Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I responded to the posts on the tread below, but it is about to go to page 2 so I wanted to re-post it here.

Hepatic Lipidosis, or "fatty liver disease" is not necessarily caused by diet or exercise in Leopard Geckos. It is caused when they have been off food for a long time, and the fat reserves in their tails and bodies become motile. The liver cannot process that much fat, and becomes clogged up and fails. The cause of death can be Hepatic Lipidosis, or Fatty Liver Disease, but what you need to ask is what caused the gecko to stop eating in the first place that could cause her to develop the fatty liver disease in the first place.

I lost 17 Leos about 3 years ago (and had many more sick) to Hepatic Lipidosis. I had 5 necropsies performed, and all had the same diagnosis. The final necropsy was performed my Dr. Frederic L. Frey, the world's most renowned reptile Pathologist, and he found that my geckos were actually being poisoned from crickets that had been cultured on moldy food. The liver disease is what actually killed my geckos, but the true cause was mycotoxic poisoning. As soon as I changed cricket vendors, I never had another case, and my sick ones made a complete recovery.

Please do not blame yourself! Feeding Jeeves a variety of foods was the right thing to do...
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

Marcia

Who do you get crickets from?

Thanks in advance!

Terry

PS I am starting my own superworm colony for just the reason you mentioned. I want to know what my animals are consuming.
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Terry Brashear
1.0.0 High Yellow
0.1.0 Lavender
0.1.0 Hypo Carrot-tail
2 eggs incubating
http://www.naturepixels.com/gecko

Terry, I get my feeders from Bassett's and Reptile Food.
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

interesting... my vet (dr. burgess) never actually said 'fatty liver disease,' i just assumed what he was talking about was probably that, as he described her liver as having been yellow and full of fat. what he said was something that sounded to me like zanthomitosis, but it could easily have been lipidosis.

i kind of suspected it had nothing to do with exercise, but i didn't want to hurt that other person's feelings.

hmm... that's very interesting. she did fast, but it didn't seem like anything compared to how long she has fasted previously... (as i recall, less than a week before she died.) i am definitely pursuing a more definitive necropsy, though (can't remember the name of the pathologist), and i wonder what could be wrong. the silkworms i fed her, as well as all of the rest of my geckos, were purchased at the unique animal expo, on the 28th of last month. they are all fed on silkworm chow... i hope the results get back soon, as i am still feeding the silkworms to my other geckos (that seem to like them). though all future silkworms are going to be ordered online (i was planning on ordering from this place in california).

i miss her so much. thank you for the info, it was very enlightening.
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marla
currently: 0.1.0 axolotls, 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 1.6 leopard geckoes, 0.0.20 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders