Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed that my leo looks to have a hard time putting her front legs down when she walks, they kind of shake, as if they are stuck, then she finally puts them down... Should I be worried? (I'm not sure I explained it well, will try to get video of her doing it at some point, but I have very little time the rest of this week/weekend)
Oh, also, I saw a VERY emaciated, dried-up, half dead leo at a pet store today & reported it to the local animal control. I'm wondering what the survival rate of the little guy would be if I let my heart take over & buy him & take him to the vet... I seriously thought he was dead when I first saw him today... and the pet-store ppl were SO rude when I asked if he was OK. Poor animals...

I can't help with the walking problem, but I do want to offer my 2 cents re the leo at the pet store. Let animal control handle it! I have been given two leos in the past the were very sickly and like you said looking half dried up. I happened to be off work so I was able to hand feed and water and invested hours upon hours on these two leos and was just broken hearted when they died. Even though I knew they probably wouldn't make in the first place. You also run the risk of bringning disease into your home and infecting your other animals. I hace the ability to keep the sick ones isolated from all my other animals, but again not worth the risk. I tbreaks my heart to see animals not being treated properly but we just can't save them all and we can't infect the ones we've got!! Just my two cents!

Honestly, the shaking legs sounds like an early sign of MBD, which is a calcium deficiency. I'm not a vet by any means, but through all of the posts that I've read and my personal experience (although I have never had one gecko that had MBD), that's what it sounds like to me.

The survival rate of an extremely emaciated gecko at a petshop would be slim to none. First you would have to spend money to diagnose the problem, whether it be parasitic or what not. The stress from moving environments may be enough to do the gecko in. After finding out what the problem was/is (if he survived), then you would have to spend many hours trying to syringe feed (if necessary) an extremely fragile animal, or try to get the animal to ingest it's medication. If it were me, I would complain to the Pet store (believe me.. I've raised hell sometimes), and call the Human Society / Animal Control.

Hope this helps!
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Josh Ellis
My Email
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This shaking does she do it every step she takes?
Is everything else normal?
Give us the run down of set up, temps, substrate, feeding/frequency, age, etc.

And you did the right thing by contacting people. Do not buy this animal, the way of business will only mean that they can make a profit or sell disguistingly treated animals.
If no one buys them and complains then they will lose money. The WORST thing that can happen to a business, since they obviously don't have ethics.

I'm guessing Lily is aroung 5-7 months, I have had her for about 1 month. She is in a 40gal breeder with 1 inch of pebbles, 2 inches of soil (for plants), 2 inches of playsand & 1 inch of "desert blend" substrate (she really hated the sand, and I found it getting stuck to her skin). The high temp end of the cage ranges about 90 degrees to about 70-ish (my therm's not too reliable lately) in the cool end. I use a 50W night light to help keep the heat up, as it's pretty cold in my place at night (even with the light it only gets up to about 60 in the tank). She had a humid hide & several rock hides, s well as a branck right under the lights in case she wants to warm up, and she does that often.
She has only recently started eating (or at least that I noticed - I read somewhere on these boards that it may take the leo's a few weeks to get used to a new place & start to eat). I'm trying to get her to eat vitamin & Ca dusted waxworms & mealworms (she doesn't go after the crickets. when food's dusted, she tastes it & leaves it there most of the time). And I rarely see her drink, but i'm guessing she does as she doesn't look dehydrated.

Whoa! a 40 gallon breeder tank for such a young gecko is enormous! I'd say quickly change her to a 10 gallon tank (which can house her into maturity unless you absolutely have to have the 40 gallon, in which case you might want to add a lot of decorations and stuff). I would not house a leopard gecko on any substrate that has loose particles. Soil, sand, pebbles, mulch, none of it. I use paper towels. If you don't like paper towels, try that Repti-Carpet stuff, although I've heard that they can get their little nails trapped in the stuff. I'd also recommend an undertank heater (which you could just get a heating pad from the local drug store) which would mean that you wouldn't need constant lights as they enjoy belly-heat more than any other form. Wax worms should only be a treat, not a staple, as they are highly addictive for Leo's and contain no real nutrition.

Hope that helps.
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Josh Ellis
My Email
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