JTB
New member
I'll start from the beginning. I got Cleo, my female wild type leopard gecko in mid April 2014. From this time, she has always been a very poor hunter and has had a lower jaw which does not sit flush with her upper. She has always been a fussy feeder, very lazy and pretty slow - very stereotypical for a 'boring' lizard, but she's always had funny little quirks that make her so very interesting and has never been in the slightest unintelligent.
Anyway, two years ago she went into brumation. For four months she refused to eat anything, but she lost only about 2g and was happy and healthy in appearance throughout.
Last winter she did not brumate and in June 2016 I upgraded her wooden vivarium to a medium low Exo terra. This meant a downgrade from ceramic heat emitter to hear may but she took the change well.
After a few months she developed the habit of NEVER, EVER leaving her moist hide. She went off her food (the moist hide was on the cool end) until I asked about it on this forum and got instructed to move any moist hides to the warm end. This advice payed off - she began eating again.
Later last year I swapped her Exo Terra sand mat for a sterilised top soil, sand and limestone grit mix after being convinced of its benefits by nature-replicating, modern ideas by members that promote this and Arcadia Reptile's book 'Bio Activity and the Theory of Wild Recreation'. She took this change relatively well.
At Christmas I got a crested gecko, a 1.5g cutie harlequin called Splat. Splat's been fantastic - eating Repashy every single night and insects once per week with gusto I have never seen in Cleo. This outlined just how bad of a hunter Cleo was.
About two weeks ago Cleo stopped eating. I was not too disturbed - a funny eating gecko with a history of fasts going on hunger strike in the middle of winter doesn't sound very surprising. However, me being me, I wanted to get her out of what I thought was just brumation, so I left her without food for a while and then changed her heating element back to a CHE on Wednesday last week. The CHE saw amazing change - she was active, basking and responding to food! Not eating it, but attracted to 'food sounds' (basically the cabinet below her being scratched, opened and the sound of insects being dusted). I also sprayed her enclosure with Splat's sprayer, lightly, each morning, so simulate coming Summer; Pakistan and India, their native range, have monsoons throughout Summer.
On Saturday I cleaned her out. Fresh substrate, moss and everything disinfected. That night she was very responsive to food but still refused it and was more active than I've seen her in YEARS! She even reared up on her hind legs and looked out of the front, revealing a pearly white belly.
On Monday she yawned and I thought her tongue looked slightly whiter than usual - probably just a result of basking under her UVB (7% compact by Arcadia through a mesh top, I have been in contact with the company themselves and they have said that this is perfect) I had thought.
Yesterday I thought her tail looked a tiny bit different, but she had been basking and so active I thought it was nothing.
Today it noticed she wasn't right. She was sat in her cold end, unresponsive to a meal worm and any food sounds and I thought her tail definitely looked thinner and her feet, nostrils and ears looked white, so I took her out. Further examination resulted in a lack of responsiveness and a suddenly navy-blue, bruised looking stomach, nothing like the pearly white scales shown off on Saturday night. I knew she was ill at this point so weighed her: 65g, a whole 4-5g lower than what she was a week ago.
I am certain with all of these symptoms that she has crypto. I have took out any unnecessary decorations, boiled all of her hides, disinfected everything, removed all loose substrate and moist hide moss and replaced these with kitchen towel. Now I am waiting for the next appointment I can get with my vet and I don't think that there's anything else I can do.
I do not know how she has got it. I am scrupulously clean with my animals and I do believe that I am correct in saying that crypto is spread through water and faeces, neither of which have been crossed between my crestie and leopard. Splat's gloriously healthy, too - I'm sure he'd be dead in hours if he had crypto, he's so tiny. Are there any special measures that I should take to stop him getting it? Also, I have a corn snake - he can't get it, can he?
Finally, other than what I have done, is there anything I can do? I'm trying to do everything right and not let my attachment to Cleo get in the way; I can't help her if I just flop down and give up. Thank you very much for reading. If you have any tips to help me then I would be incredibly grateful for them and if you see any holes as to where I've let the disease get in then I'd like to be notified of them so I can avoid them in the future.
