Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I've got a WC frog eyed gecko I've had for almost a month now. She's on play sand substrate in a 20L tank with her primary diet being calcium dusted crickets a few times a week. Over the past few days her stomach has become noticeably larger, though she appears to be eating mostly normally (it's hard to tell with hiding crickets). Today I noticed she came out of her hide to go to the bathroom and she only passed a small white piece with none of the dark excrement that normally accompanies it.

This doesn't seem normal, but I don't know what to do to help her. There's so little information about the species on the internet, and the local reptile vets (northern CT) haven't had good reviews treating Bearded Dragons, so I'm especially worried about asking them for help on something more unusual.

Would it be safe to soak her in warm water as is suggested for Leopard geckos? I know the Frog Eyes can breathe through their skin and I didn't want to cause her any harm. Is it possible she's not constipated and it's something else causing the problem? Any ideas or suggestions? Please help.

Thank you.

I'm not entirely familiar with the keeping of that specific gecko, but since impaction is a common problem across gecko species, and fits your post exactly, I would guess that would be the problem.

A swollen belly, no feces, and you should start seeing a lack of appetite. Another thing to look for is to check the vent area, sometimes you can even see pieces of sand stuck there depending on the severity of the condition. If his colors are light enough you can almost "candle" him and see the extent of the backup (learned that from the vet, but only works best on albinos and light colored geckos). Since you have entirely play sand and are feeding hunted prey, even if it didn't ingest the sand intentionally, it could have eaten some with the prey or a mouthful when he missed.

I recommend papertowels as a substrate for any young gecko, and I personally, keep my adults on it as well. The problems are just not worth it. You'd want to move yours onto towels for now at least and find a good herp vet. Impaction can be treated as long as it is caught soon and the gecko is otherwise healthy. Obviously sooner than later. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I finally managed to get a halfway decent photo of her today. I've got more if they'd be useful. It has been suggested to me that she's not actually impacted, but gravid. I don't know enough about the species to say. Does the photo help at all?

Bleh, the photo didn't link.

Well first have to say a Vet is always a good idea if your gecko shows no sign of improvement FAST !

There are several things done to help impaction in other species of lizards, (I have not had a frog eyed gecko) but I would try it until I got to a vet.

I agree get her off the sand, use paper towels. Try the warm soak, may sure heat is perfect where it should be. You may want to try a drop of mineral oil in her mouth if you can get it in, (JUST A DROP) helps tp soften things up, and maybe get them moving.

Here is a link at the bottom on (IMPACTION) used for bearded dragons, very helpful with many types of lizards.

And remember "Always" good to consult a vet if you can not help the lizard yourself, let ua know how ya make out.
REPTILE IMPACTION ARTICLE

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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Hi,

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. I actually took her to the vet yesterday morning because she wasn't acting herself and nothing had changed despite all the home remedy suggestions I'd tried. When I picked her up (which was a shock in itself) I noticed one of her legs was floppy... The vet took one look at her and diagnosed the lumps as fluid build up from massive infection caused by broken bones from extremely advanced MBD. An x-ray backed things up, she had no visible bones aside from her inner ear. :/ The kindest thing to do for her was put her out of her pain.

I was amazed she'd managed to hide it from me for the 3 weeks I had her, though I never handled her, she was getting around fine, though gingerly (I assumed it was just how this species walked). Yesterday, however, she just turned into a rag doll. The handling to try to solve the 'impaction' must have been enough to stress her body to breaking.

I purchased her from a well known reptile dealer who assured me she was recently wild caught. The vet explained that MBD this advanced would have taken at least 9 months of improper treatment in captivity to occur, so I've sent the dealer an email to see if I can't get some sort of explanation. I just feel so bad I couldn't help her. I guess it's a learning experience ... maybe an immediate check-up trip to the vet is worth while with any new reptile. It wouldn't have helped in this case, but does it make sense or am I just over reacting due to one bad experience?

First off, I am very sorry for your loss. You did the right thing for the little one in the end. I know how hard that is, we had our first little leo put to sleep before we really even got a chance to know him. I'm very sorry.

As for over reacting... well, a trip to the vet as soon as you get a gecko is not a bad idea. In fact, it is a good idea if you've got a good herp vet around. I'm very against wild caught geckos in most cases, so I wouldn't recommend anyone buying them, but if you must it is even more important to have a vet check. Unless you are the one going out with the net, you can't be sure of the condition of the gecko, how long it has been out of the wild, or how it was treated in the meantime. I usually place the blame on the dealer, but truth be told, he could have been lied to about the length of time the gecko was in captivity too. However, for sure the dealer should know the signs of MBD in any species he deals in and if it was that bad it should be obvious to someone familiar with the gecko and that bothers me a lot.

I'm sorry we weren't more help, MBD is a horrible thing, but so simple to prevent I don't think any of us would have thought it the root cause. You did what you could and I hope you can give that dealer a wake up call or at least warn the rest of us. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Such a SAD thing, so sorry the gecko had to go through this, such a shame, as well as what you went through since you purchased her.

Hope you feel better soon
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve