Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, this is my first post here (and apparently you guys already picked all the cool ID names, LOL)

I've learned quite a bit already just from reading all of the threads I could.
Last Sunday, I was in a PETCO, considering purchasing a leopard gecko, when a guy dropped off a pair and said he didn't want them anymore because they were too aggressive. The shop let me take them for free along with the supplies.
I've found them to be very gentle, despite the prior owner's claims. Of course, I scrubbed everything and rinsed it well (It had obviously not been cleaned in some time) and on the first night I saw that one was beginning to shed. It had a terrible time, and I had to help it using a warm water bath. That's when I noticed that the eyes did not look good. I took both of them off to a vet, and she said they were both a bit underweight, but especially the one with the eye problem. She prescribed antibiotic eye drops 4 x a day. I honestly haven't seen much improvement, and I have no idea how long the problem existed before I got her.
Anyway, I had to hand feed her because she could not see the food. It took a few days, but eventually I got her to accept a mealworm or two per attempt. Her buddy Drumstick (a patternless leo or a blizzard, not sure which) has been eating very well. I had been removing the healthy one from the tank when I fed this one to see if Kismet might be able to eat on her own, but she was oblivious to the food.
Yesterday, I left them both in the tank when I put in the food, and whatdoyaknow, Kismet reacted to the sound of the other one eating! Every time the Drumstick crunched into a worm, Kismet would get very close and poke at the ground near her. Low and behold, she actually managed to grab a mealie on her own!

Today I tried the same thing, and after numerous failed attempts, she managed to grab one. After Drumstick ate her fill, I continued to tap the ground near Kismet, and place the worms right in front of her, and she was able to eat four more on her own by following the sound.

Apparently, since she may have had this eye condition for some time, she managed to develop ways to find food, although obviously not as well as her pal. I'm glad I didn't separate them, She seems to seek the other out frequently, and now I understand why. I'm just glad
Drumstick puts up with her bumping and using her tongue to check on her friend's location.

Of course, there's still the remote possibility that Drumstick may have caused an injury in the first place, especially if the prior owner was not feeding them much and they had to battle for it, but for now, it seems that Kismet depends on Drumstick in order to locate her food. Weird, huh?

Anyway, here's Kismet, a lovely hypo tang with a nice lavender tail and under that is a link to other pictures of Drumstick and a new baby I picked up at a small local shop.

Sue

gecko gallery

I have a rescued female that had the same eye condition. It looks like a clouded over blister on the surface of the eye... She had it in both eyes and its taken me 6 months of good conditions and good food to get it to go away...And the eye drops.. they won't do any good.. Been there done that... I had to come up with my own regime of warm saline water rinses, higher temps and for the bigger blister over her one eye, lancing it with a very tiny needle and letting it drain... The cause of this is unknown but the vet I spoke with suspects a combination of lack of nutrition, too much light and no hiding places. I'd go with an undertank heater for an animal with this to avoid irritating the eye at all... that whats I did.. made sure there's a surface area heat of 110 degrees... the air temp above should be in the low to mid 90's though... with higher general humidity along with the humid hide. Make sure there is nothing that can get in the eye to irritate it.. like sand or bark or anything like that.. papertowels are definately the way to go here... keep it rinsed out and find an appetite stimulent/nutritional and calorie supplement called jumpstart. Order a tube of it and give her a small bead of it at least 4 times a week. It will help make up for any deficiencies she may have... the bad shed is a hydration and nutrition issue as well. I run a rescue so I've been through similar stuff a lot of time... Out of my 23 leos.. almost half are rescues... the other half I've bought or bred and kept.

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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
5.11.Leopard geckos (1.2 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 0.3 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, and Aris), 1.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.2 Normals)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)

Wow, it sounds like you really know what you're talking about!
It's nice to know that there's a chance that she might regain at least some vision eventually. I really don't know if I'll have the nerve to pierce the eye blister, I'd be so afraid that I might do more harm than good. If I do get to that point, I might ask you to email or IM me to talk me through it!

It's funny, but the only time she opens her eyes is right after she gets the drops. I guess it's the moisture that helps. How often do you recommend rinsing with a saline solution. Can I use an over-the-counter eye rinse like they sell for contact lens wearers?

There was no under tank heater or moist hide in the tank when I got them, so I bought those right away. I used the lights for about three days until I did some reading here and saw that it was not a good idea.

