Very skinny leo

I have a leo who is very very skinny. I have not looked at it closely to tell if it is eating I would assume not. what can I do and what would cause this. The others in the tank are not skinny. I did keep it on calcisand could it be impacted, if so what can I do? If the little critters come from afganistan dont they live on sand.

The best thing that you can do for this gecko is take it to a qualified herp. vet. If indeed it is impacted, they will be able to tell with a simple xray.

If the little critters come from afganistan dont they live on sand.

I've never been to Afghanistan, but my bestfriend's cousin is a marine and he has told me about being in Aghanistan and Iraq. He said that the sand is very fine sand. Calci-Sand is horrible for leopard geckos because their GI Tract (how long it takes to digest their food) is short, meaning that the granuals of sand that is infused with calcium does not have time to break up. I remember a year or so ago that I read an "experiment" with Calci-sand in which they put Calci-sand in water, 24 hours later it turned into a block of "cement like sand".

I have a leo who is very very skinny. I have not looked at it closely to tell if it is eating I would assume not. what can I do and what would cause this.

Not eating can cause this.

The others in the tank are not skinny.

They may become skinny if they are kept with another skinny gecko that is infected with something or kept on Calci-Sand.

I did keep it on calcisand could it be impacted, if so what can I do?

Take the gecko to the vet.

If the little critters come from afganistan dont they live on sand.

No.

can i treat it for sand impaction myself

Not really. You would need a vet to treat it effectively. There's no substitute for the care given by a qualified herp. vet.

If she's severely emaciated (all the bones visible, no fat on tail etc) immediate vet care is probably necessary, if she's just thin (pelvic girdly not clearly visible, thigh bones not clearly defined, some fat on the tail etc), you can try the following first.

Immediately remove her from the group and place her in a cage lined with something like paper towels or repti-carpet that can't be eaten. Offer your leo food once she's settled in. Sometimes the leo at the bottom of the heirarchy will get so bullied that they kind of stop trying to compete for food etc. If this is the case, she should start eating and recover quickly if isolated.

If she doesn't eat, try Marcia's slurry ( http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ghlight=slurry ). If after you give her the slurry and she produces a sandfilled stool and starts accepting normal food, her problems were likely due to impaction and as long as she's passing the sand she should be able to clear it on her own.

If she eats and produces loose runny stools, or if she eats, but fails to gain weight she may have a parasite or bacterial infection that requires treatment (take a fresh stool with you to the vet). If she doesn't produce a stool or produces very little or nothing but urates, she's probably got an impaction that she can't clear and needs medical intervention.

Some people have success with sand, but for every success story I've seen 10 posts about impacted geckos. Personally, if I were to use sand I would use real sand before any type of calci-sand. Here's a page with some info on calci-sands http://www.pythons.com/calcium.html .

-Alice

Remove the leo from the cage now because it might be sick!!!you can also try this http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=71863 these guys really help me out!!!



-John

Go to a herp vet. I am an exotics and small animal vet in PA and if a client called I would have them bring the lizard in along with a fecal sample. Radiographs can show if impaction likely. Bloodwork can show if infection or organ dysfunction present. I have seen geckos with infections (viral, bacterial, and fungal), neoplasia, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (MBD), gout, impactions, endoparasites, and a whole lot of other diseases that had the same clinical signs as your lizard. An emaciated lizard is a sick lizard and should be seen.
Michael Wenninger DVM

Dr. Wenninger, thank you for posting!!!!

I gave him some crix last night and he was trying to catch them but I dont know if he did. Can they be force fed. I have reason to believe that it is not sick because it is on of my babies so it hasnt been anywhere to get sick. If it is impacted it seems there is not much I can do and to put it bluntly Im not going to spend 2-3 hundred bones for a 60 doller leo. I dont want it to die and Im doing everything I can and taking your advice but I have kids and a house payment and gas is $3 a gallon again.