Fingers are crossed she makes it
Anyway, two years ago she went into brumation. For four months she refused to eat anything, but she lost only about 2g and was happy and healthy in appearance throughout.
Last winter she did not brumate and in June 2016 I upgraded her wooden vivarium to a medium low Exo terra. This meant a downgrade from ceramic heat emitter to hear may but she took the change well.
After a few months she developed the habit of NEVER, EVER leaving her moist hide. She went off her food (the moist hide was on the cool end) until I asked about it on this forum and got instructed to move any moist hides to the warm end. This advice payed off - she began eating again.
Later last year I swapped her Exo Terra sand mat for a sterilised top soil, sand and limestone grit mix after being convinced of its benefits by nature-replicating, modern ideas by members that promote this and Arcadia Reptile's book 'Bio Activity and the Theory of Wild Recreation'. She took this change relatively well.
At Christmas I got a crested gecko, a 1.5g cutie harlequin called Splat. Splat's been fantastic - eating Repashy every single night and insects once per week with gusto I have never seen in Cleo. This outlined just how bad of a hunter Cleo was.
About two weeks ago Cleo stopped eating. I was not too disturbed - a funny eating gecko with a history of fasts going on hunger strike in the middle of winter doesn't sound very surprising. However, me being me, I wanted to get her out of what I thought was just brumation, so I left her without food for a while and then changed her heating element back to a CHE on Wednesday last week. The CHE saw amazing change - she was active, basking and responding to food! Not eating it, but attracted to 'food sounds' (basically the cabinet below her being scratched, opened and the sound of insects being dusted). I also sprayed her enclosure with Splat's sprayer, lightly, each morning, so simulate coming Summer; Pakistan and India, their native range, have monsoons throughout Summer.
On Saturday I cleaned her out. Fresh substrate, moss and everything disinfected. That night she was very responsive to food but still refused it and was more active than I've seen her in YEARS! She even reared up on her hind legs and looked out of the front, revealing a pearly white belly.
On Monday she yawned and I thought her tongue looked slightly whiter than usual - probably just a result of basking under her UVB (7% compact by Arcadia through a mesh top, I have been in contact with the company themselves and they have said that this is perfect) I had thought.
Yesterday I thought her tail looked a tiny bit different, but she had been basking and so active I thought it was nothing.
Today it noticed she wasn't right. She was sat in her cold end, unresponsive to a meal worm and any food sounds and I thought her tail definitely looked thinner and her feet, nostrils and ears looked white, so I took her out. Further examination resulted in a lack of responsiveness and a suddenly navy-blue, bruised looking stomach, nothing like the pearly white scales shown off on Saturday night. I knew she was ill at this point so weighed her: 65g, a whole 4-5g lower than what she was a week ago.
I am certain with all of these symptoms that she has crypto. I have took out any unnecessary decorations, boiled all of her hides, disinfected everything, removed all loose substrate and moist hide moss and replaced these with kitchen towel. Now I am waiting for the next appointment I can get with my vet and I don't think that there's anything else I can do.
I do not know how she has got it. I am scrupulously clean with my animals and I do believe that I am correct in saying that crypto is spread through water and faeces, neither of which have been crossed between my crestie and leopard. Splat's gloriously healthy, too - I'm sure he'd be dead in hours if he had crypto, he's so tiny. Are there any special measures that I should take to stop him getting it? Also, I have a corn snake - he can't get it, can he?
Finally, other than what I have done, is there anything I can do? I'm trying to do everything right and not let my attachment to Cleo get in the way; I can't help her if I just flop down and give up. Thank you very much for reading. If you have any tips to help me then I would be incredibly grateful for them and if you see any holes as to where I've let the disease get in then I'd like to be notified of them so I can avoid them in the future.
Fingers are crossed she makes it
