Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok here's a breifing of what's up.
I have a 4 year old Leopard gecko, We've had him for a year. When we got him he was bright yellow lively and was cute as a button. 6 months later we moved and all things have not been the same. When we moved he got stressed and sick. He got sick fromt he paint fumes and the cleaning fumes. both eyes were infected. He used to be in a 10 gallon tank when we first got him w/ a hide, calicum sand, uv light for day and a red bulb for night, all the normal things. he ate crickets and mealies. He was a hearty boy. He was a fat bugger. After we moved...Then he stopped eating, we introduced wax worms, and he loved thos for a bit. His eyes gradually did better, but now one is fine and the other is dead. We had a friend who is an iguana rehab specialist who took care of our little Stewie and she told us to not worry about the infected eye it would come back and it never did. I have gone to 3 vets, have spent hundreads of dollars to get him to be a happy healthy gecko and nothing seems to be working. I gut load his mealies, he's in a 20 gallon tank with fresh water everyday, on b/w newsprint. and i clean the tank regularly. But he still barely eats, he eats maybe 5 wax worms a week. (or mealies) Because he has one eye, we can't feed him crickets b/c he can't find them and they jump away. So I'm asking anyone who can give me advice. I am trying so HARD to be a good Mom, I just don't think we can care for him anymore. Everything we do just doesn't seem to work. I don't want to come home one day to see My little Stewie dead b/c we couldn't save him. So it kills me to say this but I think its time to get him rescued. If a reptile rehab person is in the area to take him. I feel so bad for the little bugger, but don't think we can give him the proper care that he needs. We live in southern CT and I don't know of any rescue places. Can someone give me a suggestion of where to look. Oh i feel so sick to my stomach, he's liek our baby. But our baby needs help and all the vets around here have no idea what's going on woth him. Please respond someone, and so sorry this message is SO long!

thanks,
Cathy

I pinch off the legs of the crickets I offr to my guys, it maks it so they can't jump, and makes em real slow. As far as the health problems I am at a loss, but I hope he does better.

Thanks, I've done that...but the poor buddy can't seem to grab them. I watched Stewie last night and he seems to be doing worse, he usually comes out at night and hangs out on his rock, but last night he just stayed in his hide. When i take off the cover he usually picks his head up and pokes it out of the hide to see whats going on, but he didbn't budge. I think he is so weak, he's can't be bothered. I did give him liquid emergency reptile formula to stimulate his appetite, he's such a good guy i hold him squirt it on his mouth and he likes it off. He is truely a gentle little guy.

Thanks,

You have to get the exact recipe, but mix up Ensure (no chocolate) with baby butternut squash, a handful of mealworms, couple caps of milk thistle, pedyalite, supplements... I think that's it, but I may be forgetting one or two ingredients.

The thing is, Marcia from Golden Gate Geckos (http://www.goldengategeckos.com/) created that recipe which is nothing short of miraculous and I have used it to sustain my leos until they were strong enough to eat and hunt for themselves. I also took two to the vet, who medicated them and advised me to keep feeding them that recipe! I think she once quoted that recipe is used in several sites to sustain leos as well.

Mine recovered, gained weight and I worship the land that gal walks on for sharing it with owners. Who knows how many little lives she saved in doing so!
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i live in south central Ct in Ansonia and ive had leos that have gotten sick and have somewhat experience with sick leos but what vets have you taken him too i reccomend Shakesphere Vet in Stratford because they always help me with my sick leos and they are very knowlegable

Hey, Middletown repressentin'...

I take him to the top reptilian specialist in the state, Dr. Giddings in Kensington. I am lucky he is 10 minutes away from my house, but when I lived in Groton I still drove the distance to have him check my birds. I've known his work now for 15 years, the time it has been since I took my first cockatiel to him.
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Milford here,
I was going to South Wilton Vet group and I went to their "supposed" top person, but really didn't get too much form it, other than take these antibotics and try fattening him up with wax worms. i bought him back again and they said the same thing. and Stewies progress has been the same, he's just barely ok. he's hanging by his water dish, and a little less responsive today. I thank you ALL for your advice, My next steps are call the startford vet, get that slurry, he is such a gentle little guy he'll let me feed him, and I'll hope for the best! thanks!
Any more advice...please reply!