They had sand in the tank, so that was dumped and cleaned out well, and I bought reptile carpet (two of them to make changes easier)

Her appetite was non existant in the first few days, but now it's fine. She wont's eat crickets, nor will her tank mate, but she's eating mealworms and an occasional waxworm to help fatten her up. I'm putting leopard gecko dust on everything. I spray the mealies with water first to help it stick.

It's pathetic that someone invested the money into these two gorgeous animals, but couldn't invest the little bit of time it would have taken to keep them healthy. It makes me so mad!!!

I will do my best to follow your advice. I really would love to see this pretty girl bounce back.

Your blizzard (I suppose that's what it is, I'm really new at this) is a real beauty! My patternless is darker, but the color seems to change from moment to moment. I call her my "mood" lizard.

Sue

Piercing the eye blister is actually very nerve-wracking but it helps a lot with both their discomfort and to reduce the blister. I waited 3 months before I even tried it and you need something like a butterfly needle or an acupuncture needle.. really thin and really sharp...a second pair of hands is useful but not essential. You just have to barely get it under the bubble sitting atop the cornea and pierce it then rinse and leave it alone. You can do the warm saline rinses 2-4 times a day.. I usually did mine 3.. really what its all about is getting the right nutrients into her in the right amounts and giving her a good amount of heat to get her immune system working to heal that blister. My girl's sight isn't perfect but... she can see well enough to snatch superworms on a 3rd try.. so she isn't too bad.. but it took, like I said, 6 months to get to this point. It isn't a short process though piercing the blister did shorten the healing time rather than lengthen it. I'd suggest getting some pinkie mice if you can and see if she won't go for those... she looks perfectly big enough to take them at 1-3 days old.. or older... these are a packaged source of nutrients and part of my success. High in fat yes but also high in already processed nutrients in the right forms for the body to absorb. Both the converted D3, calcium, Vitamin A (which is a big link to eye problems and helps immensely in healing them)and low in phosphorous so they help alot. I have a male that came in during midwinter with no heatpack. His mate was already frozen to death... the tip of his tail just barely moved a bit.. its the only way we knew he was alive...He was malnourished and losing toes, bad sheds, everything. His first shed with me was really papery.. I had to peel it off for him cause he couldn't get it off... *shakes head* Now he's turned into such a handsome normal boy.. and he's spoiled rotten and at the 10 and one quarter inch mark.. weighs about 95 grams or so. He's a big boy...Named him Lazarus becayse he did literally come back from the dead. If you want to get in touch with me through email go ahead and use the link supplied here when you click on my username. I'm usually available to help... especially since I have done so many rescues its become second nature for me to give advice. I still advise the Jumpstart no matter what her appetite is as it isn't just a stimulant but also a caloric replacement and vitamin/mineral replacement. She's going to need the support while healing. In addition to her normal supplements. When sick these guys can be delicate.. when healthy they;re very hardy... Anyway, thats about what I can give you at the moment for help. Keep the waxworms to a minimum since they have very little nutritional value besides the fat content... With her you'll want to avoid crickets or anything that can crawl out of a dish...make sure you place a food dish in the same place everytime.. it helps them find it easier. Mine goes right to the place where the food dish is now when she knows I'm feeding everyone.. so I never move it for her convenience. All thats left in her one very bad eye is a small cloudy cast thats even now still going away and I'm sure will be gone in no time at all...then she'll be ready to go to her new home with a good friend of mine...

The blizzard in that picture was one I bred myself.. He was sold last year due to a need for money. One of the first babies I ever hatched...

This is Lazarus just a few weeks ago...the frozen one.. who came back from it

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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
5.11.Leopard geckos (1.2 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 0.3 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, and Aris), 1.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.2 Normals)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)

Hi, I want to second that with a lot of patience and eye care she should hopefully get some or all of her eyesight back. About 6 months ago our one big guy got either a scratch or a bite at the corner of his eye that caused it to swell up and glaze over like yours. We had to puncture it once and then clean 2x daily as well with a low saline mixture. Every time he shed it ripped open the blister for about 3 months. The swelling went down first, and then it just got better daily. Then one day he could see out of it-he freaked out and ran across his cage when he saw movement-poor thing. But he's great now. He is actually the first gecko I ever got and he's almost 11 inches long and about 110grams-no relation to moose though and he's not albino. So we're hoping to breed him now and maybe have our own giant type line starting. Anyhow, good luck with her.