Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all... My leo has been eating great and in good health until today...he started shedding a few days ago and i noticed that there's no more shedding left on both of his back limps and he's like dragging both of his back knees to walk instead of his feet...both of his back limps seems to be broken...They looked distorted. can anybody help?

Oh boy... Looks like MBD to me. Take it to the vet. I don't know if it will be permanently disfigured or not, but it needs some calcium NOW. Poor thing...

Basically, if they aren't getting enough calcium in their diet to perform the necessary functions (muscle contractions, blood clotting...) they will start to pull calcium out of their bones. This leads to the "rubbery" looking legs. Sometimes they get soft jaws and have troubles eating.

Please take it in ASAP.
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-Kristin

0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)

I second that MBD claim.

So sad.

I've heard vets have a calci shot they can inject into them, but don't take my word for it.

Do you dust your prey with calcium/have a calcium dish in your cage?

I agree, so sad.
Lack of Calcium has to be the problem. Please bring it to an exotic pet vet or at least call to see if there's anything they can do. It hurts me to see it that way. Poor little thing.
Please DO let us know what you find out!!!
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**Kenn**

That is severe MBD. I have never seen it so bad in all 4 legs.
You need to start it on liquid calcium, and also use the dusting calcium that has d3. You can get the liquid from the vet, It's called neocal. I don't think the legs will ever look normal again but with treatment she should be ok.
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Sarah H

imageevent.com/sarah_h

I agree with the above. You don't want to wait on this one. Take her to the vet immediately. In addition to the soft jaw causing a loss of appetite, she probably won't be seen outside her hide very often.

They can eventually get their calcium back once lost but her legs will likely remain deformed.

I've used a product provided by my vet called calcionate to boost my gecko's calcium intake during a recent hunger strike. The strike was still on after 4 weeks and early MBD was a concern. 4-6 weeks without sufficient calcium is about the amount of time a typical gecko will last before MBD sets in.

If prescribed by your vet, they may have you administer it via eyedropper or in a more controlled fashion via syringe. Usually you'll put a drop of the liquid on her nose and with some patience on your behalf she'll start licking it off. Once they start licking it's usually pretty easy to feed the drops directly on their tongue until the proper amount is administered. The vet will explain all this to you if this route is exercised.

Calcionate might be the generic name for Neocal but I'm not sure.

As mentioned, there's also a calcium shot the vet can administer to boost calcium blood levels quickly but it is not without risks. According to my vet the sudden change can cause seisures. The calcionate is a more gradual approach.

Good luck with her and please do get her in to a vet right away!

N.F.