Leopard Gecko Problem..HELP!

I have now had my leopard gecko for about 8 months, and about a month ago she stopped eating. I tried giving her repti-aid for awhile to see if it would help, but to my disapointment it didn't. As time progressed her health continued to decline, so i inevitably took her to the vet. The vet said she had worms, and gave her a deworming. Later that day in her stool i found worms, and i thought things would be better. To my suprise things continued to get worse. I took her back to the vet where she was then diagnosed with gout. We received anti-inflamatory, along with other medications to help, but she keeps getting worse. As of late she simple lies around, and her walking has become dragging across the floor. I do not wish to take her back to the vet, as i feel they are just after my money now. Also, to add more to the list, behind her front arm, their is a red buble thingy. It has gotten a bit larger, another thing to be concerned about? As far as caging goes she's in a 20g tank with a warm hide, and cool, along with a small bark hide and water dish in the middle, i moist her hide daily. Im just wondering, what can i do now if anything?

Hi and welcome to the forum

We have a sticky thread in this health and Illness section which is a care questionnaire. If you copy and paste into a post and fill it out for us, the membership can give you more detailed and accurate answers.

My advice so far from what you have provided however;
The bubble's you see at her armpits is likely to be what is known as calcium bubble's, it is where they store excess calcium. It just means you need to cut down on supplementing for a while.

After that, i would check your situation and enclosure for any possible stressors. Such as cagemates, too hot, too cold, loud noises, no good hiding spots, stuff like this that can make the gecko stressed and therefore not as active.

Also, dragging the bottom along the floor can sometimes be a sign of reaching sexual maturity, however it only happens in males, and it happens usually around 8 months of age, so are you sure your gecko is a female?

And last of all, do you know the exact age of your gecko, could this just be an old-aged gecko?

As i say, you should recieve some better answers if you fill in our health questionnaire. Thank you.

And as far as the calcium bubble goes, is it hurting the gecko? And anything to do to make it die down if it is in-fact a calcium bubble?

The calcium bubbles will not hurt her at all, if you quit supplementing for a little while they will go away.

As for your set up the first thing I would do is get rid of the lights. Leos are crepsecular and that means they are most active during the late evenings are early morning so they do not need light and heat from above. The most important thing is the belly heat because this is how they digest their food. Having the probe is the best;) that way you can accurately read the belly temperature.

I think for the most part that you are doing pretty good for the housing part. The force feeding no doubt is very stressful but some times you have to do what you have to do. I am just wondering if you dabbed a little drop on his nose at a time without picking him up if that might be less stressful. I am not sure how your leo would react to that but some of mine have responded well to that.

The one other thing that I might try is putting a plain hide on the hot spot without the moss in it so that she can get some good belly heat without being moist. The moist hide is great but maybe she doesn't need it all the time but needs the belly heat.

I think you are doing a great job with her and I hope that the advice that we can give you helps. Those are all the suggestions I have for now but keep us updated and some others may have some better suggestions for you

It could be dehydration from not drinking water, with the calcium mixed in it the leo might not go for it. I have a small bottle cap of calcium I use, besides dusting when I feed.

K, thanks so much! I'm gonna try to do all that, and see how it works.

I got a new hide, and took the lights of, but the temperature dropped to 80 at the bottom, is this ok/normal? I have a couple other heat pads, should i try to hook another pad to the bottom?

What size heating pad do you have, and what controllers (thermostat/rheostat) do you have on it?

You really do NEED to get the belly temperature up to 95F. With a leo that is not well you especially need to hit those numbers. If you have to add a second heat pad that would be a good idea.

The heat pad i have doesn't have a thing to switch temperatures, so ill put a second pad under. I do have a pad it says for a 20g tank, should i get a larger one? And as far as gout goes. What does that mean for the lizard?

And thanks for replying, i got some stuff on other forums for days with 0 replies.

The thing is, when they made these pads they had a big brain fart. The 10-20gal pad is for a 10 gal or 20 gal TALL, not long. For a 20 gal long, you need the 30-40 gal pad because a 20 long and a 30 have the same foot print.

That'll bring your temps right up.

hi there,

i know its not the same reptile as yours but i have a older bearded dragon who suffers with gout and the way i've found best to treat her at the moment is using water to rehydrate her ie bathing daily, spraying her or using a syringe to put it directly into her mouth.

Off to the petstore!

I found a good way of rehydrating sicky leo's is getting a dropper (like the ones you get for ear drops) and just putting drops of water on their nose. They usually lap it up!

