Sick hatchling

[greenhousegecko]

Hi everyone. I have a hatchling that was born August 22, making her a little over 2 months old. In the past month I have watched a slow decline instead of continued development. At first, I didn't notice anything, but than some things became apparently wrong. She is a good length for her age and used to have a nice plump tail, but has lost a good deal of the fat storage in her tail. The first big thing I noticed was that she never held herself up. I thought it might have been her living arrangements, so I separated her. However I have seen no improvement. I now see how weak her upper limbs are, they appear to have no muscle tone. In the past week I have noticed that her body, below the ribs, appears lopsided. Since she was freshly hatched she has never shed well and often requires my assistance, especially with her hands, feet, and face. When she walks/crawls it appears as though her toes just flop along. Her little claws are useless, they don’t hold onto anything. I have recently made the decision to force feed her because I have not seen her regain her appetite even when given treats. So I have been able to get her to eat two mini meal worms and a wax worm for the past few nights (dipped in calcium powder).

Let me stress that I have been making adjustments this entire time (2 months) to accommodate her if I noticed anything. It has just been in the past week or so that all of these things have been exaggerated.

I am coming to this forum for your help, asking if anyone has seen situations like this before, and how they were able to help. I know that questions like this can bring snappy responses; I am looking for help not snide remarks.
Thank you ever so kindly in advance for your help with this situation.

 

[greenhousegecko]

Ok i realized I forgot some info.
I do maintain housing that follows all guide lines of proper leo husbandry. From glancing at some other similar threads, it appears as though I am most likely dealing with MBD, which is what I feared.

I keep all of my geckos on a steady diet of meal worms, but supliment every week with crickets, pheonix, or silk worms. And every couple of months I order the beloved wax worms as a treat. So she has a great variety of food and also has access to calcium powder.

I think I will continue making sure she is eating something daily with calcium powder, leave some availble at all times, and monitor. It sounds like the out look is good as long as it is caught early.

Thank you for any additional suggestions you may have!

 

[acpart]

Some geckos do not absorb calcium normally due to a metabolic problem, which would obviously result in MBD symptoms. Others, because they are picky eaters, may be missing out on their calcium. I actually have a hatchling (which will be put up for adoption on the forums soon) that has a crooked spine, though not any other MBD symptoms, and I'm suspecting a calcium issue. I believe you can get liquid calcium to feed it. Another suggestion, which I use with my "hunchback" is to dip your finger in water, then dip it in the calcium with D3 supplement and to rub some on the gecko's mouth so it licks it up. If you do this every day, it should be getting a reasonable amount of calcium. If it doesn't get any better, it may be a metabolic problem and there may be nothing you can do for it.

Aliza

 

[greenhousegecko]

Aliza thank you for your support. Unfortunatly when I went to feed her today her shoulder appeared to be completely dislocated. The whole arm was laying on the floor. It nearly made me hurl. The poor thing has also been fighting and eye infection from her last shed. I decided that I could not watch her progress any further.

I have done a bit of research and found that the issue may have started before she hatched. My momma was way to young to become pregnant, it was by complete accident. So it could have been that she did not provide her eggs the nutrients that they needed. I have had 3 hatchlings: this one, one that's eye lid wasn't formed completely, and a third which looks to have a short nose. Needless to say I will not be breeding my Selene next year. She is a pet.

Thank you again.

 

[acpart]

I'm sorry things turned out that way. It sounds like you're making the right decision about how to proceed. I have also had to let some "go" that just couldn't develop properly.

Aliza

 

[houseape57]

Oh how sad for you, sounds like you did all you could. I am so sorry for you.

 

[puyopop]

hi please dont use plain calcium powder. it wont be of any use if the gecko cannot absorb it.

instead use Calcium powder with added vitamins and D3. for example Nutrobal.

i hope this helps.

 

[Samantha]

some times we do all we can and they just dont make it its hard but its life and life is hard