Does Albinoism equal weakness?
 

I just lost one of my leos, a male tremper albino. He was my daughter's favorite and my only albino.

The only change to his diet or habitat was an online order of crickets. BUT, every one of my leos had eaten from that batch.

He was one of my best eaters, had great body weight, was active and all...his dealth was very unexpected. Is it possible that there was some immune deficiency linked to his albinoism?

With a sudden quick death like that, I would suspect something more like renal failure rather than an immune deficiency. Reptiles can go on looking and acting healthy while their kidneys are having problems, until the kidneys finally give out, and then it's over. If he contracted any diseases/parasites from the cricket order, it would probably be a slower death with more obvious symptoms.

Sorry about the loss. Must be so hard for your girl. :(

What's kidney failure caused by?

I'm sure there are lots of causes given the workload kidneys have, but over-supplementation and dehydration are the only ones I'm familiar with. Force-feeding a malnourished gecko without prior fluid therapy can cause irreversible damage as well.

Btw, I'm not trying to say anything about Sybella's care for the albino. Just laying out some ideas on the table. It's very possible her leo was born with kidney issues. Happens with people. Whatever the cause of death was probably beyond her control.

Thank you, Olivia. I'll be the first to admit that I'm far from perfect but I do try my best to give all my "babies" good care.

albinism
 

Sybella, I am so sorry you lost your gecko! I agree with Olivia that sudden death's are likely caused form some kind of organ failure, or another physiological problem not related to albinism.

I do believe however, that many Tremper albinos (especially ones obtained from pet stores or gecko mills) have been inbred to the point that it could definitely be a factor in the overall physical health of the gecko. IMHO, the less inbreeding, the more robust they are.

I also agree with Marcia.
My Trempers, even my Giant, are not good eaters. They seem more delicate then the rest and my females are much smaller then other adult females....
At first I wanted to breed Albinos but now I am not so sure(at least with Tremper strain). I will be outcrossing my Giant boy though, and my females are in with a regular stud boy named Larry.....a super sweetie....

I wouldn't consider an Albino a strong , robust (to borrow Marcia's word) line at all. Again, at least not Tremper. I have no experience with the other lines.

Trempers
 

The Tremper albinos I got directly from from RT were very difficult to get started... one took almost 6 weeks before he would eat, and were slow to grow. The albinos I have from other breeders (including my own) are great eaters... big and fat. Example, here's a pic of Libby weighing in at around 70 grams after laying 12 clutches of eggs this season:

I have him in the freezer...maybe I can get him looked at when I have a positive budget month. If it was renal failure, there should be some clues to be found, how the organs look, etc. and freezing him wouldn't harm it, right?

It really bothers me because he was one of my best leos...He had the best disposition so he was the one that I took to classrooms to hand around to the kids. It didn't seem to bother him at all and once he was back home, he was ready to eat, immediatly. I never had a single problem with him. It's been 3 months or more since he went anywhere with me so it couldn't have been stress that did him in. He was also my daughter's favorite and she liked that she was able to find numbers and patterns in his markings. Oh poo...I had better stop this. I'm going to get myself crying again.

freezing
 

Sybella, unfortunately freezing the body actyally does tissue damage and a necropsy wouldn't do any good at this point. Again, I am very sorry your little albino passed away.