Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey all,

Yesterday I lost the last of a trio of leopard gecko's I got in August and I'm beyond frustrated as to what may have caused it. I took them to the vet and he couldn't help me as I didn't have a fecal with me (they just wouldn't GO the night before) I'm sending this one in for a necropsy, but I wanted to ask for some thoughts as one of my very few chances to go to a reptile show is this weekend.. before I'll get the results back.

To start with, none of these girls ever did very well. They were an impulse purchase by my husband, and I ended up with thier care. The first died within weeks, the last two in the last week. Symptoms were all the same, lethargy, anorexia, weightloss, dehydration and finally death. I force fed them all regularly and there wasn't vomiting, they pooped, albiet infrequently. I had them at the right temps, 85, give or take a degree or two depending on time of day, fed them mealworms and crickets and left water and calcium in thier inclosure at all times.

I've no idea what was wrong with them, the decline would be sudden, fine on friday, near death on wensday, dead by friday. I'm terrified it was something like crypto but don't know enough about it to be sure. Any thoughts???

The big question I also want to ask is, if it were crypto, does bleach kill it? and if not what does? I would like to reuse the tank and supplies, I've learned a lot about these guys in the last couple of months and would like to get more, with hopefully better results.

I appreciate any responses, this has been a VERY frustrating experience and I'd just like to know.

Thanks, KC

A necropsy is your best bet and finding out what killed your leos, likely it was protozoans (includes crypto and coccidia, among others) or a bacterial infection, though it could have possibly been one of the more serious kinds of worms as well. A necropsy should explain what it was. Crypto is very hard to kill, even with bleach. I think I remember hearing that washing with a strong bleach solution, and letting dry til no smell of bleach remained, rinsing, and then a second washing with full strength ammonia was the recommended sanitization for crypto.

Sorry for your loss, and I hope you find out what happened to your leos.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

Was there any chance that your vet could have done an enema on your leo to get a fecal sample? I know no animals likes to go through that, but a vet that's good at handling them can get one really quickly.

Your leos probably had problems long before they landed in your care. There might not have been much you could have done for them, seeing how you had such a short time before they died.

85 seems kind of low. In the case of sick leos, bumping up the temperature slightly above the recommended 90 degrees helps them fight off the sickness.

Have you been to http://www.anapsid.org? Tons of information there regarding effective sterilization procedures, fluid therapy, and nursing sick herps back to health.
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chickabowwow

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