Baby troubles

is it normal for baby leopard geckos to have weaker back legs? The baby is only 2 months old, was born in may. She gets calcium and 2-4 mealworms that are slightly longer than her head once a day. She’s always laying on her belly and if she does move she really struggles to bend her hind legs correctly. I’ve never dealt with leopard geckos this young and don’t know what to do

2-4 meals is not enough food. Up it to 5-7 then in a 2 weeks 7-10. That should help. Do you know the weight on the gecko?

Also try feed them different kinds of insects, Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Small Crickets, Tiny Hornworms, and small discoid roaches when she is older. I hope she is ok!

she weighs 8 grams right now

Mealworms are basically crispy bits of fat and don’t have much nutrition. Black soldier fly larvae, silk worms, dubia roach babies, and tiny hornworms are better. Does the calcium powder have other vitamins? @mblaney What does this sound like to you?

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You need to take it to the vet and get an X-ray done. It either looks like a break or something else is wrong with it. Almost like it has a dislocated hip. It could possibly be caused by MBD. Make sure you get a vet knowledgeable with leos.

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I second Ashley’s thoughts. In the meantime make sure the leo gets healthier feeders like dubias and black soldier fly larvae and dust the feeders with calcium d3. Hopefully it isn’t MBD, but if it is get a uvb bulb meant for nocturnal reptiles (I believe it’s the 2-7% bulbs) and always dust with calcium d3 to keep it from getting worse.

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@ashleyraeanne and @arcanicdragon are right, you need to take the little one to an exotics vet immediately. My (under-qualified) guess is a femoral fracture. It is struggling and looks painful- avoid touching the leg.

I disagree with @arcanicdragon 's recommendations though. I do not recommending dusting with d3 all the time, that can lead to geckos with literally calcified internal organs. You ( @asura_kishin ) mentioned not having dealt with a leo this age before, so you should absolutely not try and deal with this on your own, a veterinarian must be involved. The baby needs imaging and pain control, and the vet can counsel you regarding proper husbandry at this point, including lighting and other advice. Input from a forum is not sufficient in this case.

Find a reptile vet here

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8 grams is very small at this age. Our 2 month olds are all over 15 grams. Your leo needs to see a vet asap after seeing the video.

Before xrays the vet believes she was born with these issues. So I’m contacting the breeder to ask about it

The breeder most likely won’t have any information that will help that they would be willing to share. If (big IF) they are using unhealthy breeding stock they are unlikely to admit to it when you ask. I strongly recommend you pursue imaging (x-rays) at once, and make sure that the vet is familiar with reptiles. Even if it is a congenital issue, there needs to be a discussion about concerns for the future and modifications to husbandry because of her disability.

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The vet took xrays and everything, She said that her front right and back left were broken a long time ago, the limbs were already healed and had scar tissue, she gave us a drop of painkiller to give to her for a week or so and the vet themselves gave her an anti inflammatory. The vet said she would walk a little silly for the rest of her life, but otherwise the gecko should be perfectly fine, Since she was still denying food a little bit, I assist fed her slightly by rubbing her jaw and placing a small cut of mealworm with vitamins in her mouth, and a small dubia roach, today she ate 3 cuts of worm and 1 dubia. The breeder said that something probably happened after she hatched after a bit of back and forth. She also offered to return some of the money which I felt bad about but I did accept. I’d like to get more dubias but they seem kind of scarce right now

Chances are the mother she came from didn’t have enough calcium and it lead to weakened bones in the baby. I believe MBD is something they can be born with. In other words the breeder probably doesn’t have healthy females. I would get as much money from the breeder as possible and not feel bad about it at all because the breeder clearly isn’t responsible.

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Don’t forget about getting a hold of some healthier food items, especially if you’re hand-feeding anyway. :wink:

Where would you recommend getting them? I’d use rainbow mealworms but shipping takes a few weeks

Josh’s frogs sells dubias and black soldier fly larvae

Right now I get my silks from a seller on eBay that you can also buy fresh mulberry leaves from (to feed the silks), I think their user name is something like ‘Avangtar Reptiles.’ I get almost everything else from Mulberry Farms.

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How’s your Leo now? Just read through this, poor little thing! Hope she’s now doing well :blush:

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She’s good, I think I made a few more posts if you go to my profile

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