My male leopard gecko has been sick for months, and he lost a lot of weight in that time. I thought I was getting a handle on it, I've been giving him daily, feeding him a mix of a gecko slurry and calcium-rich cat food that the vet gave me, and his weight has been staying steady, and it even increased by a gram (making him five grams now). I recently started him on Repta-Aid, and he seemed to like that, that's even when his weight gain happened. Then he started to shed. He's already shed twice without incident, but it's pretty bad this time. He's completely ignoring the skin that's coming off, he won't make any effort to shed. His hide is very humid, so that's not the problem. I tried Shed Ease just today, but it hasn't worked beyond one or two spots. But that's not the worst part. First, he's refusing to eat now, and when he does, he usually throws up. And now he's started doing something along the lines of a convulsion. He'll be sitting still, and all of the sudden he'll jump around, flip over, roll around for a few seconds. Also, while he usually spends all day inside one of his hides, he's been wandering all over, but usually the wandering is in the form of those little outbursts. He also does this thing where he opens his mouth and breathes out hard, like he's coughing or something. I have no idea what's happening. I'm really worried. Has anyone gone through this before, or do they have any idea of what might be happening? If you need more info, I have an older post here: http://www.reptilerooms.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=67765
1. What substrate are you using? 2. What sized enclosure do you have your leo in? 3. What are your warm side temperatures? 4. How are the temperatures measured? 5. What are you using as your heat source? 6. Do you have any method of regulating the temperatures? 7. How many hides do you have for your leo? What are they? 8. What food have you offered? 9. How often do you offer food? 10. Are you supplementing the food? If so, with what and how often? 11. How old is your leo? 12. How long have you had your leo? 13. Give a little detail about the behavior of the Leo also I know you have answered number 13 of the questions but answering all the question here could help others answer your questions. All this stuff plays together in making your leo happy and healthy.
Paper towel substrate, 10 gallon tank (he was in a 20 gallon with a girl, but I moved him when he got sick), my warm side is 89-93, cold side low 80s, I have a good digital thermometer I can move around, I have a heat lamp and a UV light, I regulate by keeping the lights to one side, he was two hides, a humid one and a cool one, I'm feeding him repta-aid (he ignores live food), the slurry has calcium and vatimins, and when he did eat crickets, I dusted them every time. I believe he's about 8 months old.
Hi Ava, I'm sad to hear Casanova is still doing so poorly. I know you have been having trouble with him lately, but I am glad to hear that you two are still fighting to get him better. I have not had a lot of experience with leos "convulsing" like you are describing. I'm sure someone more experienced will pop in here and give a little advice. However, I can help with some of the general problems. I did have a thought that he may have some kind of neurological condition based on the fact that he was having such a very hard time catching crickets (when he was eating them) as well as these convulsions or seizures you mentioned above. I may be way off base here and these could be signs to something that I am unaware of, but it was just what popped up into my mind while reading your posts. Great idea to separate the two for now while he gets healthier. Is he still on the calcium medication? If so, how is he handling taking the medication? I'm still not sure how I feel about the cat food the vet gave you, but a vet's a vet and they didn't go to school for 8 years for nothing. He has been retaining his weight, so something must be working. As for the shedding, if he is really not trying to shed by him self then you will probably need to help him out. You can put him in a warm shallow bath for about 10-15 min to help the shed skin moisten (make sure the water stays warm, it cools off pretty quickly. I have had the best of luck putting my gecko in the sink so a fresh water change is simple). Then you can use a Q-Tip to gently help the skin peel. If it is not coming off then don't force it, just wait until the next bath. When my girl has trouble shedding, I usually do a bath every few hours until all the shed is off. If he is hanging out in the humidity hide then it will help during the baths. I really would suggest doing this because the last thing he needs is to have retained shed and cut off circulation. I wanted to reply about a few things I noticed about his tank set up. I know that you have recently set it up so everything may not be perfect but it will make me feel better if I say it anyways So he should have two hides on the hot side, one is the humidity (that you already have) and another dry hide. You can just make one out of a tupperware box or half of a toilet paper roll for now. Also, I noticed you didn't mention an under tank heater (UTH)? Both your female and the male