Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

New to Leopard Geckos, I thought I had it down pretty good, but I had to take my little guy to the vet today. He's been hiding in his 3 in 1 Hide a rock cave pretty much since I bought the house for him. He would come out for about 5 minutes at the time, and go back in. Too cold, I didn't have proper heating. He hadn't eaten in two weeks...

No energy, doesn't pay attention to food at all. It used to be when I drop crickets in, he would get into hunting mode eat up to ten small ones, or say 5 mealworms. Now, I drop them in, and he runs away and hides in his rock.

So, I just got back from the herp vet. She said that since he's been in the rock so much, curled up, now his spine is all crooked. He is young, about 3 months old is my guess. So hopefully, he can straighten back out?

He has a calcium deficiency of sorts, his jaws aren't very firm. So, she gave me a little syringe for giving him this "Neo Cal" medicine/vitamin. She said to use .3 I think (Just three little notches near the end of the tube)

I also have to tube feed, hopefully he gets his appetite back from the jumpstart. She actually gave me this can of prescription cat/dog food.

I have never done tube feeding before, can I get some pointers on how to do this without hurting him? They said to hold his neck secure so he doesnt lash around, and pretty much just try and work it into their mouth from the front. Anybody have any ideas on how much of this cat/dog food I'm supposed to put in the syringe? He weighs in at 23 oz. The syringe holds from .1 to 1 ml.

Thank much in advance, and sorry for the long post!

-=Ryan=-

>>Hi all,
>>
>>New to Leopard Geckos, I thought I had it down pretty good, but I had to take my little guy to the vet today. He's been hiding in his 3 in 1 Hide a rock cave pretty much since I bought the house for him. He would come out for about 5 minutes at the time, and go back in. Too cold, I didn't have proper heating. He hadn't eaten in two weeks...
>>
>>No energy, doesn't pay attention to food at all. It used to be when I drop crickets in, he would get into hunting mode eat up to ten small ones, or say 5 mealworms. Now, I drop them in, and he runs away and hides in his rock.
>>
>>So, I just got back from the herp vet. She said that since he's been in the rock so much, curled up, now his spine is all crooked. He is young, about 3 months old is my guess. So hopefully, he can straighten back out?
>>
>>He has a calcium deficiency of sorts, his jaws aren't very firm. So, she gave me a little syringe for giving him this "Neo Cal" medicine/vitamin. She said to use .3 I think (Just three little notches near the end of the tube)
>>
>>I also have to tube feed, hopefully he gets his appetite back from the jumpstart. She actually gave me this can of prescription cat/dog food.
>>
>>I have never done tube feeding before, can I get some pointers on how to do this without hurting him? They said to hold his neck secure so he doesnt lash around, and pretty much just try and work it into their mouth from the front. Anybody have any ideas on how much of this cat/dog food I'm supposed to put in the syringe? He weighs in at 23 oz. The syringe holds from .1 to 1 ml.
>>
>>Thank much in advance, and sorry for the long post!
try doing gradual doses like 0.25 or even better ask your vet
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^ ^ Leos are da Bomb
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I recommend mixing the a/d with some water and maybe also some calcium (JUST calcium, no vit D) powder. you want it thin enough that you can put it in the syringe and it will flow pretty easy. Do not force your guy at all unless you have to. If you use the syringe and place a drop at a time on his nose, he should lick it off. Do this as often as possible, be patient. If he takes less than .2 you may need to gently open his mouth with the tip of the plastic syringe and put it in his mouth, just a little at a time. And you absolutely need to have a calcium dish in there to prevent this sort of thing in the future. I hope you have fixed your low temps satisfactorily?
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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 (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

Don't do anything save what the vet told you. Odd they gave you cat/dog food, we were sold a milk formula/died cricket blend typical for herps, but either way nutrition and calcium is the key.

Did they give you the syringe with the bulb on the top to put down the throat of the gecko? Even after we were showed how to do that we weren't very good, but we found removing the metal part and just dripping the mixture onto the nose of the gecko (the tried and true way of getting almost any herp to drink) we could get more into him, but it took a lot longer. If you are worried about handling him, this could be the method for you, but it will take a long time to get all that is required into him.

