Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It doesnt seem like the babies i have are getting enough calcuim. one of the babies has a little derformed leg and isnt really straight almost bent a bit. these are the babies from my female that i was having problems with and thought it was egg bound but turned out not to be and she is fine now. the eggs in the females body didnt have shells so maybe the babies didnt get enough calcuim from the mother to begin with?? i dont know. but i have a dish there and powder my mealworms. Should i get a calcuim shot and is this type of thing able to be fixed so the leg can sort of be fine?

Thanks
Shawn

Did it hatch out with the deformity? If it did then it probably did result from conditions in the egg/female.

I rehabbed a couple of leos once with severe MBD. Both of them had front legs that were almost totally bent in half at the fore arm just bellow the elbow. Although the bones hardened when diet was corrected the deformities were permanent.

If the deformity was present at hatching there is probably nothing wrong with your current husbandry techniques. If it developed after hatching you might want to re-evaluate your feeding techniques.

-Alice

Can you describe how you rehabilitated them?

I *think* 2 of my babies might have the same problem... The first is Dot, my hypo. She wouldn't walk on her front right foot at all and had shed skin stuck to it. I soaked her and removed the skin then she was able to open her toes and lay her foot flat on the ground BUT her arm does look bent...like you described.
The second is my albino, the second largest of the group i got. She eats great but one of her back legs also has a bend.

I've got powdered calcium in the tank, dust the feeder insects and have put water conditioner in their water that has extra calcium.

I was told they are all around 2 months old... AND they each only have this problem with ONE leg. They are both active and alert with no other signs of MBD and all of the others appear fine.

If theres anything else i can do your help is greatly appreciated
Thanks,
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

That doesn't sound like MBD. With MBD both legs would be affected and you would notice other features such as diminished jaw strength.

I had a young gecko who I believe suffered a fracture to one of her front limbs. This caused the limb to bend as she grew (I know that fractures that affect the growth plate of one of the limb bones can cause one bone to stop growing while the other continues to grow resulting in a bent limb). If yours were not born with the defect, maybe something like this happened.

The geckos I rehabbed had had no vitamin supplementation for over a year. I had to force feed them dusted prekilled crickets (thier jaws were so rubbery that they could not even grab a cricket unaided let alone kill it). After a few weeks they started taking prekilled crictets from my hand. They both had many permanent skeletal deformities (both front limbs were bent in half at the fore arm, mishaped jaws, and excessively bowed ribs). Although the bones hardened the deformities remained and they had to be hand fed for the rest of their lives.

-Alice

Thankyou, i feel better now. I don't know if they got injured on the ride home with be but i do know it was very bumpy (construction EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!) They were all in a cooler in individual containers the breeder brought them in that were small but with enough room for them to move around. Neither of them have any trouble getting around and they do put weight on the limb just not right on the foot all the time, i've seen Dot use her elbow.

Can a vet do anything about a broken/fractured limb seeing as they are so tiny? I do have a great vet close by.

Thanks again
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

Are the limbs actually bent or are they just limping?

If they are just limping it could just be a strain. I had this happen with a leo I got from a show once. She was in shed and the breeder felt bad about selling her to me in that condition so he decided to help things along. I think that he may have pulled a little too hard on one of her legs. Anyway, she limped around for a couple weeks and gradually recovered.

If the limbs are not physically deformed, I'd recommmend just giving them time. Otherwise, I'm not sure a vet could do anything for them. The course of treatment for a mammal would likely be to surgically fix the bone and apply a fixater (obviously not an option for a baby leo). Although my leo with the broken leg was left with a slightly malformed limb, it has not significantly affected her mobility or quality of life and since it's not a congenital defect breeding should not be a problem.

-Alice

Hi,

Dot doesn't limp at all. She confuses me cause i've seen her laying out above the UTH with all limbs stretched out including her one leg, but when she goes to walk its not straight. She is now walking on the foot instead of her elbow though.

Abby's leg has a definate bend and she kind of shuffles with that foot. If it is broken, its at the ankle joint. When she walks her foot is more under her than to the side. I'll post a pic after sending this message and you can see it (back right foot, the one she's standing on ) I don't know when that pic was taken, its from the breeder and at first i thought she looked to thin, then i saw her in person. She's the second largest of the group and eats like a pig

I hope the pic helps explain what i mean
Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

This is Abby. She's standing on the leg that is bent (right back foot). None of her other legs look this way.

Red

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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)
2.0 bettas

I disolve calcium in water to put it in suspention. Use D3 laced if you wish. I put this suspention into a syringe or eye dropper and administer as much as the leo will take a couple of times a day. Keep it shaken since the CA will tend to separate on you.

I had a hatchling leo earlier this year that had just started showing signs of soft bones in one leg. It only took 3-4 days of this treatment to completely reverse the effects.

I also had an adult that I got with very bad hind legs. I used this treatment for quite a bit longer and the next owner was amazed when I told them how bad it had been. It almost completely reversed itself.

Give this a shot before you try getting a CA injection.

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Steven
Royal Gold Reptiles
Specializing in LV Patternless Albinos for '03 and '04.
Working towards Bell Patternless Albinos for '05.

I think the calcium in solution is a good idea... However, you have to be careful not go give the leos too much liquid at once.. I'd recommend just 10 drops max.. some leos will just keep licking it up. Even more important is that you can OD them on vits, so if you are using a calcium vit powder to mix into the water be very careful that you dont OD your leo.

Best wishes,
Pauline
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