URGENT!! Need Help

Ok, so I had to go out of town today and decided to stop at the local petshop as I always do to get feeding supplies for all my critters (I stock up there b/c its so much cheaper) well anyway...I over heard the girls talking about a little gecko with no tail (ok, so as soon as i heard gecko it turned into eavsdropping ) so after hearing what they were saying I decided to head toward their reptiles, and since my mom was w/ me she followed. Well I looked at the little leos they had and OMG!!! I started tearing up. They had about 6 juvie leos in a tiny enclosure...on sand of course...and in the very back was a tiny...i mean TINY little leo...less than 1/2 the size of the others, and they were all picking on him! He was skinny as can be, had shed stuck on his nose and feet to the point he couldn't open its left eye and was dragging one of his legs. So I looked at my mom...she was clearly upset as well and after talking to the girls I walked out w/ the little guy (got him for the price they paid, not the price they sell them for)


so I brought it home, put it in a small tank (all I have right now thats not occupied) and put paper towel on the bottom...UTH on one side (hot side is at 92.7 right now) I put in a humid hide, cool hide, water and a dish of calcium and some crickets. I soaked him in warm water and managed to get 90% of the shed off. He can open both eyes now, but I couldn't get it all off his feet and didn't want to stress him. His circulation is clearly being cut off on his front left leg (the one he drags) And I also got all the sand off of his nubby little tail.

What else can I do to help get the shed off? I also noticed his belly is really dark...is that normal? (I think its an albino) But they had green sand in the cage b4...had just changed to white. I want to help this lil guy so bad....any suggestions? Oh..and the calcium I bought has d3...but it says to put on crickets or food...is it ok to have it in a dish in the tank?

here he is...they are kinda blurry...sorry








Thanks in advance and sorry its so long!

Poor little guy! You are awesome just for giving him a home. I wish I had some advice but I'm not good enough for it, well I'm not sure what to do?

Thanks! I just couldn't stand the thought of him staying there...I could tell the girls didn't care either way by the way they were talking...they were kind of laughing about it. When I got him home I realized just how bad of shape he was in. I feel so bad, but don't want to soak him too much cuz I don't want to stress him, He is in the moist hide right now, he's been in there since I brought him home. I'm just really worried about his left front leg, its getting discolored. Some of his toes are missing too, I just hope I can get him through this

For the shed you can soak his feet in water for about 10 minutes and slowly work the shed off. You probably only want to work on the shed for about 15 minutes at a time as to not stress him any more than needed. Then do it again the next day. Repeat until it is gone.

Is the tail still an open wound? If it is you need to get some Neosporin (the kind WITHOUT pain reliever) from your local drug store. It is a triple anti-biotic ointment that people use for minor cuts and it works great on herps too.

The dark belly is likely from the green sand. That happens very often with that colored sand crap.

You need to have calcium WITHOUT the D3 in it for their dish. Too much D3 can cause problems. Just use pure calcium. For youngsters I only dust with the D3 twice a week and only twice a month for adults.

I don't think that it is an open wound on his tail, its not bloody looking, its just pinkish. like in the pic how what he has of his tail is pink..thats how the end looks. But I do have some Neosporin w/ out pain killer that I can put on just to be safe

If it is sand in the belly, and he's impacted...how can I fix that? is it even possible?

Where can I get pure calcium? The pet shops around here don't really have ANY reptile stuff.

I'm going to go soak him again and use a q-tip to try and get some more of the shed off. I got it all off his head and his eye, so he can open both now

Thanks again everyone for the help! I really want to see this lil one pull through

I will throw in 2 cents worth and say instead of feeding him crickets you might want to get some baby mealworms instead. He is so tiny he might not be able to eat the crickets. Good luck with the little guy !

I think when Sammy referred to the colored sand making his belly dark, he was referring to it coloring him from the outside....even though they claim it doesn't, the dyes do stain the skin and make it look discolored.

He looks like a good candidate for Marcia's "slurry" to get some nutrition and energy in to him....the recipe can be found here:

http://www.usageckos.com/info_tipstricks.html

Good luck with the poor little guy....

For the shed on its toes, gentle rub a moist Q-Tip over his toes. It's worked for me with all of my Leo's. I remember Marcia saying the Calcium with D3 is good for absorbtion of the Calcium. I'd also keep a small dish with mealworms in it for him. He might be to weak to catch crickets.

Its a great thing what you're doing for him. Best of luck and keep us posted please!

I forgot one thing, don't forget to get a fecal done by a vet to make sure he's "clean."

Kyle

UPDATE: We have poop!!!! Never thought I'd be soo excited! It isn't dark like it should be, but its there!!! And it has the white part too. I also saw him drinking out of his water dish last night...but am going to try some waxworms again today