Gecko Mama Drama

[Kipluck]

My leopard gecko, Clementine is breaking my heart! I bought her from a guy who was getting rid of all his geckos, but really didn't seem to be taking very good care of them. She has a winky eye that he didn't say was a problem, but experts on the guild told me was a retained shed.

I thought I could fix her. I have been soaking her, treating her eye with both saline solution and mineral oil to no avail. If it was just a matter of looks I wouldn't care. But Clementine has stopped eating. I can't afford to take her to the vet right now and my parents won't help me.

So now, my plans of getting her healthy and breeding her with Jack are being put way on the back burner and I am just going to try to do what I can to save her life. Which, means I am probably going to be rehoming her to someone who CAN take her to the vet.

Someday I will get a HEALTHY female and breed Jack and incubate the eggs with my Hobavator. But right now it is more important to try and find someone who can possibly save my little Clementine. But I can't stop crying. I don't want to get rid of Clementine. I hate my financial position right now. I HATE that I am almost 32 and I am dependent on my parents. I just don't have a choice right now.  

[Akiska]

I'm sorry kip, are you sure her stop in eating is related to the eye and not just the season change?

Also this might sound strange but have you tried tape? Give her a nice soak for 20 or 30 minutes, take her out of the soak, and roll some tape around your finger sticky side out and very gently roll it over the eye, just barely touch it, you don't want to use hardly any force. You can also try running your finger over. If you can get even just a small bit of the shed up to where you can get a hold of it it should come free.  

[Vanilla eXee]

Aww Kip sad if I was working right now I would send you something to take her to the vet. Hopefully Aki's solution will work.  

[Kipluck]

Akiska

I'm sorry kip, are you sure her stop in eating is related to the eye and not just the season change?

Also this might sound strange but have you tried tape? Give her a nice soak for 20 or 30 minutes, take her out of the soak, and roll some tape around your finger sticky side out and very gently roll it over the eye, just barely touch it, you don't want to use hardly any force. You can also try running your finger over. If you can get even just a small bit of the shed up to where you can get a hold of it it should come free.

Nothing seems to budge with 2-tips. I haven't used my fingers because I don't want to give her an infection. I've tried the tape and I don't know if it's because I can't get to the surface of the eye (it seems "collapsed" or deflated) but I can't get anything.

I am not 100% sure it is the eye, but she hasn't eaten or pooped in a couple weeks and I would think she would be MORE hungry with the days warming up. But she has gone from rarely eating to never eating.

I really don't want to get rid of her. She is SO sweet. I just want for someone to be able to save her and make her happy and well. crying  

[Akiska]

you might try giving either your vet or mine a call. She might be able to give you a few hints that would help you. She works in a reptile rescue, and being a banfield hospital you might be able to work out a payment plan and be able to keep your lil girl.

As long as your hands are clean you should be ok to use your fingers, and if there's more than one shed stuck chances are it's already infected of some sort.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

you could also talk to your vet about working off the bill cleaning cages and such,or doing a show or two for their relatives or kids or something....  

[Kipluck]

I just posted this a bit ago in the Pets Forum on the Leopard Gecko Care Thread but here is my plan:


OKAY, new plan of action combining some advice I got on Gaia, Herp Center, and some others.

1. Get a new, better UTH to aid in digestion. I have been using a light (daytime, obviously) but it does cool down at night.

2. Get her a bowl of calcium with OUT D3. The one we have been using has D3.

3. Continue to feed her chicken and turkey baby food, [and ground up bugs and vitamins] on her nose to see if I can get her appetite back.

4. Disinfect her tank. Change her moss in her moist hide [to paper towel].

5. See if I can get some hours at work so I can pay for the vet, especially if I can make some kind of credit arrangement.  

[Shanna66]

having a uth instead of a light may help. leos do best with belly heat and they use their heat mostly at night. try for 90f for a week or so at first and if that doesnt help raise the temps a little. i wouldnt go past 95 though

if you have moss in the tank there is the chance she may have eaten it. look at her belly, does it look like it has a dark mass in there? usually if a leo is impacted you can see it but not always. try a couple drops of virgin olive oil on her nose for her to lick off, it should help get things moving in their. moss is usually same but sometimes leos have idiot moments  

[Kipluck]

Shanna66

having a uth instead of a light may help. leos do best with belly heat and they use their heat mostly at night. try for 90f for a week or so at first and if that doesnt help raise the temps a little. i wouldnt go past 95 though

if you have moss in the tank there is the chance she may have eaten it. look at her belly, does it look like it has a dark mass in there? usually if a leo is impacted you can see it but not always. try a couple drops of virgin olive oil on her nose for her to lick off, it should help get things moving in their. moss is usually same but sometimes leos have idiot moments

I don't SEE any dark masses, but I still will try the olive oil just in case. I had hoped that just feeding her outside of her hide (The floor is paper towel, rather than dirt or sand or anything) would keep her safe from impaction. But you never know, maybe a cricket hopped in her hide and she ate some.

I have been dropping Chicken and Turkey baby food and Pediasure on her nose every night now and she is getting at least a good amount in. Not ENOUGH I am sure, but it's something. And she is drinking from her dish regularly so at least I am not worried about dehydrating her.

Plus she is so weird, she seems to have as much energy as she ever did, running around at night LOOKING like she's hunting though she doesn't seem to EAT anything. She's just my little anorexic ballerina. rolleyes

I sure love her though. I won't give up on her.

 

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

her eye looks deformed,like she was born that way....  

[Akiska]

You might have to wait for her next shed and try to catch her when she's doing her head so you can get an edge and get that out.  

[Shanna66]

when ethen ate moss it was becasue she was shedding in her humid hide and i think she must have gotten a mouth full of moss while eating her skin and just kept on going with the flow. just a word of caution there

the eye does look like some sort of infection. i would try some saline solution and see if that helps.

thats good she is still active though  

[Kipluck]

Cowgirl-with-heart

her eye looks deformed,like she was born that way....

That's what I thought when I adopted her, (especially since the guy didn't mention it as being a problem... but really I shouldn't have trusted him anyway, they had no heat at ALL and were kept in little tupperwares with no hide at all. Now she spends most of her time in her moist hide or stalking around her tank like a little dinosaur.) but now I think it is something else, like a retained shed that has got infected.

Akiska

You might have to wait for her next shed and try to catch her when she's doing her head so you can get an edge and get that out.

I will definitely try that.

Shanna66

when ethen ate moss it was becasue she was shedding in her humid hide and i think she must have gotten a mouth full of moss while eating her skin and just kept on going with the flow. just a word of caution there

the eye does look like some sort of infection. i would try some saline solution and see if that helps.

thats good she is still active though

Thanks. The gecko cages are now a moss-free zone! I have been rinsing her eye daily with saline, so hopefully that will help.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

good luck kip  

[Shanna66]

Kipluck

they had no heat at ALL and were kept in little tupperwares with no hide at all.

besides for the no heat thing thats sadly how most breeders keep their reptiles. i love shelving units for enclosures and will probably do something like that when i start breeding my snakens, but i also plan on making sure they have some places to hide and that the bin will be large enough for them