Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is long, but I want you to know the full story.

"Minuscule" fits his/her name quite well. body is 1.5", 2.5" with tail. Bought him from the petstore today at full price cuz they don't do discounts, and he needs excellent attention and care at present.

1 month ago approx, we found him at the side of the cage holding 2 other leos twice his size. He was barely breathing, the shed from that day was still all over him, his head looked as if it had been it on top (and his back looked like it may have been nipped as well). Apparently, he had been moving well that morning and soaking in the water bowl before shedding (no damp hide, tho a nice hide from sight there). After sticking him into a mini Kritter Keeper with a pop bottle cap for water dish, paper towels for floor, and some tiny crickets, they wet everything down nicely.

3-5 weeks later (we're not really sure), he's not grown noticably tho he's doing much better. BUT his shed was still all over his head, back, and all legs. (Tail was clear before we first saw him) So today, I sprayed him down fully and lightly brushed off the shed pieces. His legs and feet weren't bad, tho the nails were hard to get the shed free of. I also got all the shed off his head, except for the top of his head. It was more difficult to start peeling (I did it very slowly and gently as I could), but as soon as I saw the pink skin under it I stopped. Then I put tripple-antibiotics on just in case there's any open wounds.

But his eyes are at least able to be fully open since the shed is all off... My two concerns: his toes are dark, tho splayed out and seem usable; and his teeth are not covered by his lower-jaw's skin (I think that's from the last shed being stuck and following growth). Should I be too concerned about either? He walks fine, his eyes seem OK, he drinks great, and apparently he eats alright. He likes to lick water drops off his nose, tho he'll drink off the glass or from the bowl.

What would you all suggest for care for him? I know there's a fair chance he might not make it, or that he'll need special care all his life. I don't care. I just found him right before he died, and now he's improved from the care at the store, and I want to get him back to FULL health (they wouldn't know what to do, nor did they have a clue).

Thanks in advance!
~Krystie

ps - in a couple pics, it looks like the eyes are sunken in. I checked, and he's fine - it's just the pictures.

Aww. It is just adorable, although it is very small because my little baby leos were bigger than him at hatching.
I would suggest something that he can rub on to get the shed off. Something like a hut or a half log, a hide box would be ideal, but if it's not possible then one of the others is fine.

It sounds like he's pretty lucky to have such a loving person to care for him. I just love to hear those kind of stories because I hear so many horrible stories of cruel people (not necessarily gecko stories or reptiles for that matter). Good luck to you and your beautiful little one.

The only thing I could see is that his jaw might be a bit off, could be early signs of MBD, but also could be the picture too. Wouldn't hurt to push calcium every feeding or if you are thinking a vet trip to check for parasites or something ask for a calcium shot too.

In severe cases of shed sometimes the old soak and pull method can be too much - I've never tried it on a leopard gecko (but a few times on a crested) is a product "Bio Mist reptile skin conditioner" it is a natural shed help product like Shed Ease for snakes, Bio Mist seems to be more universal and specifically lists geckos as being for them. Really helps loosen the skin and the fine mist is tolerated well. You can mist the humid hide for the little one with that instead of water.

Good luck, here is hoping you came in time. We tried to save one once and were too late, but we miss him everyday.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I'm always torn when I see these posts. I'm definitely happy that you've provided the little one with more comfortable living conditions, but of course, given that you paid for it, you're unfortunately supporting the subpar conditions at the pet store in question. Having, like sleepy, gone through something like that once, I'll never do it again, but I wish you the best of luck and hope the little guy makes it. If s/he is eating well, that's obviously a big win, and gives him/her a much better chance.

The one I lost eventually got to a point where I had to force feed, and those are still painful memories. I remember making the decision to have him put down when I picked him up to feed him and he didn't even react. He was too far gone to even notice that someone had lifted him out of his terrarium. The poor little guy had given everything he had, and so had I, and none of it was enough. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it, and it was a couple of years ago.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hope that doesn't happen with your rescue - it's not an experience I'd wish on anyone. In the future, what I'd recommend is that if you can't stand to leave them when you see them like that, then ask to speak to the manager of the place and state your case for how if you don't take it home soon, it's just going to die, and you'll be willing to take it off their hands for free in the hopes that it might survive. Failing that, just quit going to that pet store, as obviously their care standards are not up to where they should be, and giving them money only promotes continuation of that behavior.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

