Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought this leo from someone who didn't bother to tell me the leo was sick until after I recieved and I figured I could nurse him back to health and it would be okay. Well...I then told the guy about the leo and he said that he has been so extremely tiny and uber skinny for a few months...the leo looks as if he is about 2 months old but apparently he is much older. I just assumed by the picture he was just a young leo and the breeder I bought from seemed to have a good rep. My question is...the leo looks kind of like he is kind of just going along struggling to live and I was wondering if you think I should just end it for him...If the previous owner had him for a few months and he bought him from someone else, I would guess that he is 6 or 7 months old but he is only a few inches long and weighs 13 grams. What do you think?

You can't nurse a sick anima nback to health until you diagnosis and treat he cause off illness. Locate a herp vet near you at www.arav.org and take to a vet. They will do a fecal, and hopefully determine the cause of illness and prescribe meds to treat.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

His previous owner said he has already done so and done medicine.

Some things are easier to get rid of and some aren't. Just like with humans, one trip to the doctor usually isn't enough when you're really sick. I just recently bought a gecko that's got parasites. He's also about 6 months old, except he weighs 16 grams. That's still considerably skinny for a leo his age and size. He always seemed to be really worn out, and you could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't healthy. He sleeps a lot even during the night, but he still does typical leo things, like walking around his tank to check things out and get to know his environment. I'm feeling very optimistic about his ability to make a full recovery because he has a great appetite and a feisty temperament. He's a fighter. I didn't expect to see him put up such a struggle with the vet, plus, I've seen him wave his tail around as if he's trying to challenge me. Health-wise, I've only seem him getting better (very slowly) since I got him two weeks ago. He's got more energy, and he's starting to build up a little fat reserve in his tail.

But it cost me $87 just for the first vet visit alone. People think I'm nuts, because that's over four times what I even paid for him, but I really want him to get better. So it's really up to you whether or not you want to invest that much time, effort, and money into nursing your leo back to health.
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chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'