should have on in place of the heat lamps you currently have. UTH helps the leos to digest their food and may cause issues without it, so it might be a good idea to invest in one. Also, leopard geckos do not need special UV lighting because they are nocturnal. I have actually heard that it can do more harm than good for the geckos, so I would suggest that you turn these off. In place of the UV light, you can use a regular low wattage household light bulb for light and that will not cause any issues. You mentioned that he was breathing hard which could be a possible respiratory infection? That is the only thing I can think of that involves breathing hard or "yawning". Before he started shedding, is he usually in the humid hide? If he usually hangs out in his humid hide and it is always humid without shedding, then it could add to a respiratory infection, especially because he does not have another dry hide on the hot side. My gecko decided one day that she only likes her humid hide, and will not go in any other hide, so what I do to avoid respiratory infections, it I keep the "humid hide" dry until I notice her starting to shed, then I moisten the hide to help her shed. You could try this after he is all finished shedding and also add another hot hide to see where he decides to go. For throwing up though, after he eats do you handle him a lot? My gecko threw up one time, and I believe it was because I would feed her the mealworm slurry and then give her oral medications. When I gave her medications, she would squirm a lot and I think all the squirming around right after she ate made her throw up. After I started giving her medications before her dinner I never had any problems. Hopefully that applies to you? On a side note, it might help to summarize the older posts about him. I'm afraid that if a more experienced user reads this post and does not click on the link, they will be missing valuable information. You can just mention about him missing the crickets, when/why you switched to slurry, vet visit, deworming, calcium syrup, etc. Anything that could be relevant, add it here so that you can suck in the users that will just keep scrolling down and reading the thread. I sincerely wish I had more advice for you. I really don't know what to make of the convulsions, not eating, and the odd behavior you describe. I'm hoping that someone will have some more helpful advice. Keep updating, asking, and don't give up. It may seem like a downhill slope but he is still fighting, so just keep fighting with him. Good luck and take care.
Thanks so much for the replies. I do have an under tank heater, I totally forgot to mention it. He does spend all his time in his humid hide, so I'll set up another warm hide. After I feed him, I only handle him to get him back into his cage. Usually he's OK about that and doesn't squirm too much. And he's been handling the medication pretty well. It's obvious he hates the taste, but he takes it. As for the summary of my other info, here it goes: I've taken him to the vet a few times now, after he stopped eating crickets. For a few weeks when I got him, he at least tried to eat crickets, but he always seemed to miss. I even put them in the refrigerator for a few minutes as someone suggested, so the crickets were barely moving and he still missed. I've taken him to the vet a few times now, after he stopped eating crickets. First, he was put on a dewormer that he stayed on for three weeks (that was a couple months ago). After that, he was given a Neocalglucon, which he is still taking (.01ml a day). When he still refused to eat my vet gave me AD cat food/dog food with lots of calcium. I gave him that for a while until I was recommended a gecko slurry on these boards (vitamins, organic chicken babyfood, crickets, and mealworms), and so I gave him that and the cat food to him for a while. The problem was, I didn't know exactly how much I should be giving him, it was all guesswork (I decided on .15ml 3 times a day). But then I heard about Repta-Aid, where it tells you exactly how much you should give your reptile, so I started using that and he seemed to love it. Then the shedding started. He refused to eat, and when he did, he would throw it up. I'm hoping when I clear away the shed, he'll be more willing to eat.
maybe you should take a sample of the leo's poop into the vet again and have them check it again. I know that with humans and dogs and cats the worms can travel to the brain in the blood and it can cause problems like you have said your leo is having. It may be smart to get him back to the vet for another exam. I'm so sorry for your leo and you. I hope he gets better and its nothing like what humans and other animals can go threw. Please keep us posted on how he is doing with eating once you help with clearing away the shed.
I'm sorry to pass on to you guys that Casanova died just today. He lost more weight and just got too weak to carry on. Thanks to everyone for all your support.
I'm so sorry he passed Poor little guy, you tried your best though and he had a fighting chance because of you I hope your experience with this little guy hasn't turned you off from reptiles and when and if you're ready you decide to try again, I promise.. it can be very rewarding
