Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I RECENTLY HATCHED MY FIRST SET OF LEOPARD GECKO EGGS. ALTHOUGH THE FIRST 2 BABIES DO NOT SEEM "NORMAL". THEIR BACK LEGS SEEM TO NOT WORK RIGHT. THEIR WRISTS JUST FOLD AND BEND LIKE JELLY IN ALL SORTS OF DIRECTIONS WHEN THEY WALK. THEY NEVER PUT THEIR FEET FLAT TO THE GROUND AND WALK LIKE OTHER GECKOS. AT FIRST I JUST CHALKED IT UP TO THE FACT THAT THEY WERE BABIES AND JUST A LITTLE CLUMSY, BUT NOW I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED. MY SECOND SET OF EGGS, ONLY BROUGHT 1 BABY AND 1 INFERTILE EGG. THIS BABY WALKS NORMAL, AND IS SEVERAL WEEKS YOUNGER. EVEN NOW, THE FIRST SET OF BABIES SEEM TO HAVE LONGER BACK LEGS THEN ANY GECKO I'VE SEEN. COULD THIS BE A DEFECT, DUE TO INCUBATING. ANYBODY EXPERIENCE THIS BEFORE???? PLEASE GIVE ANY ADVISE YOU GUYS MAY HAVE.

your babies sound like they have metabolic bone disease, this usually happens when the female who lays the eggs does not have enough calcium in their system. You need to start dusting your baby leos food with calcium and see a vet immediately!

Thanks for the reply, I'm gonna see about getting them to a vet in the area. I've been dusting the parents' food, and have even been gutloading crickets prior to feeding for a day. The other baby seems to be fine, not showing these symptoms. I am hoping this won't be the result for the rest of the babies. In the mean time, I'll add another calcium dish or 2 to her enclosure as well as continuing with the dusting. Hopefully this will work out. Again I appreciate the help.

no problem, maybe even think about adding a dish of calcium (not with D3) in the tank, along with adding calcium in their water dish... just alittle bit. and then of course a normal water dish just incase they refuse to drink the calcium water... i dunno it sounds like a way to sneak alittle calcium into their diet.

also take a pinch of calcium power and put it in your mealies/cricket's gutload. they will eat it too and it will help give your leo more calcium

be careful of giving your leos too much D3 though, even though it helps absorb the calcium, it can be deadly in large doses. dush with calcium/vitamin/d3 supploment (herptivite) maybe 2-3 times a week.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the advise. I added an extra calcium dish to her tank. Hopefully she will notice it. She is a pro at dumping them over, or walking through them and tracking calcium everywhere. I use a high calcium cricket feed normally, should I still add a dash of calcium to that??

Thanks Again!!

nah I think it'll be ok as long as you are using the supplimented quincher stuff that has calcium.

you still might want to take your gecko to a vet just incase

but uptake the calcium intake alot and uptake the D3 intake alittle bit to help absorb the calcium (not too much though)

I'm gonna try to get the babies to a vet ASAP. Aparantly there is only one herp vet in the area, and he wants $100 for an office visit, not including extras. I wasn't expecting this to happen, especially so close to x-mas, so I'll have to wait till my next payweek. I'm hoping that it won't affect the rest of the babies. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.