Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i had a leopard gecko, but it died a few months after purchase. its skin turned red and looked raw in some places, and were dark in the other places. its eyes were sunken in and unable to open, and it looked like it was in pain wen it moved its head a little or opend its mouth. it died within less than a day after its disvovery with the illness, it also looked lethargic. it had food and water, i even saw it drink the day before (it also looked fine the day before). does anyone know what was wrong with it?

This is going to be another tough-to-answer question. Judging from the time-frames you describe, I would be more inclined to believe that this death was probably environmentally related. Possibly exposure to chemical irritants or toxins, or thermal burns from heat lamps, etc. Normally a disease caused by a biological pathogen is not going to develop the clinical signs you describe and cause death within 24 hours.

could large wood chips have anything to do with it? And my leo didn't have a heat bulb, he had a heat pad.

Yes. Leopard Geckos are prone to impactions from eating pieces of substrate along with their food and will actually sometimes intentionally ingest sand. In adults the sand isn't usually much of a problem, but can be. An intestinal impaction will be fatal without surgery. I've never seen it cause the skin condition you describe,m though. Usually it takes weeks for it to kill the lizard and it becomes very evident what the problem is because of severe abdominal bloating.

the other day i read an article in one of the more recent
REPTILES mags about a condition called red-leg in white's tree frogs. caused what looked like the veins/capillaries to come out of the skin and it turned real red and raw looking. not sure if it works the same way in geckos, but maybe something to ask about/look into. just a thought..

-voodoo

did the problem affect all of the leos skin?
is your heat mat on a thermostat? and if so what temperature is it set for?

It does sound possibly like burning.. I have a not very nice photo of a burned leopard gecko on my website- click the link below and head for the health page... did your leos skin look like that?

Best wishes,
Pauline
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Visit The Gecko Spot (United Kingdom) for gecko information

the red skin was on my leos back in two big splotches, its heat pad was definetly not to hot rigt now i don't know its temp, the leos skin didnt look wet either and its tail was shriveled up. resently i discovered its poop and it had a long string thing in it and it had bits of food and skin in it.