Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In March, I picked up a juvenile leo from Petco that had dropped half of his tail. He was in with two other girls and was eating fine. Throughout the summer, the girls outgrew him by about 3x. Today, I came home and found him lying out in the open with no tail at all (dropped his tail right from the base of it). It seems now that he can't move his back legs and his skin is REALLY dry.

I'm thinking he could have some sort of vitamin deficiency or could have been hurt by dropping his tail. Could he have some sort of spinal injury now?? I'm very worried with how lethargic he is now. Doesn't seem to be interested in eating mealworms, so I may pick up some liquid diet for now.

I have him quarantined in a 5-gallon aquarium with heat pad on paper towels right now. Please help...

Usually, the complete tail is dropped. Also, a tail is dropped in response to an immediate threat. If your leo's tail dropped off with no apparent threat and he is not moving normally, take him to a vet. At least get a fecal done to check for parasites.

He only dropped half his tail the first time... and most all the dropped tails I've seen have NOT been the whole thing. I'll see what I can find tomorrow... it's going to be VERY expensive to take him to the vet, though. Just $80 to bring him in, and that's not including treatment... ugh.

1) Why was he in with the girls?

2) Humid/moist hide - what does it consist of, where is it, what substrate is in it?

3) Temperatures?

4) Don't buy/take care of any pets if you feel they aren't worth taking to the vet. That's just wrong. My herp guy is $30. Fecals are $15 or free depending on if I do them or an aquaintance does.**

** Reminds me of when I worked at animal rescue/the pound and people brought all their dogs and cats in saying "it was a present", "he's chewing the couch", "I'm moving", "I don't have time or $$$", "I'm broke", "we have a baby"...yeah, ALL these pets brought to us had to be EUTHANIZED due to state regulations.
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

When purchasing a leopard gecko people normally go for one that looks healthy, eats fine and overall will live! Now i don't wanna sound like i'm having a go here but at the end of the day it's your own fault for feeling sorry for the poor guy and taking him home, you just don't do it! Now your the one who has to pay out to keep him alive. Let's hope you learn a valuable lesson here! Just my 2 cents sorry.

Click here to go to Gilbery's Gecko's!

are you using any calcium/D3 supplements>? He also sounds very dehydrated. Do you keep water in with him, or a humid hide? The back leg problem alway s makes me worry about MBD. Please let us know whats up. jen
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho......MIA
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.0 Sunglow motley corn-Ernie
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.2 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.1 crested gecko- Jubeh
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.0 bettas
0.0.1 goldfish-fishwad

If the tail is gone, one of his larger tank mates probably bit it off! The attack may have also caused damage to his pelvis resulting in the lack of movement. Did the dry skin appear at the same time as the dropped tail? If it did, this could also be the result of trauma. Nutritional deficencies can make injuries like this worse (weak bones = easier to damage). Make sure you are gut loading your feeders, and using a phospherus free calcium supplement.

Injuries such as this are always a risk when you house leos together. In the future, try to make sure all the leos are about the same size. If one is smaller, they should be isolated as they run the risk of being bullied, out competed for food, and injured by larger tankmates.

-Alice

Didn't find the tail... and I did bring him to a vet. He's very malnourished. Although he was smaller, I never had a problem with the other two bothering him for months. I kept a really close eye on it, too. I'm so mad at my girls for picking on him... makes me feel like a bad mom.

Right now, I'm feeding him some repta-aid, as he doesn't seem to be interested in meal worms. He's only 4oz, so he's just getting about .2cc right now. I'm working him up to .6cc at the end of the week. He seems to be hanging in there really well and takes the repta-aid pretty readily.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks, Alice!

Another thing you can try is to take a dusted cricket or mealworm, crush the head, squeeze out some guts, and let your leo lick it. A lot of times after a few licks they'll decide to eat it. The sooner you can get it eating dusted insects the better as they're going to have more nutritional value. I've used repti-cal and herptivite as my supplements for years and I'm very happy with them; if you think that he's also malnourished, you may want to consider a switch.

Good luck!
Alice

Wait so how many leos do u have in this 5gal tank bc that aint even good for one leo

He has one in there while it is injured. Also the little guy is only 4 oz which is tiny. He should be fine in there for a little while until he gets well. He is probably too weak to be chasing food all over a bigger enclosure.
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2.0 Leos (Spot - Normal but oh, so sexy; Jessie - hypotang)
3.2.4 Fattails (Henri, Suwannee, Valencio, Dixie, Isis, Zipper, Pheonix, Hissy, and Snickerdoodle)
0.0.1 redfoot tortoise (Sherman)
0.0.1 sulcatta tortoise (Tinacious aka Tiny)
1.1 Dogs (Zubin and Brenda)
0.1 cat (Mimi)