Reptile & Amphibian Forums

..what was wrong with this leo..

march 22:
The owner got him & his 2 females..

She´s unsure if he has eaten anything since.. The terrarium is big with lots of hiding places & humidity
boxes, The degrees ranging from 86-89 degrees on the warm side, down to 75 in the cooler place..

The owner didn´t see anything strange about him.. He´s been mating with both the females.

march 30:
The first signs of the sickness..
His body shivered (muscle spasm) when he started to move & then stoped when he´s been out walking a bit.. the legs, head & tail didn´t shiver..

The shiverings seems to appear when he´s been still for a while..

march 31 - april 1:
Nothing wierd.

april 2:
Shivered again once, but not so much & then it stopped.

april 3:
Shivered several times during the day.

april 4:
Shiverd alot & started to shed but he didn´t seem to care. Just lying still & started to shiver every time he moved.
The shedden skin was dry & started to fall of. Sprayed him with water & then he started to move around, after a while he just walked around like nothing had happened, continued the shedding & ate it up.

Moved him to another terrarium so that he could be alone from the others..

april 5:
shivered alot in the morning, he seemed to do that more when it was cold (like in the mornings before the temperature went up).. From this day, the owner kept the warmth on day & night.
During the day she gave him some sour milk that he licked up. Shivered alot the whole day.

april 6:
No shiverings, sour milk that day also.

april 7:
No shiverings, gave him atamon??, (preservative?? don´t know what you call it. Something to prevent fungus I think) orally & on the body.

april 8:
same as yesterday.
but around 10 at night she notice a sudden change in his colors.. the body has a grayish/greenish color & he looks wery apathetic. before she coudn´t do anything with him, but now he doesn´t care when she touches him.. Gave him some fluid & a bath.
He gets worse & worse & suddenly starting to get more active & wriggels & then almost lifeless again. Gave him somem mashed mealworm drops.
He seems to search for a cooler place, whenever she moves him to the warmer side, she always finds him on the other cool side again no matter how bad he was.
Gave him some ??sugar don´t know what it´s called (makes you spry??). but nothing.
The last minutes before he passed away the tailtipp wriggled and he gasped with his mouth open.
Around midnight he passed away.

Here are some of him before he was dead & when he had died..

http://hem.passagen.se/bitzy/web/gecko.html

The photos:
1) Wery dark mouth & tounge??
2) A spot under the skin (maybe a organ) but look at the hemipenal bulges. can you see something else?
3) (dead) but look at the color. can you see something else?
4) (dead)look at the color. can you see something else?
5) (dead) closeup
6) (dead) His underside
7) (dead) His underside
8) (dead) sore looking bulges closeup
9) (dead) sore looking bulges closeup
10)(dead) sore looking bulges closeup
11)(dead) the mouth again, look at the dark tounge
12)(dead) the mouth again, look at the dark tounge
& the rest are pictures of him with his normal colors.

Please can someone tell us what was wrong with him or maybe can tell something else?

My only thought was that the shaking could have been a symptom of MBD, but that would not have killed him so fast i wouldn't think. He should have seen a vet.
To be honest my first thought of why he died is the shotgun treatment of sour milk and whatever else. Correct me someone if I am wrong, but I have never heard of giving a reptile this,
As far as I know I think they are lactose intolarent, and whatever else she gave him, what was that supposed to do, if It wasn't even known what was wrong with him.
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Sarah H

My cp wouldn't load before.
His mouth really doesn't look odd, pic is dark though.
the black dot is just an organ and compleatly normal.

Not to sure about the rednes around the hempi ? could maybe be an infection or just redness from breeding maybe? I don't really know.

What I did notice was in the pics at the very end where he is alive his front legs look a little bowed which would be from MBD, if the pics show it right. That would probably explain the shaking.

Someone posted on another forum about how lactose was bad for reptiles, I'll try to look for it but I can't remember where I saw it.
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Sarah H

Were adult leos that were housed together previous to the is "new owner" acquiring them? Were they shipped? Are the females OK and feeding well? What were/are they fed? What kind of substrate were they on before?

First of all, most reptiles cannot digest lactose, and sour milk has a high bacteria level. Second, sugar should never be given to a leopard gecko unless it is in fruit.The black spot on the belly is his gall bladder, which will fill and empty with the digestive process. Otherwise, he looks to have been healthy.

I can't be sure, but what you are describing actually sounds like poisoning of some kind, and it affected him neurologically. A necropsy would give you the answer.
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

Yes, they were housed together before, the seller drove them to the byer, so they weren´t shipped. The females are doing fine & eating more or less.. less now when they have eggs..

They get crickets & mealworms, same as before she got them,the substrate is sand, also as before. (Never seen any sand in the poop.)
There´s nothing in the terrarium that she could think of having poisoned him.
The advice about sour milk she got from a experienced breeder who have used it on their leos. (because of the useful bacteriacilture in sour milk) & there where only a few drops on the nose that he licked up.

i feed yogurt to sick or anorexic leos and it always has worked for me to boost up their systems and get them feeding.
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soad rocks