I have actually dealt with this problem, tho on a much larger leo. My suggestions:
Keep the paper towels damp, wet them daily, or whenever they are dried.
Place saran wrap over half the top of the tank, to keep the humidity in. This will also raise the temp a couple degrees, which is a good thing, as long as its not too hot. What are your temps anynway?
I agree completely with the earlier suggestion to puch calcium on this little guy. He should have a dish of pure calcium in the tank. I don't recommend shots of anything on a leo that small. I suggest that your just dip your fingertip in the calcium powder, on he should like it off if you touch his nose with it. Do this daily.
DO NOT force feed him, if he does stop eating, please post an update before you do anything that drastic.
Not sure what you are feeding him, on what schedule, but keep it up, sounds like he is growing.
As for the shed on top of his head, I recommend a few things- First, it sounds like it has hardened and scabbed up at this point. Silver Sulfadene cream should be applied to that area once or twice a day. You may also apply a triple antibiotic once a day to that area. Don't try to peel during that time. I would continue this treatment through his next shed. At that point, it may come off for him, without assistance from you. If he still has problems at his next shed, re-post, and we will go from there. It may not hurt to get a vet a swab the area to rule out a bacterial infection there as well. the one I treated like this had a septic infection from all the stuck skin. you may have caught the problem early enough, but if you can afford it, it's not a bad idea. Hope this helps!
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1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (unnamed yet)
2.1 Ball Pythons
RIP Peaches, Ghost, Bill
Adopted out: Goldie, Leucy, "Q"
Hatched: ~50

what i did for the ones i just rescued last night was to put in a ziplock tupperware container with him. i used moist papertowels bc one of his toes was bleeding from a nip and i wanted to be able to see if anything else started to bleed... i FILLED it with wet towels and fluffed them up. i cut a medium sized ( silver dollar?) hole in it. I put this directly over the undertank heater( took out the tile piece) and it fogged up nicely and got warm.

they have been in there almost constantly for the last 24 hours. and ones almost shed compleatly.

I've taken much of the advice here... Thank you for your help.

Each day I've been dropping calcium dust w/ some vitamin dust on his nose, and he seems to be doing ok.

He's moving better each day, I think some of it is the de-stressing from the move finally. Plus, he shed again. Tho, the shed wasn't coming off after 4 days, so I helped a little. Moist Qtip lightly running down his sides, then on his head since the shed was half-off one eye and blocking his vision (he couldn't open the eye). And that scab was quite loose today, so I brushed it VERY LIGHTLY and it came off to leave a pale scar below.

But feeding, he'll apparently eat two crickets every 2-3 days. My husband put in 3-4 small crickets one day, and only 1 was left 8 hours later. But that one stayed in there for 2 more days, so I got him to open his mouth and popped the then-squished cricket in. Although, I think the crickets MIGHT be escaping. So I'm going to get some turkey baby food just to make sure he gets food in him (he'll apparently lick anything off his lips). His tail is still skinny, but hopefully the baby food will help that. And he's pooping every-other to every-three days, and I'm also giving a tiny amount of "worm guard" on his lips each day, so hopefully that will help get rid of intestinal parasites if that's a problem.

One question: his mouth is pale, like light flesh-tone. How normal is that? Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. I really want to do best by this little one. And temps are 75 at night, and he's between 87-92* durring the day (I keep his KritterKeeper on the lid of the big leo's cage next to the heat lamp).

Oh, and for the pet store, they are brand new into reptiles (it's a corporate decision, not the particular store) and they are learning what to do. They also can NOT let any animal go out of their store without it being paid for. I told management that it would likely die, and they didn't care. They said at first that they could give me a 10% discount at most, and I left him for a few weeks. Since he survived that long, I decided to take the chance. I may not like their initial care of the animals, but they are learning rapidly, listen to my advice and follow it, and the initial quality of the animals when they come in is EXCELLENT - plus I've found some slightly-higher quality animals there being sold as normals, so I'm Ok with them. Their BIGGEST mistake was the size difference with the leos (they later got in two different sizes of bearded dragons, and put them in different cages from my previous advice, and they are no longer getting veiled chams that are more than 4 months old because of the cage size they have available. The rest are doing well (especially with my advice about humidity). And they have always been feeding good fruits and veggies changed daily for those that need them, and the correct size of crickets for insectavores. They are better about learning about their herps than most places I've seen, and they admit their mistakes. But the managers are butt-heads about profits... I thinks that's the only problem I can tell.

Anyways, soon he'll be in new quarters in a "small" ranch-style kritter keeper with the paper towels (it's now two soaked paper towels and a regular damp towel over most of the top while he's shedding, new cage it'll be the same but more paper towels.)

Thanks again everyone! I'll let you know how he's doing.