I really need to stop this..

Well here's the deal..
I have this horrible sense of duty to save every animal I come across that needs help..and this time it happens to be a lil baby albino gecko from a pet store.
Housed with probably 10 geckos LITERALLY at LEAST 6x bigger than it, this little baby has bite scrapes on its head and back (but somehow managed to keep its tail). How it managed to avoid actually being eaten, I have no idea. I couldn't just leave it there..I know the general feeling towards buying geckos at petstores but I hope you all can understand my sympathy for this little one.
Anyway, I weighed it and it tips the scales at 3 grams. It's really tiny..probably 3 inches including its tail, and is so little and skinny (and albino) that it is nearly transparent. I'm not sure how old it is--the lady said it had been there awhile-- but it seems active enough and it ate a little cricket I offered it, so I guess that's good.
It..I have been calling it Peewee..is of course housed by itself, in just a little "critter keeper" or whatever it is called, with a 40-watt bulb in one corner (and the other necessary provisions of course). Its a little hard to regulate temperature in something that small, but since it's eating crickets I didn't want it to have to chase anything really far, so if anyone knows of a better way to keep Peewee warm, please let me know.

My general questions are:
Can I put anything on its bitemarks, like Neosporin or Betadine or something? They are not deep but they have definitely broken the skin. They look akin to a human papercut, and I want to avoid infection.
Also, its eyes seem really sensitive. I understand that as an albino it is going to be sensitive to light, but it routinely squints and I can't really describe exactly what I mean, but its eyelids look a little too large for its eyes. Not like they are swollen and infected..just sort of too big. I really have never had a gecko this small and young, so maybe that is normal, I don't know. But it does seem a little off to me.However, it CAN open its eyes fully and when I offer it food, they get QUITE big, so I'm wondering if perhaps it's just a matter of light sensitivity.

And finally..any other suggestions? I can try to get a picture tomorrow but I don't want to disturb it too much..I think it's had a pretty rough start to life and I don't want to cause it any more stress. I think the fact that it's eating already and has only been here a few hours is a positive sign...

Thank you in advance for everyone's expertise..I know I can count on this forum's members to help out!

When a leo is emaciated the eyes / lids will tend to look unusually large, because all the fat that normally fills out the head is gone. Leos will also tend to close their eyes when they're dehydrated. Try offering him some water via a dropper and misting the tank. Albinos are very light sensitive. For heat, you may want to switch over to a UTH. The cobra brand UTH's tend to keep a pretty good temperature. If the tank is small, just put about a 1/4 of it over the UTH. You could also try draping something over the tank to cut down on light, this might make him feel more inclined to eat and drink during the day.

-Alice

As far as the cuts go, as long as they appear scabbed over / not open, they'll probably disappear with the next shed without any special treatment.

Make sure you practice really strict quarentine procedures, and good luck with the little guy!

-Alice

Kate, I think Alice pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only other thing I could think of is make sure not put to many crickets in at one time, and try getting to eat meal worms far more nutritious. Offer small meals more often.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

I would say go to roaches if we got on the topic of more nutrition. I have never heard, or studied that mealworms are better for leos then crickets. I have actually read a lot saying the opposite.. Just my .02, nothing personal.

Thanks for the help!

I switched to an under tank heater under 1/4 of the tank and covered and misted the tank. Going to wait to actually offer it water from a dropper until later today--in the meantime, Peewee of course has its water dish.
This morning it looks about ready to shed, and in its little humidity box Peewee went.
About the mealworms instead of crickets..where can one locate mealworms that small? The smallest ones I've been able to locate are 3/4-1 inch long, which I feel are too big for this little one.

Thanks again for the help!

Kate, your local pet shop should carry the mini mealworms. But as Matt pointed out roaches would be better than either crickets or mealworms, but I thought they would be even harder to locate in small amounts. But I think right now if she is eating just go with what you can find until you can get a little more size on her.

Kate,

Reptile Direct has "mini" sized mealworms (http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.a...ROD&ProdID=222) that will probably be fine. They last for several weeks or longer in the refrigerator. Use some wheat bran to store them in, or get some Gut Load from Cody at Pro Geckos (https://st37.startlogic.com/~progeck...alog/index.php).

I take my mealies out of the refrigerator about once every 7-10 days, let them warm up, and offer them some cricket water for about 8-10 hours, then put them back in the refrigerator.

As for the nutritional value, mealies have more fat than crickets, and that may not be a bad thing for an emaciated animal. They also may be easier to "catch".

All very good advise! I hope peewee does well now that he/she is in a good home. I get all of my mealies from reptiledirect and they have great service and good prices. You can put some pedialyte in the water dish too (I get the unflavored), it helps add electrolytes and helps get them re hydrated. I give all of my leos a small amount pedialyte a couple of times a month while breeding. You can make your own too and only make what you need.

http://sidorsky_1.tripod.com/dragons/pedialyte.html

There is also some info on here for re hydrating reptiles (http://www.icomm.ca/dragon/hydrate.htm#amount)

Well I snapped some pics after all today, after Peewee had eaten 3 little crickets and drank several drops of water off an eyedropper. Peewee seems much more active today, and was in and out of its humidity box a few times today, as evidenced by the vermiculite strewn around the tank. So far, so good.



You can see the bite marks I talked about pretty well in this picture (poor little fella!):


Again, Peewee is about to shed, so that's why s/he appears so pale.

Thank you for the leads for finding little mealworms. I will get some of those soon.
Let me know what you think of him/her!