Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was the one posting about my lizards compaction. I took her to a vet monday and it turned out she was impacted. She took an x ray and got an iv and had an enima. Later on that day she passed alot of the blockage and they thought she would pull through but she ended up dieing after that. The imapction killed the tissue in her intestine. Lizards with impaction have little chance of surviving unless it is caught right away. If there is one thing that I have learned from this it is that you must choose your substrate wisely. All loose substrates whether it be sand, gravel, or walnut shells have the possiblity of being impacted from ingestion. It is natural for your geckos to ingest sand as a source of calcium. I know that I will never use a loose substrate again and am strictly sticking with paper towels or repticarpets for all of my herps.

Thank you all very much for you advice and support, it helped greatly.

sddsds

Actually, many leos can survive mild impaction with sand if caught early enough, fine sand is leos likely to cause impaction. Many geckos can pass it through their systems. I have never heard of one survive impaction with crushed walnut shells, it is particularly nasty stuff, as it swells in the intestine and the sharp edges cut up the intestinal wall, and the moisture from the blood makes the substrate swell even more. It should be illegal to sell that stuff for leos, it is an invention of the devil. Seems like we get somewhere on here almost once a week that has died from that stuff.

Paper towels, slate, terra cotta tile are all substrates that eliminate risk of impaction from ingesting substrate.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

ripped it off the stuff the second day it was on it. A friend didn't know what to put it one and used that since it's a 'desert' lizard substrate.

Tore up the little one's vent pretty good on the way out...thankfully it wasn't enough to really rip and tear through the stomach/intestines.
Took a few good soaks to get the block out from the vent.

Not a good experience tho..

Usually the lizards are on the stuff more than two days, glad your little one made it. I think it is an outrage that many pet stores will actually recommend this stuff for leos. It must be such a painful death for them, too. Makes me very sad.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

so sorry, it is a rough lesson learned on impaction most of the time. The stress from the whole ordeal is probally more a leading cause of death. Leos do eat sand in moderation for calcium in the wild but when put in a tank with it all over the bottom they tend to ingest much more than they ever would naturally. Don't give up find another loved one and head on, just stick to the good substrates.
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Even if your on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there
19 leos,1.1 redtail boas,1.1 rainbow boas,1.1 cornsnakes, 1.0 tokay gecko,1.0 veiled cham, 6 dogs and a cat. Oh, can't forget Tater my parrotlet.

np