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Dead gecko dropped of at my door, what could have happened?

Z

ZenReptiles

Kawaii lil' critters!
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A friend of mine dropped off his ailing gecko while I was at work yesterday, but it had died before I got home. I don't know what he had expected me to do with it, because it was in disgusting shape. (Once my camera batteries recharge, I will take a few pictures.) I guess it had stopped eating 2 weeks ago, but from the looks of its tail it must have been a lot longer than that. It looked almost like it had MBD. I was also told that it was throwing up clear liquid. When I looked at the other side of it, it looked like its insides had exploded internally. I know that it probably can't be diagnosed here, but I would like to know if there's a chance of parasites. My reason is because when it was dropped off, my fiance (who doesn't know much about reptiles in general) stuck the critter keeper containing the gecko in my 20g tank with 2 of my most expensive leos, and breeding leos even. He said he wanted to keep the gecko warm but knew not to actually put it in with the others. I get home and see this and flipped out, and now I'm panicking that my leos are infected with something.

Should I be worried? Or would the plastic of the critter keeper work as a barrier?
 
Yikes, I'd get a necropsy done to rest easier... and hope the only thing wrong with it was neglect. If it died from crypto then I sure hope there was no contamination. I should think that most likely the plastic would have been a good barrier, especially for parasites like pinworm, but you might want to smack your boyfriend a round a bit anyway. (not too hard of course, since he meant well)
 
You indicateed to me in the other thread that it loked just like the photos of the one with severe impaction. Horrible for the poor creature that died, but you can probably rest easier in regards to any contamination risk, since that obviously can't be passed on to others.
 
Geckogardener said:
I sure hope there was no contamination. I should think that most likely the plastic would have been a good barrier
Click to expand...

I hope your geckoes are OK, but I disagree about the barrier: whoever put the ailing gecko into the critter keeper touched the gecko and then most likely subsequently touched the outside of the critter keeper in order to carry it.
 
Most gecko species transmit internal parasites by feces, contaminated water or food. Now, it's possible their was small amounts of feces on the kritter keeper, however in the short time it was in the cage with the others, I don't think you need to freak out too bad.

Disinfect, in fact better yet, bleach the tank and supplies inside. Give it a nice tough washing. That should get any minute fecal traces off of it. Just keep the cage disinfected daily for a bit, I think you will be okay :)
 
My friend dissected the dead leo last night while I was at work, and told me that after comparing it to the dissected leo pics of one with crypto, it looked fairly the same. They didn't find anything that would be causing an impaction. He had another leo that lived with that one, so we are monitoring the living one, who is doing quite well, to see what happens. Hopefully this will all turn out ok.
 
I'd throw away all traces you had of that gecko in your house (Cage, water bowls, etc).. If it really was crypto, a bleaching wont get rid of it. A vet has a culture of crypto thriving in a five gallon bucket full of bleach.
 
It wasn't my gecko, it wasn't at my house ever except for inside a cricket keeper when my friend brought it over. The cricket keeper has been thrown out already. Thank you all for your advice.
 
MatthewK said:
I'd throw away all traces you had of that gecko in your house (Cage, water bowls, etc).. If it really was crypto, a bleaching wont get rid of it. A vet has a culture of crypto thriving in a five gallon bucket full of bleach.
Click to expand...

Could you link me with that vet experiment? That sounds interesting, I'd like to see more about it.
 
That is intresting Matt! I meant bleaching it just to get any possible traces of fecal matter off the cage. The animal was in a kritter keeper for a couple hours with the other gecko. And they threw the kritter keeper away.
 
This is a really interesting organism. I did a lot of reading yesterday confirming the resistance to bleach, but could not find references saying why this was so, and what the difference is from other organisms that are not so resistant.
Mat if you have info like that, I'd like to find out more.
Bleach is the primary way I clean and disinfect at my house.
 
According to one book I've read, the only thing known to kill off crypto is prolonged exposure to either 5% ammonia or 10% formalin. However, neither is safe to use around animals.
 
I've heard about Alinia as well, it sounds very promising. It was originally developed as a better and safer alternative to Flagyl.
 
lucille said:
This is a really interesting organism. I did a lot of reading yesterday confirming the resistance to bleach, but could not find references saying why this was so, and what the difference is from other organisms that are not so resistant.
Mat if you have info like that, I'd like to find out more.
Bleach is the primary way I clean and disinfect at my house.
Click to expand...
The difference is that you are comparing apples to oranges. Internal organisms may be very small, but they are worlds apart from each other. For example, hookworms and pinworms are in a completely different phylum than crypto, have different hormonal processes, completely different anatomies, different life cycles and different egg stages. You can think about how different a human is from a snake, but at least we are still in the same phylum. What makes crypto and other coccidians so resistant is the egg stage (called oocysts). They have a very tough outer lining that protects as an overwintering device. Pure bleach can't penetrate through it.

As for cleaning, bleach isn't very effective for cleaning. The only good way to clean a cage is to use dishwasher soap since it will do a better job of removing all traces of fecal matter. Bleach is more effective as the second step for sterilization. http://www.anapsid.org/cleaning.html Here's a good page on the subject.
 
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