A friend of mine bought a leo from Pet Extreme, a chain pet store similar to Petco/PetSmart. After about a month of having the Leo my friend was no longer able to care for it because of his schedule so i took it in, i keep Rhacodactylus only, but I was willing to give it a good home.

After about a month of having it i noticed she started losing weight, so I posted on here and got some good feedback and that was that. After having her a while longer she continued to lose weight so I took her to a local reptile shop that is exclusively reptiles, and the owner is quite knowledgable. He told me that the leo's that come from the chain stores are known to have this certain type of protozoan, and quite a few of them get them from the distribution center where they are shipped out from.

I was told it was helpless, and that it couldn't be treated, but I didn't give up, I kept her and kept an eye on her but her condition worsened with time, finally today I felt she deserved her peace, I found that the most humane way to do it was to freeze them, so that is what I did. I felt terrible about it, but I also knew she deserved to be at peace and it was selfish to make her suffer only to fall to her illness later.

I am very disappointed about it, i hope this isn't the case with a lot of the leo's from chain stores. i feel terrible that i had to put her down but at the same time i knew it was best, and gave her a proper burial.

im concerned now though, could it spread to my Crested Geckos and Gargoyles geckos or is it a leo thing? none of my other geckos have had any weight loss and are all healthy, they were in the same room as the Leo but never any direct contact.

Im really saddened by this, I hate losing a pet, but i know its best that i put her out of her pain.

What do you all think about it?
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• I put her to sleep today.... - kozmo02, Sat Apr 2 02:47:06 2005
• I think you did the right thing.. - princesskain, Sat Apr 2 11:45:45 2005
• RE: I think you did the right thing.. - kozmo02, Sun Apr 3 01:23:45 2005
• RE: I think you did the right thing.. - AlteredMind99, Sun Apr 3 12:46:54 2005
• *important to read* -do NOT euthanize by freezing or decapitation - marla, Thu Apr 7 10:49:46 2005