MBD Prognosis

[Alyssamk]

Hello,

Apologies in advance for the long post. My brother has recently relinquished his 2 year old Leopard Gecko to my care. Unfortunately by the time I got this gecko, he already had signs of a moderate case of metabolic bone disease. His hind limbs are deformed and he drags them slightly, his spine is curved and he has trouble lifting himself up and mostly walks on his elbows. His radiographs showed evidence of loss of bone density. The veterinarians I work for recommend starting him on oral calcium supplementation, adding a UVB light and feeding him carnivore care orally when he doesn’t want to eat. Personally I think he is already showing improvement with his strength and energy with just a week of nursing care. He can now get his hind feet underneath them vs dragging them. My big question is - does anyone have experience with recouping a gecko with a moderate case of MBD? Has anyone treated a gecko with MBD and seen them have a good quality of life?

 

[acpart]

My closest experience was buying a juvenile leopard from a fellow vendor at a reptile expo. Once I got the gecko home I could see that it had at least a mild case of MBD, with bowed joints. I didn't do anything drastic, just started the supplementation regime (and may have hand-fed some supplement/water paste a few times). That was about 5 years ago. This gecko had one successful breeding season with me before I stopped breeding and you would never know it had MBD at this point. This was, of course, a juvenile, who probably weighed around 15 grams when I got her. I think it's worth a try to rehabilitate your gecko, especially given the progress that you report.

Aliza