Mysterious death, any ideas?

[Jerry_c_62]

About 7-8 months ago I sold a Leo to a co-worker. She was about 1 to 1.5 years old. I went over the proper husbandry practices and set him up with everything he was going to need. He had a temp gun to keep an eye on that aspect and he and his family had done extra research to ensure the little critter had a happy home. He had asked me if it should be a concern that she had seemed to loose her appitite in the last two or three weeks. I told him that that was not something that is really odd as I have a couple myself right now that have also been eating less. As well as having that reaction about this time of year in the past. I asked about her energy level and he told me she seemed to be acting normal. She tore her cage up three days ago shedding. There again, I have had mine do the same many times so I didn't think that really odd.

Then it went bad, fast. The day after she shed she regurged the skin. He didn't say anything to me about that. That was two days ago. today before he came into work he called me from home and said she was dead. Last night she laid down on her warm spot, this morning she was on that spot dead. She still had a nice plump tail and had shown no sign of problems before the regurg. He has kids but they are not really young and they assured him they had not dropped her by accident and had not done anything out of the ordinary. He has gotten all of his feeder insects form me and those are the same bugs I use to feed my Leos as well (superworms and discoid roachs). He is not inclined to take her to a vet for a necropsy to figure out what went wrong and does not blame her death on anything I told him to do or something I didn't tell him to do. He is just wondering what might cause a Leo to go from seemingly healthy to dead in under a week. He did say that she pooped the day before she shed.

I am at a loss as to what might have gone wrong. My initial thoughts were, impaction, but she is on carpet. Contaminated feeder insects, but as I said I am feeding mine the very same bugs. Starvation, but her tail was nice and fat. The only thing that I could come up with is that his kids, aged 10 and 13, may have given the bugs something to "feed/gut load" them that caused a toxin to be ingested by the leo. Other than that I could come up with nothing. I have sold well over three dozen leos in the pas couple years and this is the first tiime anyone has come to me with any problem at all. Other than the one I sold to a young guy who said his got out and his sister stepped on it by accident.

Any one have anything like this happen before? Or heard of this type of thing? I suppose it is possible that it could have been something like a cancer, but would have thought that her weight would have indacated a problem before she would give up the ghost so fast. Let me know if any of you have any thoughts. Thanks

 

[geckogrl6]

Jeez, I'm kinda at a loss too. That fast, I'm inclined to say some sort of toxin, esp. since you say she pooped the night before, which leans against impaction. Maybe she ingested something while the kids weren't looking?

 

[geckogrl6]

Egg bound? I am a little concerned about the not eating for 2-3 weeks. It is spring now, and leos should be waking up with hearty appetites.

 

[Jerry_c_62]

Egg bound is something that I didn't even think of. However this gecko is one that I produced myself and it was never with a male. I know they can lay inffertile eggs even if not bred. But from the infertile eggs I have seen, I can't imagine that those would cause an egg bound situation. It is something that could happen though I suppose. Thanks for the input.

 

[Leibowem]

I recently had a Crested Gecko suddenly die on me, so I took her to the vet for a necropsy. Before examining her, we discussed the possibilities, and he thought that it was very possible that she died from reproductive related problems. She had never been with a male, was a young female, and was fine one day and then dead the next. He said that egg-binding was a possible culprit (as well as a few other possibilities).

After this conversation, I would assume it is entirely possible to lose a gecko that had never been with a male due to egg-binding. I would think, however, in the case of a leopard gecko, that you would be able to see the eggs in her belly...