Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, but have been on the bearded dragon forum for a while. I recently rescued 4 leopard geckos which were in horrible shape. Their spines, hip bones were protruding and their tails shrivelled. There was only one that looked even halfway decent. That one has recovered nicely and nom sports a plump tail and is very alert and active. They had very runny, smelly stools, so I treated them with a course of albon. I started them on Acidopholiz also. Two of them are still looking very bad with runny stools. I did some reading and believe them to need a course of metronidazole as all of their symptoms point to flagellated amoeba infection. I have metronidazole in 250 mg tabs. What would be the correct dose for an emaciated leopard gecko??

I know I should take them to the vet, but money is unbelievable tight. That is no excuse, but I am at least giving them a chance to recover. They would have died within a few days if I hadn't taken them in. Their previous owners told me they couldn't afford to feed them. Really???? It's not like it is that expensive to give them a few mealworms every night. They were also keeping them in one of those small rectangular sterilite containers with no substrate, no heat source and they were standing in almost a quarter inch of watery feces. It was just horrible.

Can someone please help me out here?

Thank you,
Laura

Laura-

I understand you are trying to help these poor geckos, and I commend you for that. HAving said that, both albon and flagyl are medications that should not be given to leopard geckos without a fecal exam and subsequent diagnosis by a vet. Albon is a medicine that is prescribed specifically to treat coccidia. It is extremely hard on the liver and kidneys, and animals can easily become dehydrated when taking albon. Flagyl (contrary to popular belief) can also cause problems when it improper dosages are given. Neither of these medicines are something you want to use to "shotgun" treat your leos. Panacur is the only drug I would ever recommend one to give to leopard geckos without any type of professional diagnosis. It is used to treat pinworms, which are very common endoparasites.

Have you thought about calling around and finding a vet that will perhaps just run a fecal test for you, and not charge you for an office visit? It is worth a shot as a simple fecal float test shouldn't cost more than about $35. Just think about it this way: wouldn't you rather pay the $35 and get a professional diagnosis by a vet? That way you will know exactly what is wrong with your animals and you can focus on treating them with the proper medicine instead of trying to figure out what is wrong with them and, quite possibly, doing more harm than good by treating with medication they do not even need.

I hope you do not take offense to my post and, again, it is good that you are trying to help animals that otherwise surely would have ended up dead in short time. Best of luck and please feel free to email me privately about any of this.
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

Try pedialyte to rehydrate them, some geckos hate the taste, but others take to it just like water. It'll restore some electrolytes they're loosing from the runny stools. Also, if they're not eating, try offering something a bit more tasty, like wax worms, a leo often can't resist waxworms (make sure to coat them in vitamin powder or they'll have no nutritional content other than fat).

Also, I second the vet, depends on the vet, but fecals can run from as steep as $100 (NY Animal Hospital), or as cheap as $15. Just hunt around.

-Lemur 6

where i am vets cost a whole lot more than 35 dollars. One vet said it was 35 to just see the vet let alone get any exams done. I live in Southern california and i am lucky i have no problems with my herps.

$35 for a vet visit is pretty average. Kelli was talking about just getting a fecal test done, not seeing a vet. At some places, you can just drop the poop samples off and have them call you back with the results. The fecal tests are usually done by the vet techs.
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)