Laid infertile eggs-not getting appetite back :(

I haven't been on this board for years, but I still have my three leopard geckos and they were all doing great until recently... and now I've come crawling back for help .

Just to get the basics out of the way, I have two females and one male, all housed separately. They are housed on tile with an under tank heat of around 90. They have a hot side, a cold side, a humid hide and a couple other hides. They are fed mostly mealworms dusted with Calcium and D3, along with a vitamin mix every few feedings or so. Once every couple weeks they get either crickets, pinkies, superworms or something else just for something different.

My one male and one female have been fine, no problems with appetite, they are both regular and good weights. One of the females laid infertile eggs last year and never fully gained back her weight, still once she got her appetite back she's been fine until this spring. She lost her appetite about a month before laying her egg, still she remained active and hydrated. She finally laid one egg last week after a few warm water baths. I thought I had seen two eggs in her belly, so I'm not sure if maybe one was reabsorbed or she laid it and ate it (if either are even possible). Then she had a good shed and I thought she'd get her appetite back, but no such luck and she has now lost most of the fat in her tail. I was just about to try force feeding her (well the putting food around her mouth and getting her to lick it off trick with Marica's slurry), when I noticed blood coming from her vent . So today I took her in to see the vet. The vet couldn't really tell me what was wrong, but prescribed oral antibiotics and a liquid food called "Carnivore Care" to force feed her. I'm not going to lie, I have a phobia with vets and herps since I've seen quite a few give horrible advice and just not really seem to care.

So anyways, here is a picture of her underside (sorry for the bad quality, I don't really know how to use my camera yet) that seems to look much worse after a very stressful day at the vet. As well as her vent with a bit of blood/poop looking goo (she's having a warm water bath right now). I can give her the antibiotics with not much problem, but the vet recommended force feeding 2-3 times a day. She hates the food and spits most of it up, but I think I'm still going to take it slow and only do it once a day to start. Like I said, she still has a good energy level and is still hydrated, so the last thing I want to do is really stress her out and have her stop drinking on her own.



So if anyone has any ideas on what could actually be wrong, PLEASE let me know. If she doesn't start to improve, the next step is xrays and blood tests... which at the moment I REALLY can't afford, but I'm sure I'll find a way. I also plan on moving my male out of the room, in the hopes that stops her from laying infertile eggs again.

Where has everyone gone?

I would bring it to the vet, and NOT rely solely on forum bases answers.

Take her to the vet. The blood in the ventral area does not look good. Did your vet perform any fecal tests?

Alicia, I did take her to the vet (sorry my post was rather long and you might have missed it). I'm going to take her to a recommended herp vet this next time, hopefully he can see her asap. I should have known better and asked for a fecal, but I just wasn't thinking. I guess since she's mostly only ever eaten mealworms bred by me and my other two are in very good health, I just wasn't thinking it could be a parasite and that it had to do with the recent egg laying. This last vet visit just reminded me of why not to rush out to just any vet that sees reptiles. I'm not doing the force feeding, it was stressing her out far too much and I would hate to end up doing more damage than good. I am still doing the antibotics and trying to get her interested in her regular food. She'll look interested and liven up when she sees it, but then change her mind when it gets close .

I would recommend you do a liquid diet (licked as much as possible rather than forced) of your/her choice, whether Ensure, slurry, what the vet gave you, whatever, while you find a good herp vet. The antibiotics prob wont hurt until the other vet sees her. Just make sure she stayes hydrated, as she will need slightly more h2o to process the drugs. What is she on? And find a good vet asap.




My thoughts and opinions only...

She been given Septra for antibiotics and Carnivore Care for food. Today she's not looking very good though . I gave her the meds, made sure she had a bit of water by getting her to lick it off her mouth and gave her a few warm water baths. She passed some very weird looking stool, if that's even what it is. Right now she's just laying there with her eyes closed. I'm sure if I touched her she'd liven up, but I hate seeing her suffer. I made an appointment with the vet I was recommended, but he can't see her until Tuesday. I don't want to see her suffer and have to die on her own, so I was thinking maybe euthanasia at this point .

Originally Posted by LisaC

She been given Septra for antibiotics and Carnivore Care for food. Today she's not looking very good though . I gave her the meds, made sure she had a bit of water by getting her to lick it off her mouth and gave her a few warm water baths. She passed some very weird looking stool, if that's even what it is. Right now she's just laying there with her eyes closed. I'm sure if I touched her she'd liven up, but I hate seeing her suffer. I made an appointment with the vet I was recommended, but he can't see her until Tuesday. I don't want to see her suffer and have to die on her own, so I was thinking maybe euthanasia at this point .

Dont touch. Adds stress. Just feed her and clean her cage and let be. I wish you well!

Thanks Alicia. I did just leave her and now she's in the same spot she was last night, still appearing to be straining to get something out . I can't stand it. If I take her back to the vet I was at, they will just want to put her in overnight care and try to continue force feeding her... which I think will most likely kill her at this point. I'm thinking euthanasia and then a necropsy to figure out what happened to the poor girl. I am so mad at myself for not just waiting to see a good vet, I really think the force feeding and "antibiotic fix" for an unknown illness have done far more damage than good.

Someone on another board mentioned crypto... I know I shouldn't rule anything out, but it just scared the pants off me. Is there a decent fact sheet on this. I haven't brought in any reptile additions in years and they've been fed mostly all mealworms with a few crickets here and there.

Years ago I had a gecko with relatively mild MBD (it was my fault since I got her as a teenager and didn't research). I did the same thing and took her to an inexperienced vet and the same thing happened, although that girl ended up dying in my hands after weeks of putting her through hell (the vet had me remove her hides and put a uv light on her 24/7 as well as force feeding)... it was horrible. I didn't expect my new guys to get sick like this since I researched tons before getting them, have given them great set ups (I think) and have fed them good. My other two are chunky, active and are in great health and I've had them all around five years now. I wish I had removed the male from the room last year when she layed her infertile eggs, I've been told that would have stopped it from recurring this year.

I just went to try and move her since it was time for her meds/feeding and she's gone. I had no idea she was so far gone, yesterday morning while I was bathing/giving her meds she was a feisty whipper snapper. She appears to have died straining to pass something, since she's in that position. I can't believe she had to suffer and die on her own, I really wasn't expecting this.

RIP little girl, I'm so sorry.