Bathing them may cause extra stress, I find my method to be the least stressful for rehydrating that is

Im wondering about the gout... if it truly is gout (a build up of uric acid) or if it's psudo gout (a build up of calcium deposits insted of uric acid). If your leo has calcium bubbles in the arm pits (if that is what they are, they usually aren't red or irritated looking) then your leo needs more D3. You may need to start adding light therapy to help your leo with the absorbtion of calcium. **Sam could you please fill the OP in on more about the light therapy to help with MBD/calcium absorbtion plz. I don't want to mis-quote the therapy you laid out previously for treating MBD**

Pictures of your leo would def. help to determine sex (put it in a clear bottom container and take a couple pix), and to determine if the bubble is a abcess or a calcium bubble. Also bubbles can form in the arm pits from excessive proteins as well. The way to figure this out is to decrease calcium first, see if the bubbles go down over about a month, if they do it is calcium related, if they don't it is likely protein bubbles and you need to vary the diet more to include higher fat feeders.

Also I would stop force feeding the leo and make her a concotion of gecko slurry (has anyone posted a recipe yet on the baords somewhere?) Like Jolene mentioned putting small drops of this on the leos nose to lick off (be careful to not get it in the nostrils) will be a lot less stressful than force feeding insects. Right now with the lack of food and proper supplimentation your leo is likely in GI stasis and reluctant to eat because of that. You need to find a low stress way to get food into her so taht her metabolism can start up again... increase the heat try to get as close to 96-98*F as possible, if that means including a heat bulb please use the blue moonlight bulb, that is the least stressful for leos. The higher heat will make your leo more active (in an attempt to thermoregulate) and hopefully increase appetite.

If the tank you're using is a 20 long tank you need a heat mat that is at least 6x11 inches and a minimum of 7-8 watts in order to produce enough heat to heat thru your repti carpet and the glass of the tank. Your uth should take up approximately 1/3rd of the floor surface.

I don't see a multi vitamin listed in your care questionaire. You def. need a good multi vit in conjunction with a good calcium suppliment with and with out D3. With out D3 the body can't absorb calcium and you end up with an abundance of calcium in the system that can't be absorbed which then leads to psudo gout. Gut loading with fresh veggies could be a better option over mass produced gutload suppliments that IMO don't have the same effect as using fresh veggies plus the leo may not like how the insect tasts being gut loaded with an artificial food source. Using a variety of kitchen veggie scraps (minus spinach because that binds to calcium making it impossible to absorb) will properly gut load your feeders. You may also want to talk to your vet about the possibility of a B12 shot for the leo as it is an appetite stimulant that is used with herps. My son's ball python almost needed to go this route after brumation but fortunately he started eating on his own again right after the discussion. Almost like he knew what was about to happen

Lastly your leos should be large enough to handle super worms insted of meal worms. They have a better nutritional value and less shell to digest so they are a better choice for older leos past the juvie stage (5-6 mos old). They are more active and can trigger a better feeding response than mealies but not as fast as crickets so not intimidating to hunt for fear of failure. I would take the jumper legs off the crickets before feeding to slow them down and make them easier to catch for the leo. If all else fails you can try and find some silk worms and phoenix worms. They are high in calcium and excellent source of proper nutrition (balance between fats fiber and protein). Sometimes the lack of eating is simpy food boredome. I just went thru this with my boy Eros.

Well hopefully some of this helps... good luck with your leo

^Thanks so much, im on my way to the petstore to pick some stuff up now, ill try to get some pictures on today.

New problem, uhh not sure how, but this mornin I noticed his stomach had a red blotch. I picked it up, and it's arm was bleeding, and blood had smeared on his stomach. It's not overwhelming amount of blood, and it wasn't continuously bleeding but ya. Blood. Anything I should do? Is putting him down the best option if he's suffering, or is that even an option with lizards? What should be done?


And, she hasn't eaten in 2 days, yet she keeps pooping like twice a day, did we feed her too much, and now it's full, should we stop feeding for a bit?

As long as the poop isn't actually a regurg, you haven't fed too much. Just wait a day and go back to your usual feeding schedule. As for the blood, I'm not sure. She might have nicked herself on something in the enclosure, not sure what but see if you find any hard surfaces.

could you get some pics on here for us to look at to try to help you?

For some reason wont lemme upload pics.

Here is the link on how to upload pictures;)

http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t338-adding-an-image-to-your-post

I'll try to get some better ones, and ones of the cut that she/he obtained. Out of curiosity, what morph? lol. After i do some errands though, i'll get some better ones





Edit: You can kinda see the gout on the toes.