-Cathy

Not this guy! Dr. Giddings is the one top specialist in the whole state! He has been practicing for over 20 years.

I would not try anyone else. He is worth driving the distance for. He has Saturday appointments too.

Trust me, I don't recommend anyone just to do the service. He is the exotic animals specialist for just about every Petco, Petsmart, avian and reptile commercial breeders and sellers facility I have walked in. Name him, and every avian breeder who takes care of his animals knows his name. I know, I had several birds in the last few years!

His fees are, for the expertise and skills you get, extremely reasonable too!

Good luck with the slurry. I know for a fact that it does wonders with sick leos, but if yours has an infection he must be treated too. If I could rate the information I've learned over the Internet, I give that slurry a 10 . Without it, I just don't know how people help lizards make it through periods of lethargy and anorexia!
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hey if humpbacks is confident in his vet then by all means try him if he is the best specialist in the state your gecko needs the best vet i just hope one day Ct gets many reptile specialists because there aren't many around the state only a handful

hehehe... Cute. Humpbacks is a gal

I met another avian/rep specialist, she is in the eastern section of the state. People still preferred Dr. Giddings, even those living near her, because she was not as experienced. The first thing she'd do when she examined a bird was inject a mega dose of vitamin A. How the heck could she tell the animal needed that? In order to make her diagnosis she made trillions of tests which costed money. I think her name is Lisa, can't recall more.
Dr. Giddings can very easily look at the symptoms and make a sure diagnosis quickly. It is all his years of experience! Like I said before, 15 years ago he was the top in the state and nobody has yet dethroned him. Choose wisely!
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Hi!
Marcia wrote back from goldengategeckos.com with the recipe, I will try it tonight! hope it works! I have a funny story about Stewie. I get up yesterday morning and go to look in on my little guy and he's upside down with his legs in the air! I freaked out! I had duct tape holding up the thermometers in his tank and they must have come loose and the weirdo laid on one of the little pieces of duct tape. So he was upside down with duct tape stuck to his belly. Thank god it was old tape and not very tacky, i don't think he knew what to do! I put him in a warm bath of water and the tape fell right off, so i didn't have to worry about hurting him. I was laughing my butt off though. Poor gecko can't get a break!
I'm trying the slurry tonight and I'll contact Dr. Giddings, What town is he/she in again? Kensington? K something, thankyou everyone for the help!

I knew Marcia would kindly reply to you and be most willing to help.

I am glad your little guy gave you just a scare, but still...!

Here's the doc's info:

Giddings, Robert F DVM
Kensington Bird & Animal Hospital
977 Farmington Ave
Berlin (really Kensington, though)

(860) 828-7736

Good luck
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Thanks!
I grew up in newington so I'm familar with kensington/berlin area. I made the slurry, but with only one hiccup, i couldn't get anyone to sell me perscription dog/cat food that Marcia wanted me to get, but everything else i got! So i already made the slurry and Stewie seemed to like it. He did ALOT of licking! So i hope it works out. I'll check out your doc. how much do you think it usually is to see him? Just curious,
Thanks so much for your help!

Cathy

Dr. Giddings has those prescription Hills cans in his office. I think the large ones are $1.00

You can just have her fecal done, for $10 or $15, I can't recall. I had a leo spend an overnight there once and all I paid was like, $45 or so. The last physical I took one in for I paid about $50, but it included medication, an extra dose and a supply of neocalglucon. So I guess physicals are under $20.

Call them, they're very friendly and will tell you before you go.
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wow was it REALLY that cheap? it was about 60 bucks just for the conultation. and the medicine and everything when i was done it was 120 bucks!!! and they didn't do anything for him!!

So Stewie hasn't really had much progress... i have been hand feeding him slurry every day, And he seems to have more energy. i threw in a wax worm to see if he would gobble it up and he's been ignoring it. I'll try your doc, thanks for the info!!