Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My mom bought this lizard at petco the other day, even though I told her petco is evil. Yesterday his tail looked fine, pretty small, but not unusual. Today it's all wrinkled.

I'm by no means a leo expert, I'm more of a beardie person, but... My first thought was a fungal or bacterial infection. Get it to a vet, or return it if you can --- don't let PetCo profit off of cruelty.
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Zeo)
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos (Vienna, Chomps)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever, Rocky, 10 years young

Hey

I cant really see but would love to help do you think you could post a close up of the lower end of the reptile just the tail really close so we can see it good thanks. By the way it appears that every petco in the usa sucks as far as leopard geckos go maybe not though.
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Holy Molly Great Gobs Of Geckos
-Aaron-
1.2 rainwater albinos
0.2 hypo tang
1.4 hi yellow
1.3 tremper albinos
0.1 blizzard
0.1 leusistic
1.1 Patternless het albino rainwater
0.2 Tremper Reverse Stripe Tangerine Albino

Just a question? Why mess with the rest when you can have the best. -Great Gobs Of Geckos-
E-mail me at GreatGobsOfGeckos@yahoo.com

Looks like a regenerated tail to me...... When leos drop a tail, It never looks normal like the original one......

I got my gecko from Petco, before I knew better. But I've had Jak now since September and he's donig great, so not all Petco gecko's are doomed, just seems that most are though. I've since gone back to that Petco and have been disgusted with how their leo's are treated. When I expand my collection in the future, I will only buy from a reputable breeder, no more pet stores for me.

From what I understand, the shriveling comes from starvation or more likely dehydration. I would make sure he gets adequate water (5% of his body weight) every day, and some good nutrituous (i.e., gutloaded and dusted) food-- but make sure he's not dehydrated before you feed him. You can test if he is by gently pinching the skin under his stomach-- if it doesn't spring back, he's dehydrated.

Hope this helps.

Ok, read some more about it and the wrinkling is mentioned mostly as being caused by starvation. I imagine you're aware of this, but Petco is well known for selling leopard geckos with cryptosporidiosis.

Keep an eye out for runny feces, undigested matter in feces, and vomiting/regurgitation. If your gecko eats but doesn't seem to gain any weight, this again can be attributed to crypto-- it attaches to the gut lining, so that food isn't properly digested and nutrients aren't absorbed. It is unlikely that crypto would show up in a fecal float or smear, no matter how many you have done...When I had geckos with crypto, every vet I took them to insisted that they didn't have crypto because of the absence of oocysts in their feces, but I persisted and it turned up on a necropsy after the first baby succumbed.

If you keep your gecko, keep in mind that crypto is highly contagious and hard to get rid of. There are a few very specific temps. and disinfectants that kill the spores, but none of them are that easy to do...If you have any other reptiles, they are at risk for contracting this. It's fatal and incurable. If you're going to keep this gecko, follow the strictest quarantine methods you can find to protect your other reptiles.

If the gecko does die, I'd suggest you get a necropsy-- not just a gross necropsy, but an in-depth histopathology done at a well-equipped lab to rule out crypto as the cause of death. If the gecko did have crypto, you're going to have to do everything possible to disinfect any contaminated materials, if you decide to keep them.

This was just me, but I took the necropsy records to the board of animal protection in my state, and filed to have the pet store shut down. In my state (GA), there is a law stating that if animals in a pet store are known to have or to have been exposed to a contagious disease, the state can quarantine each and every one of them. I don't know if your state has any laws like that, but it would really help for you to find out if they do if this gecko does have crypto. There are plenty of very nice or just uninformed people that buy these poor animals, and it doesn't do anyone, human or animal, any good to let Petco profit off of selling sick animals.

I'll quit scaring you now. I just want to help you keep your other animals safe. I guess with this it's better to be safe than sorry?

My guess would be that he got scared and dropped his tail but it didnt fully come off. Therefore, what you have, is a partially attached tail that isnt recieving any nutrients, thats why its all dried up. JUST A GUESS!

I'm going to take it to a vet, and I quarantined him. Thanks for your help everyone.

It's hard to get a good close up of his tail, but here's what I got.

I agree with everything llyncilla said. A vet visit and quarenine are very good measures to take.

Is the leo eating for you? From the picture, he doesn't seem to have any fat stores. I've dealt with starved leos before, and sometimes after you give them a meal their tail will appear wrinkled (I think that the wrinkling is more noticable in leos with regrows) the next day. The only reason I can think of for this to occur is that they are drawing from their scant fat reserves to accomplish the initial digestion. If this is the case, it should start to plump up within the next couple days.

If he vomits or produces runny / abnormal stools, think parasites. Vomiting can, however, also occur when you feed a starved leo a big meal. If you suspect this is the case, try small meals every other day and gradually increase the size and frequency of feeding. If vomiting continues, he probably has an infection of some sort that was missed on the initial trip to the vets.

-Alice