Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The gecko appears to have broken one side of its jaw. It is a female about 2 years old.

Is there a way for me to feed her until the jaw heals?

Is there a place I can go to find a detailed explanation since I have never done it before?

Thanks for the help!

Dropped or bent down lower jaws on Day Geckos is typically a sign of calcium deficiency, especially in females. Are you gut loading your feeder insects or dusting insects with vitamin - mineral powder?

Kelly

I put carrots in the with the crickets. I have not been using a vitamin supplement.

It almost appears the jaw is broken in the front of the hinge on the right side so when she opens her mouth the entire jaw flaps open. It does look more in line with a dropped jaw like you suggest. Maybe the appearance of the bone supporting the jaw appears broken with a dropped jaw. I was thinking a dropped jaw is at the hinge itself but I am new to this.

Any suggestions you have are greatly appreciated at this point.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, day geckos are very finicky when it comes to calcium balance. IME, they are the most problematic species in that respect. Calcium supplementation is absolutely necessary as Kelly has said, but in addition UVB bulbs are immensely important. I've had problems such as you describe after using bulbs only slightly past their expiration date. In otherwords, they are small, high metabolism animals that succumb quickly to metabolic imbalances.

Unfortunately for your gecko, a humane euthanasia is probably the best option. See your vet for details. To pursue treatment, the fracture must be immoblized, and the underlying bone disease cured. With such a small animal, and one that needs to eat daily, this is a guarded prognosis. By all means, discuss this with your vet to see if it's something that you might want to try before deciding on euthanasia.

Good luck,

Ian

We just had record cold temperatures in Florida and I was using a red heat lamp to generate enough heat for about a week. It seems restoring a healthy environment with vitamins would not be too difficult to improve the integrity of the bones, but immobilizing the jaw seems impossible especially since it has to feed. I will find a reptile vet in Orlando. Thank you.