Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My gecko's impacted!!! What do I do????

Are you sure it is impacted? Take it to the vet. Put it in a small cage with papertowel (and check for droppings!!!), a humid hide, a water dish and a small calcium dish. What are you feeding your leo? Make sure you are feeding some smaller insects until you are sure she/he is eating and pooping. Also make sure you have the right temp gradient!!! Try the warm soak as described in the thread I posted on below.
Impaction/constipation is a SYMPTOM of something wrong!
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www.hullabalooherps.com

Here are pictures. This all happened within a 10 minute time span. I had him on my lap, and then I put him back in his tank and he was having trouble going to the bathroom. The next thing I knew his stomache ballooned up and turned purple. He has been eating fine, up to 3 mealworms per day. And he had been going to the bathroom fine, twice a day in the same usual corner, up until today. The only reptile vet in the area that I take my iguana to is not open until Monday. I need something to help me until then. It's only Saturday night.

pictures aren't working... but just so you know some vets have what's called "carecredit" which works like a credit card, you can charge your vet bills onto an account. if you rack up anywhere between 1-$299, you have around a month to pay it off $300-600 3 months to pay, and i thinik like $600 and above you have like 6months to a year.

Yea, I know. They were taken on my bf's picture phone, and he deleted them practically right after he took them.

Actually, I wanted to take my leo to the vet and just got off the phone with the only 3 herp vets in my area. Not one of them will arrange a payment plan with me. Not even the one I've been going to for 14 years and have 5 animals that go there on a regular basis. This is the holidays, so money is tight anyway. All the money I had set aside for emergencies was spent on Sunday at the ER vet. I'm really hoping my leo is actually getting better like it seems, and maybe everything will work out ok.

http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/48302367621_330_1.jpg?ext=.jpg&rand=1421249011560211606&border=2,255,255,255,1,0,0,0,0&outquality=90

http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/i/48302300805_330_1.jpg?ext=.jpg&rand=3821878895729661422&border=2,255,255,255,1,0,0,0,0&outquality=90

Ok, so far, he pooped out one lump of sand. I will not be using sand as a substrate again and I should've went with the astro-turf I had originally planned to buy. The dealer I bought him from said that sand is a good substrate and it was included in the leopard gecko kit that came with my leo. But after an hour went by, he threw up the mealworms he ate for that day. His stomache is still puffy and purple and if it's like that by Monday, I'm going to need to take him to the vet. I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.

At least he's passing some of it... keep up the warm baths every few hours. Also, I wouldn't feed him anything for a day or two to help him settle his stomach (leos that regurgitate usually need a day or two to recoup). I'd keep the heat a little higher in the cage for now too (try to keep a 90 degree warm end). Keep him on papertowel in the meantime with nothing in the cage but a hide and a waterbowl. Definitely see a vet ASAP.
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

Last night when I went to sleep about 2am, he seemed to be doing better. At 6am, he was drinking water out of his dish, but hadn't gone to the bathroom again. Now at 2pm, he's sleeping, but his poor little tummy seems to have ballooned up more. The vet isn't open until tomorrow, and if anyone has any suggestions of anything I can give him to help him until I can get him to the vet, it would be greatly appreciated. I can't believe this happened so fast. It was literally 10 minutes for his stomache to balloon up like that. Other than that he's been fine. He never stopped eating and he had been using the bathroom just fine. He's always been active, so I thought he was fine. I have seen pictures with other leos having sand as a substrate, and this was supposed to be the special Calcium Fine Sand that the dealer recommended. I'm afraid to put more mealworms in with him, because he threw up the ones he ate yesterday last night.
I'm so incredibly worried. I've only had him a month, and actually getting him was a nightmare. The first gecko I bought arrived dead because the dealer messed up the address and he ended up sending me another one free of charge and refunding my money back. This is also happening at the worst time, because I have finals for school this week and a 15 page term paper due on Wednesday. Plus with the holidays, I'm really short on cash.
I called the emergency vet last night, but they didn't have any reptile specialists there and told me that they would have to find someone to come in and it would cost an additional $75.

Try a little mineral oil too. That might help.

Well, I could sit by and wait any longer, so I took my leo to the emergency vet. The balloon in his stomache is mostly gas, and the vet gave him medications to help pass the problem. An addition to the sand problem was the mealworms I've been feeding him. Apparently, mealworms contain a type of fiber that is difficult for some reptiles to pass. But on a good note, the vet says he's in good shape considering, and she usually sees much worse cases come in. But I've still got a lot of caretaking to do for now.

The gecko had gas? lol! Sorry, but I have a funny picture in my head. I'm glad that it looks like your gecko is going to make it. Make sure to take care of the temp, calcium and water. And I would leave out the sand if your gecko likes eating it that much. Post a pic of your little friend when he/she gets to feeling better.
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www.hullabalooherps.com

I'm still not quite over the hill yet. He's still quite bloated, and the x-ray he had done shows exactly what needs to come out. I've been in such a panic this whole time, it's nice to be able to calm down a little bit. I'm hoping this medication will do the trick. In the meantime, since I have to stop giving him mealworms and he's never been fond of crickets. Anyone ever try flightless fruit flies?

don't think flightless fruit flies would be big enough. They don't get any response from mine. Please don't feed your gecko for a few days. There is only so much room in his tummy, and most of that is full of gas right now. What the #@%^#$ kind of mealworms were you feeding??? Sorry, but that's a new one for me, esp. from a vet. You could try some waxworms. They are a little more greasy and might help to pass some stuff. NOT a long term solution though. Do raise the temp a little, and do try a drop ofd mineral oil for him.
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1.0 Blizzard Bill
1.0 Pastel/Jungle Leopard gecko from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino Hypo (Cloud)
0.3 Normal/Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Goldie (now w/SD), Freckles, Pepper)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.0.2 Corn Snakes (MIA)
RIP Peaches, Ghost

They were regular mealworms I bought online from Petco. I'm not planning to feed him anything until the usual vet says it's ok. But I order all my feeders online and it would take some time to get here, that's why I'm planning on food now. I've had frogs before and I used to feed them mealworms all the time with no problems. I'm just going by what the vet said. She said that mealworms contain "chitin" that isn't easily digestible and when combined with any grade sand is a very bad combination. I've raised a very healthy iguana for the past 14yrs, but he never ate bugs, and hasn't been in a cage for 12 years, so I haven't ever had to worry about substrate either. I had read 3 books and tons of stuff online about leopard geckos before I even bought him, not realizing how much different iguanas are to geckos. But it was my retarded mistake putting the sand in the tank, so it's totally my fault he's like this now. The dealer had mailed me this leopard gecko starter kit by zoomed and it included the sand, along with a book saying that their fine grade sand was a good substrate. But then like a week ago, I read on here that sand is very bad, and I should've taken it out of the tank immediately.
The good news though is that the medications seemed to help a lot overnight and he is passing the sand now. He's still very bloated, but moving around like usual. I've been up almost 48 hours now, and I'm hoping after his vet visit today I'll get some good news so I can get some sleep.

So I thought he was getting better, but I tried calling every vet in the whole city today, not one would see me for a few days, and none of them had any kind of payment arrangements. He just passed away. I wish I had never put that sand in there. Just Saturday, he was fine and running around. This happened really fast.

im so sorry to hear. i know how you feel though the same thing just happened to me. My first gecko too. it was sad. i got a new one now though but its still hard to lose a pet. hope you feel better.