on there still. I can add photos when I get home from work of their tank. I gut load the crickets with carrots.

 

[Aimless]

hmm. do you have any recent pictures of her entire body? and that of the other gecko as well? she looks both thin and dehydrated in that top photo, but it might be a poor angle.

which CGD do you use? how many crickets would she eat at one sitting? how long did you gutload before feeding them off?

 

[Golden_Gecko_Lover]

I do not own Cresties, but I have researched them. She looks pretty poorly in the first pic, but that might just be the camera. I don't know. She seemed to have a good, healthy life. Misting, feeding, vitamins... if she had a capful of vitamins a day, it might be an overdose of a vitamin. If she was shedding and it took that long, she might not of been misted enough and perhaps the shed was stuck around her waist, cutting off her life pretty much. It shouldn't of taken 2 weeks to shed, that isn't normal. I'll think about this one.

 

[warac67]

hmm. do you have any recent pictures of her entire body? and that of the other gecko as well? she looks both thin and dehydrated in that top photo, but it might be a poor angle.

which CGD do you use? how many crickets would she eat at one sitting? how long did you gutload before feeding them off?

I gave the crickets carrots to eat while I kept them and gradually fed them until the crickets died or I ran out. I fed them the regular CGD no flavor or anything. I filled the cap up with CGD everyday and most days it would be empty sometimes it wasn't but neither of them ever looked underweight.
Their set up
Sandile in the first stage of shed seemed good
Further on in shed not so good and her seen with Spike her container buddy

 

[Hilde]

What size is that tub? It doesn't look like a very good setup for arboreal geckos.
Are there any air holes? Maybe I just didn't see them.
Just going by the picture of the tub, I'm thinking there'd be a lot of stress, which could have contributed to the death of the less assertive one. It might not have killed outright, but it sure would have contributed to it.

 

[warac67]

What size is that tub? It doesn't look like a very good setup for arboreal geckos.
Are there any air holes? Maybe I just didn't see them.
Just going by the picture of the tub, I'm thinking there'd be a lot of stress, which could have contributed to the death of the less assertive one. It might not have killed outright, but it sure would have contributed to it.

Yes the air holes are on the top of the container I'm not sure the exact size of the tub but it is quite large. I have the vines all along the top and the cork bark in the corner so they can climb I know they're arboreal. I have tons of ivory so they can hide and feel comfortable and that bendable bamboo that I move around. That's just the current way it is arranged but every time I clean it I rearrange it. And during her shedding period I kept a water bowl with water in the tank not featured in the photo.

 

[crested_human]

Im not sure whats up with the long shed but the repashy couldve played into it. After Aimless brought it to my attention i started researching problems with the 3.0 and sure enough. Lots of people report geckos sudden loss of appetite and many reported sickness or even death most likely caused by the 3.0

 

[Aimless]

Warac, was she definitely a female? and is Spike definitely a male?

she's much smaller, suggesting stress or that he was bullying her. it's also possible he bred her and she died from eggbinding as there is no place in that tub that a crestie would feel safe putting her eggs. also, I would not call her plump in that initial shedding picture. she's actually quite thin if you look at her hipbones.

and Hilde is absolutely correct; that set up is not going to make an arboreal gecko feel happy.

 

[warac67]

Im not sure whats up with the long shed but the repashy couldve played into it. After Aimless brought it to my attention i started researching problems with the 3.0 and sure enough. Lots of people report geckos sudden loss of appetite and many reported sickness or even death most likely caused by the 3.0

I read the repashy was suppose to be one of the best foods out there it was recommended to my by numerous breeders. I am confused what changed. I am still feeding my other geckos repashy I guess I should change ASAP to big fat gecko diet? Or any other recommendations?

 

[Aimless]

Clark's is good. Repashy will be going back to version 1.0 soon, and they just released a "grubs and fruit" diet where a main protein source is actual bugs. Big Fat Gecko is good. I've never used any Pangaea diets, but I picked one up at the show last weekend and will see how my geckos like it.