Here's hoping, I've never treated a leo with MBD that bad before, but it is mostly reversible if caught early enough. The little guy may always have a kinked spine, but if you can get his jaws hardened back up he could live a mostly normal life. Good luck, we will all pull for you.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Hi there,

Thanks so much for the replies.

I did take care of the heating problem. I put tin foil over the top of his tank, cut holes for the lights, and folded one edge up and over made about a 3 inch gap for air circulation.

He has had a calcium bowl this whole time, never touched it that I could see. I always used reptivite from Zoo-med for dusting.

The vet made me take out his hide a rock. So, hes pretty upset.

Not really scared to handle him. Usually he's docile, but he bit the vet, and he's running away when I try and pick him up. He did not like the whole hospital visit. Poor stressed out dude.

Well, we'll see if he holds down his cat food/water/calcium mix tonight.

Will keep yall in the loop!

Thanks again!!!!

Ryan

I got home tonight about 10:30. Fed him .6 altogether. Did the trick at first with putting drops on his nose, but he wasn't taking enough. He was just kind of licking it, pushing it off his lips, so I gently worked it in from the side, and once I did that he bit down on the syringe! Gave him about 4 little drops at the time equaling roughly .6 altogether.

He didn't seem to mind the food when it was being injected into his mouth! After each one, he licked his lips.

Now, when I went to give him the neo-CAL, (calcium gluconate?) he kind of made a weird violent wriggle of the head, similar to when I take a double shot of Jack Daniels...

But, so far so good! He seems to be holding it down.
I saw this poor sick leo on AOL video that was being tube fed, and that leo tried his very hardest to spit it back up. My little 'Trogdor' actually seemed not to mind the food that much, just uncomfortable with the whole syringe thing...

Just want to say thanks guys! That wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. Hopefully the next six weeks go the same!

Have you been gutloading and watering the prey items you buy from the pet store? Or do you just dumped them in after you bought them? You should be gutloading your prey item with nutritious food like crushed dog kibbles, chick mash, and hog feed. All those food are high in calcium and protein and other vitamins and minerals which will be passed on to your gecko when it eats the prey items. And be sure to water them well, too. Gutloading and watering prey item properly should prevent this kind of stuff from happening.

Yep, always gutloaded with plenty of Fluker's cricket feed, and water for the crickets. Dusted w/ ZooMed's Reptivite.

We're pretty sure it was a temp problem. My room gets too cold in the winter, and even with a heating pad, and lights (day and night) He would just mainly hide in the rock cave thing I bought him. Vet made me take it out, no he has a half log to sleep under. Also made a tin foil lid for the tank instead of just the screen, so it keeps a bit of the heat in.

He is WAY more active now, tromping around, and climbing on his stuff again. finally gave stool sample so I can get it checked for parasites..

So, he still doesn't eat live food yet, but willingly takes his tube feed of this prescription dog/cat food mixed w/ water & reptivite. I give him about 6 ml of it every other day. Then .3 of this neo cal (Calcium gluconate) He hates that stuff.

Spine thing looks like it's permanent. He always sleeps funny even if he' lying on the sand in the open. Back legs are pivoted to the side like he's making a left turn.

Oh well, hopefully he regains interest in live food here soon. Gonna look into silkworms. I was told they are naturally more nutritious than mealworms.

Well, have a good day,

-Ryan

sounds like he is doing well...thats great! for Gds sake put a hide or two back in there, screw the vet. And if he is active and eating close to 1 ml per feeding (daily) he may be ready for real food. Let us know what came ofd the fecals you have done, and make sure his jaw is strong before you offer any harder prey. A regular mealworm that is white (just shed) would be perfect. Silks are great, although I personally have some concerns about the silk itself, as it seems to have provoked an exacerbation of a facial abcess in one of mine. Just a theory at this point, I've had good results with them for uncompromised leos.
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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 (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

Yeah, I've been WAY tempted to put a hide back in there, I have a half log "hide" for him, but he chooses sleeping out in the open VS that thing. I feel bad! :/

I'm gonna make a hide thats big enough hopefully he wont curl into a ball and mess up his spine more...

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR INPUT! Much appreciated! -=RYAN=-