Leg Twitching - Irritated Leg?

cthulhuhail

New member
Hello all,

I've recently noticed my leopard gecko "Leeroy" twitching her leg. At first, I thought she stepped in something and irritated it (I let her hang out on my desk with me), but after taking her out later in the week, I've found her doing it again: Same leg.

After looking a little closer you can see that one of her toes on that foot is a little red. What should I do? I've already washed her foot off and rubbed it with a q-tip, but that was several days ago and the behavior continues.

Here is a video of the behavior.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Hello,

Let's click your video right here: Here is a video of the behavior.

I watched this video of your leo Leeroy. Is/was there ANY stuck shed on the longest toe on her right rear leg foot? Maybe that toe is bothering her? Is that the same toe that is red? Maybe this right rear leg twitching is due to neurological issues?

IF it's a sensitivity issue, maybe the vet has some cream the vet could prescribe to speed up healing?
I recommend taking Leeroy to an experienced reptile vet to check her toes & leg out thoroughly. This issue could get worse.
 

cthulhuhail

New member
Thank you! There were teeny-tiny pieces of stuck shed on her nails, not asphyxiating her toes or anything. I gave her a warm soak and just plucked those off, just in case that's what's bothering her. I'm able to touch her foot without her withdrawing or twitching - Which makes me fear that it may be neurological. I'm hoping the redness indicates irritation, though I'm not sure what could have caused it.

I'm gonna give her a few days now that I've taken off the shed to see if it gets worse, if not I will explore vet options.
 

GeckoFanboy

Member
I just wanted to chime in here and maybe help?

If there's no physical injury to the back leg, and it's twitching, I have a gecko that went through this years ago. Every time I saw him crawling into his hide, his back legs would twitch. I came here and asked Elizabeth a gazillion questions. Her advice helped. I'm not exactly sure what got rid of the twitching leg, but I made a number of changes, and here they are – and the twitching legs eventually went away.

• I bought an Arcadia Shade Dweller Light with a D3 7% UVB T5 bulb. These lights produce barely any heat at all, so you don't have to worry about throwing your tank temps off. I have this light over the warm hide. It throws out some UV light...just enough for a leopard gecko. The timer is set for 12 hours (6:am-6pm). Tank lights are out for the next 12 hours. The room gets ambient light.

• I completely stopped feeding my feeder bugs ANY factory food and started feeding them fresh fruits and veggies ONLY.
- Collard greens, turnip greens, kale, alfalfa, papaya, apples, sweet potatoes, carrots, oranges, mango, blackberries, green beans.
- Make sure you wash and peel everything appropriately. Don't let soap come in contact with anything.

• I also switched to a new calcium powder, Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3, and also Zoo Med Reptivite with D3.
I mix these in a baggie to dust the bugs when feeding.

• I stopped feeding my gecko hornworms - they're super high in calcium, filled with liquid, and made my gecko actually pee quite often, plus they made him gain too much weight, LOL.
 
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