- Messages
- 111
- Location
- Saratoga county - NY
This past year my leopard geckos laid three batches of eggs.
My first set of babies had some very bad defects and I didn't think either would survive. The second set of eggs were laid the same week the first babies hatched. I made the agonizing decision to destroy the eggs as I strongly suspected a nutritional deficiency that wasn't corrected in time. I still feel horrible about it. I upped the supplements for the adults and I'm happy to say that the third set hatched into very healthy fat babies.
I strongly suspect that the mother had a vitamin A deficiency. She seemed very healthy and active, if a bit overweight, but I do recall seeing her strike at, and miss food by a mile a few times. At the time I didn't recognize this as a symptom and thought nothing of it. There was also a slight problem with the temps near the end of the incubation period that could have also caused problems.
Both geckos from the first batch were badly undersized. The yolk sack also stayed attached for three or four days making me think they may have been born too early. The first baby had missing toes, and absent eyelids. The second gecko had partial eyelids (notched on one side, rear edge of the eyelid missing. He also had a badly turned in foot, missing toes, and seemed unable to lift himself. I figured I'd need to put both down, but I wanted to at least give them a shot. I gave them both eye-drops and eye ointment three times a day. I hand fed them repta-aid every night as well.
The first died after a week or two. The second, who seemed much worse at first improved dramatically. His foot is still turned in a bit but he got stronger and was able to walk around and even run around the cage. I was able to ween him off the repta-aid by offering him chopped up meal worms although he still won't hunt unless he sees the feeding tongs. He is three or four months old now. Still very undersized, has frequent eye infections, and appears to have a slight bubble on his stomach (under the skin) where the yolk sack was attached.
His eyes seem to crust over periodically, giving him antibiotic eye ointment to clear it up and it seems to be working. My worry is that without being able to close his eyes all the way that this is going to keep happening. His front legs seem to be getting better. He isn't able to hunt right now because of his eyes so I'm hand feeding him again. At three or four months old he is about the size of the other geckos when they hatched. He is still very energetic, and also very friendly.
Has anyone dealt with a similar case? I'm wondering if there is a way to assuage the eye issues. Tried petroleum based eye ointment as well as regular eye drops, hard to tell if either helped. Is the bubble on his stomach an abdominal herniation and is there anything that can be done about it. I'm also worried about his quality of life and whether I'm doing the right thing.
My first set of babies had some very bad defects and I didn't think either would survive. The second set of eggs were laid the same week the first babies hatched. I made the agonizing decision to destroy the eggs as I strongly suspected a nutritional deficiency that wasn't corrected in time. I still feel horrible about it. I upped the supplements for the adults and I'm happy to say that the third set hatched into very healthy fat babies.
I strongly suspect that the mother had a vitamin A deficiency. She seemed very healthy and active, if a bit overweight, but I do recall seeing her strike at, and miss food by a mile a few times. At the time I didn't recognize this as a symptom and thought nothing of it. There was also a slight problem with the temps near the end of the incubation period that could have also caused problems.
Both geckos from the first batch were badly undersized. The yolk sack also stayed attached for three or four days making me think they may have been born too early. The first baby had missing toes, and absent eyelids. The second gecko had partial eyelids (notched on one side, rear edge of the eyelid missing. He also had a badly turned in foot, missing toes, and seemed unable to lift himself. I figured I'd need to put both down, but I wanted to at least give them a shot. I gave them both eye-drops and eye ointment three times a day. I hand fed them repta-aid every night as well.
The first died after a week or two. The second, who seemed much worse at first improved dramatically. His foot is still turned in a bit but he got stronger and was able to walk around and even run around the cage. I was able to ween him off the repta-aid by offering him chopped up meal worms although he still won't hunt unless he sees the feeding tongs. He is three or four months old now. Still very undersized, has frequent eye infections, and appears to have a slight bubble on his stomach (under the skin) where the yolk sack was attached.
His eyes seem to crust over periodically, giving him antibiotic eye ointment to clear it up and it seems to be working. My worry is that without being able to close his eyes all the way that this is going to keep happening. His front legs seem to be getting better. He isn't able to hunt right now because of his eyes so I'm hand feeding him again. At three or four months old he is about the size of the other geckos when they hatched. He is still very energetic, and also very friendly.
Has anyone dealt with a similar case? I'm wondering if there is a way to assuage the eye issues. Tried petroleum based eye ointment as well as regular eye drops, hard to tell if either helped. Is the bubble on his stomach an abdominal herniation and is there anything that can be done about it. I'm also worried about his quality of life and whether I'm doing the right thing.
