Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a leopard gecko that is a little over two years old. She has stopped eating and lost most of the fat in her tail and is having shed problems. She has shed preventing her from opening her eyes and won't let me touch her to help her remove it. I took her to the vet and they gave her a vitamin injection but she isn't getting any better. Does anyone have any advice?

you have to get that shed skin off! do you have a humid hide? create a humid hide that doesn't have an exit. make sure it's hot not over 85 f. temp put her in for an hour and let her out.repeat on 1 hour increments. the dry skin has to be moistened. or let your shower run pure hot water put her in the bathroom in her cage and shut the door for an hour. the point here is to moisten the dry skin.

Lack of appitite & weight loss are sighns of internal parasites. The bad shedding is probably a secondary issue caused in part by the gecko being ill.
The shed definently needs to be removed ASAP. This can be done by using a wet Qtip or directly misting the gecko, let the shed soak up the water a few seconds, then gently try peeling the shed off. Mist again as needed. Also, for future referance make sure there is a humid hide in the cage & always make sure the material inside it is damp.
As for the parasites, it could be Trichomoads(Pinworms), Coccidia, Cryptosporidium, or any combination of the three. You should probably take the gecko back to the vet with a fecal sample this time and have the vet do a fecal float to check. It's been my experience most vets are not able to check for Cryptosporidium & have to outsorce that test out to a lab. Be sure to request that this gets done. If you can't obtain a fecal sample, the vet should be able to manipulate one out or by doing a swab. It is very important to find out which parasite or combination the gecko has, because they all require different treatments.

I can't get a fecal sample because she won't eat and so she won't go to the bathroom. As for the shed, I've tried to remove it but she wont let me.

Well you are going to HAVE to get the shed off. You may get bit and so on but that's part of owning the herp. I would take back t the vet asap. If vet says can't help i would for sure get a second opinion. ALso temps in the tank are to be 85-90 hot side and 70-75 cool side. If temps are not correct and there is no sufficient hide them there could be one reason for improper shedding.

I do have to agree with csherp here and say it sounds like internal parasites. I wold def. take to vet!

LeoLady420 pretty much has read my mind with what I was going to respond with, but beat me to the punch. Thank you!
As I had said in the first responce, if you are unable to obtain a fecal sample the vet should be able to manipulate some matter out or preform a swab to test for parasites. And like LeoLady420 said, you might have to get a second opinion. Make sure the vet your taking your gecko to works with reptiles on a regular basis.