 

[warac67]

Spike is definitely a male and I never saw any pores on Sandile so I was pretty sure she was a girl. I will make sure I add more vines and large limbs to the tanks so they will feel safer. I will add some photos of my other geckos set ups to see if they are set up the correct way. I will buy some new food later today for them and as I stated I will fix the vivarium. I will make sure I never house together a male and female gecko unless they are full grown and ready to breed at a healthy weight. Any other suggestions? I really want to keep my geckos as healthy and happy as possible I feel terrible I contributed to sandiles death. I did tons of research and spoke with numerous breeders I thought I had the knowledge I needed to raise my geckos properly but now I know and have more knowledge for the future.

 

[Golden_Gecko_Lover]

There was another gecko in the tank?? Was she definitely a female and he was definitely a male? Unless you were intending on breeding them, if they were opposite genders anyways, they shouldn't have been together. If she actually was a male, that could easily explain it. Spike, a larger looking male probably bullied Sandile until she eventually passed. Unlike leopard geckos, it can be hard to tell if a crestie was being bullied by a cagemate. Can you tell me if Sandile was younger than Spike? If so, she may of been male but too young to tell.

Sorry for Sandile's passing, too. At least you have Spike

 

[Golden_Gecko_Lover]

A small tub isn't so hot for two cresties. Plus, even with air holes, all the moisture you gave them can make it too hot in there with all the compressed air and steamy moisture. Maybe it got too hot?

 

[Jedibean]

Im not sure whats up with the long shed but the repashy couldve played into it. After Aimless brought it to my attention i started researching problems with the 3.0 and sure enough. Lots of people report geckos sudden loss of appetite and many reported sickness or even death most likely caused by the 3.0

I take it you mean Repashy Superfoods? I've been wanting to breed my pair for two years now (busy with school, etc.) but still, they hardly eat anything. And I'm talking like 3/8 teaspoon water and 3/8 teaspoon of the powder every three days or so. They won't eat it if I give it to them earlier and no later. And mine are adults, though the male is way larger, actual breeding size and his weight is consistent, but my female won't gain above ~26g. If you are talking about the food, could you tell me, and what is an alternative, because I thought Repashy was like the best there was.
I'm going to have to probably sell one or both of them before I go to college, so I want to make sure this is straight in case someone else deals with it. Thanks

 

[warac67]

Hopefully you can see in this photo Spike is a boy
Maybe here you can see if Sandile was a girl? The photo was taken when she started shedding and I picked her up to check on her and put her back on the vine and she kind of did that leg up she's doing in the photo.

The tank I kept them both in was not small at all its about a 40 gallon I guess you can't tell by the photo. I had them in the middle of the room so they weren't too close to any heat source so they're temperature was never too high. Spike and Sandile should have been the same age although I purchased Sandile first she was smaller when I bought her. I purchased Spike about six months later and he was about as big as she was when I bought him. I asked the breeder at the time that I bought him from if I could put them together as he said as long as they were the same size that it would be fine. I guess I was stupid to just go by his word but I thought a breeder would know what he is talking about.

This is the new set up I made for Spike, this works right? The photo needs to be flipped by the way.

 

[Jedibean]

As long as there is air flow, which I would think is important, that looks like a pretty nice way of doing an inexpensive set-up, good thinking.

 

[crested_human]

I read the repashy was suppose to be one of the best foods out there it was recommended to my by numerous breeders. I am confused what changed. I am still feeding my other geckos repashy I guess I should change ASAP to big fat gecko diet? Or any other recommendations?

i am not 100% sure but i think the menadione sodium bisulfite complex wasnt counteracted enough and harmed your gecko (and many others)

 

[samnsteve]

Im afraid I can offer no suggestions to the OP as im new to keeping cresties, but in regards to the food, I can highly reccomend the watermelon flavoured pangaea :biggrin: Spat wouldnt touch repashy at all but she loves this stuff