Through family I now have a sick and malnourished leopard gecko and we’ve been to the vet and have medicine that should hopefully help.
But my question for now is about a gecko’s habit to sit in the cold side or in the water dish. Through google and old forums I could only find that it was a sign of sickness etc. So should I heat up the colder side to be warmer to make up the difference or is it “helping” that the gecko is colder? Sort of like when they have mites they’ll sit in water to help get rid of them is why I’m asking whether I should or not
The first thing you should do is make sure the sick gecko is quarantined away from all of your other geckos. You don’t want them to get a disease from the new one. What is the temperature of the warm side with an infrared temperature gun? Could there also be something on the warm side that it is scared of, like a large decoration? Is the gecko cold, if so it might help to slightly warm the cool side, but only slightly so there is still a gradient.
It is not normal for a leopard gecko to sit in a water dish (that has water in it) virtually ever. I actually have one gecko that sits in water sporadically, but I assume it’s due to some error of mine that I haven’t been able to figure out yet. In the meantime, I stopped putting water there and added a separate dish too small to step in. These days I use water dishes from a company called ‘Stroodies’ on Etsy, they have little raised bits that keep the gecko from stepping in the water and fouling it.
I totally agree with what @erie-herps has said, including regarding quarantine. Pictures of your enclosure with temperature readings from both warm and cold side would help us help you. Diet and supplementation could possibly have something to do with it as well. If you’re comfortable, sharing your vet’s conclusions and treatments, and pics of the animal might help us get a better idea of the situation too.
I’m super impressed that you took on a sick animal in need and took it to the vet! Mega-kudos to you!
It was my sisters for her daughter and I can’t believe it got this bad. I hope someone says I’m overreacting. She was the one who took it to the vet so I’m unsure exactly what the vet said, and she has a habit of not telling the whole truth to save face tbh. But I have eye drops to help the eyes which isn’t the biggest problem here, we have a med called metronidazole for “various infections”
she ate some of the critical care and couldn’t keep it down at all so I’m going to try to give less today
It is absolutely essential that you get copies of the full veterinary record of the visit, including any diagnostic results, if you are the person that is supposed to take care of this animal. If she won’t give them then you should take the animal in to a reptile vet yourself, since you have animals of your own that could be at risk with a sick gecko around.
Honestly, in my opinion, it’s totally inexcusable that your sister expects someone who was not at the vet visit to nurse it back to health, especially because she is directly responsible for the neglect of the gecko. You need to know what the vet’s findings were and their complete instructions for care.
Vomiting in leopard geckos is a very, very concerning thing in general, but especially in this situation. You need to get in touch with the vet directly and let them know what the gecko is doing (sitting in the cold, regurgitating food, etc.), and I would say that the gecko vomiting makes this something you need to do immediately (as in as soon as they are next open).
For a sick animal, you also need to have the hot end of the enclosure around 90’F and cool end around 80. There needs to be hides on both sides of the tank and a humid hide in the middle. Make sure you are giving a multivitamin and calcium supplement on separate days. When ill, make sure you do not leave any loose insects in the tank. Mealworms are probably too hard to digest for a sick gecko because if all the chitin.
I believe the first vomit was from too much food too quickly since we had to “force” feed since she also couldn’t see at the time. recently with all the baths and help she opens her eyes more and is even eating from tongs. so I guess long story short, the eyesight is improving and she’s eating again, As long as she doesn’t have some hard to kick illness she hopefully will be okay
Some good updates, her eyes are pretty much clear and looking normal. It’s been so long It’s almost like she doesn’t realize she can use them as in the morning they’ll be closed until I go to do the daily routine, after which they’ll be open for the day. She’s also fattened up a very large amount
She looks SO much better! Good on you for nursing her so diligently, and I’m so happy she’s doing better. She’s a beautiful little gecko! Hopefully life will be better for her from here on out.
