Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, im new here. Heres my problem. My Leopard Gecko Gaara is a young lizard who sheds frequently. When he sheds, it ALWAYS gets stuck to his head and eyes. Even after it is not on his head, it always clumps right to his eyes. Now, the eyes are massively swolen, to the point that the lid is RIPPING! What THE HECK is going on, and how can I save him? Hes still eating and drinking, so he has strength.

First, I am very sorry this is happening to you.

Second, have you checked if there is any piece of skin left on the eyes? If so, try to humidify the area with warm water and then try to take the piece out. If there is not a piece of skin in there, still wash the area gently with warm water and hope this helps.

Don't handle your gecko for as long as you can. If the swollen eyes persist, take him to the vet immediately.

His whole eyes are skin! You cant see an once of eye! And there arent any vets around, especially not ones that see lizards.

>>His whole eyes are skin! You cant see an once of eye! And there arent any vets around, especially not ones that see lizards.

Well, in that case you have definitely waited far to long to deal with this issue. Shed MUST be taken care of before the next shed.

If this had been caught sooner, there are shed products on the market, and you could try them, but if it is causing damage to the eyelid or there is no eye showing a vet visit is in order. (You have stated both conditions.)

If you can't find a vet that takes exotics LOOK HARDER. Any one, even one that deals in any reptile, snakes having the most similar problems, will be able to help you. We drive quite far for a good vet, but that is the responsibility of owning such an exotic animal. If you wait too long, the gecko could lose function in the eye.

(Sorry to be harsh, but it is true.)
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Yes get the poor thing to a vet, If you can give it to someone that can properly take care of it.
Foot Hill Reptiles

There are vets who will see reptiles just about everywhere. It is very likely that having waited so long to address the situation, your leo has developed an infection (hence the massive swelling) and will need medication. There is also a very good chance that the skin rubbing on the outside of the eyeball has damaged part of the eye, and the damage may or may not be permanent. If you can't find a herp vet in the yellow pages, ask the people you got the leo from who thier vet is. Even the big chain stores sometimes use local vets to treat sick animals (esp. exotics), so any store that sells reptiles should be able to give you a referral. You may not get the best quality herp vet, but it will be better than the alternative. Some things, like sampling and culturing bacteria, checking for parasites, etc. are done in the lab and don't require a whole lot of speciality.
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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