Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey folks,

I found this little guy in a pet shop about 3 weeks ago, being rather mistreated (no hide box, no food, no water, no lights, no heat pad, nothing but some sand) and he was in pretty nasty shape. He had tried to shed, but couldn't get the skin off his eyes or toes and he looked like he had lost his tail at some point.

Anyway, see pic attached below. This is him 3 weeks later. He doesn't seem to have gained much weight back, but his colour is improving and his eyes are nice and clear. His feces appear normal, no undigested food in them, and he has food, water, a hide, blacklight and under tank heater, very similar to my girlfriends gecko.

Any thoughts on him? He's very skittish (I'm assuming he's been handled rather roughly from what I saw at the pet shop) so I guess it'll take him a while to come around. Any thoughts as to how he's looking? How long should it take him to plump up a little bit?

Thanks in advance!

i really am not trying to be mean but your gecko looks VERY VERY ILL!! the shrivled tail is a very bad thing, it means your gecko has no fat and no vitamins or anything. you can not live with no fat on you body, no one can. he is also probably very dehydrated, you should put water droplets on his nose so he can lick them off. is he eating anything? and are you sure he is eating, like have you actually seen him eat? sometimes you think they eat but its really the crickets eating each other. yes he has lost his tail. i think you should take him to the vet at once and if your girl freinds looks like that you should take that one too. if your gecko is eating on his own, make sure that your crickets are dusted with vitamins. get the leopard gecko dust by t-rex brand. also waxworms are very fatty and good for putting weight on quick. i think that they are better then mealworms but they are not quit as healthy but better in your case. good luck and i hope you can get that little guy or girl fixed up.

No offense taken at all.

He has been eating. I've been providing phoenix worms in a dish and the worms have been disappearing overnight. I know those aren't being eaten by crickets, so those have to be eaten.

The tail has been shriveled like that since I brought him home with me, which was about 3 weeks ago. Seems like he's been doing ok, but I've been providing lots of water and keeping his habitat wet and all that. The input is definitely appreciated.

One thing I think may be a problem is that he may be stressed. I've got two kittens who seem to have made it their life's work to annoy him by tapping on the tank etc etc. I recently put him into a higher place away from them, so that may very well help.

Any other suggestions would help immensely. I'll get him to my vet ASAP (he's in NJ and I'm in NY so it may have to wait until the weekend) but I'll take care of him.

Thanks folks, keep the input coming!

Forgot to mention,

The local pet shop, that deals a lot in reptiles (geckos, skinks, turtles, etc) said also that if they have been severely dehydrated, it may take them a while to put weight back on. Is this true?

I had a sick one that looked a lot like yours a few months ago. I couldn't get her to the vet right away either. I read something here in this forum that worked great. Someone said to give a bath with part water and part Pedialyte (the stuff you give to babies when they have diarreah and are de-hydrated) and let them soak for a while to absorb the electrolytes. I can't remember the exact procedure now but maybe whoever posted it several months ago will read this. I also mixed some Pedialyte with some baby food (organic chicken no veggies)because she wasn't eating at all by herself. Seems you don't have that problem but maybe try giving the Pedialyte by itself with a small syringe, mine just lapped it up-I gave her around 2-3 cc's a day, alot spilled on the tank floor. Within days she plumped up substantially. I had a hard time finding a gecko-size dose of Pedialyte, unflavored and colorless, once opened it says it's only good for like 48 hours or something so I threw a lot of it away. I ordered the reptile vitamin/electrolyte stuff and gave her that until she got well, but honestly the Pedialyte worked better. The vet said that by giving her the electrolytes and slurry I probably saved her life (BTW THANK YOU TO WHOEVER SUGGESTED THAT). I didn't notice if you said that you actually did see her eat or just saw the worms disappear but I would watch and make sure.

I had a problem with kirmy a while back. She stoped eating I am asuming it was like everyone said just a cooling down time. Then when I purchased Alberto and put him in with her that was a huge mistake cause the bread. This took a lot out of her and she got fairly skiny. She is puting weight back on now but its been several months of fighting and feeding her as manny meal worms as she will eat and a lot more pinkies than normal. I have been giving her at least one pinkie every 2 weeks. Here is her picture below, The moral is it could be a long fight before your Gecko starts looking better. Do you have a small scale? Some times its hard to see but you can keep track of there weight and see progress when otherwise it would look like there was none.

My Research and Collection "New server"

i am glad to hear that you will take the little fella to the vet, sorry it is so far away though. i also have issues with weight on some of mine but they arnt that bad. i just feed them the waxworms like i suggested but i dont know what pheonix worms are. i would definatly try the waxworms though because they are like candy to a gecko. when i fed them for the first time i was shocked to find that my geckos would actually just about do anything to get the worm. like i did say i only feed them on occasion but in your case i would feed about 6-8 everynight, or even more. the females laying eggs get the waxworms, but i have some who just plain wont eat. i feed them beef or chicken baby food with the dusted vitamins mixed in. i also have heard pedialite works. and i have also heard ensure, the stuff for old people but not the chocolate flavor. i would totally try wax worms however the crickets could also be eating you mealworm or whatever kind of worms, and the worms could also be eating each other.

Thanks for the suggestions. Phoneix worms are something I found at wormman.com that are high calcium kinds of worms. Supposedly quite good for the animals.

He doesn't seem interested in the waxies though. Just to ensure he's eating I fed him some baby food/pedialyte mixture as per someone's suggestion on here.

My vet seems to think that it may be a combination of some kind of parasite combined with stress (my two kittens were making it their life's work to torment him in the cage until I moved it). The little guy seems to display ALL the signs of being overstressed, but I'm going to let the vet figure it out. For the meantime though, the little guy is alert and active. He moves around when I'm near the tank, and he is certainly alert and his eyes are clear. I'll take that as a good sign for the time being.

Thanks all, any other thoughts?

i have heard that silk worms are both fatty and nutritous. i have never tried them though. there is a place online called mullberryfarms but i am not sure what the link is itself. just thought id through it out there.

If you think the cats or anything else are stressing your leo out try some black construction paper on the outside of the tank. That way your leo will be less stressed.

I know it sounds mean, but if the store losses money because it mistreats animals and they die then the store will either take better care of them, stop carrying them, or go out of buisness.

Never BUY a rescue case, if they are given away you might want to try to save them but NEVER buy them.

The problem with this place is the place habitually does things like that, but nothing ever comes of it. They are such a huge place (local place, but a huge place) that it's not an issue to them.

Little guy didn't cost me much, and I'm too much of a softie to let something die. Probably a bad feeling to have, but ya know....

How's your gecko doing? I figured out how to post a picture so here's a before and after picture from when mine was sick. The bottom picture is when she was sick, she did get a little worse after that. After taking her to the vet she ate a lot and shed twice within two weeks after getting a clean bill of health (2 vet visits). This was her second shed. Now she's looks beautiful, but I don't have a "today" picture, but I can take one this weekend.