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My poor leo

ok i took my leopard gecko to the vet the otherday and after an x-ray was taken it appears her stomach is swolen. we believe it may be a partial obstruction and he advised me to give her mineral oil twice a day(.1cc) The obstruction is likely due to calci-sand, which by the way is not digestable like they say. i was wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if there is anything else i should do. I would like this to pass natrually so if anyone else has any other ideas please let me know.

Thanks,
Ktulu
 
try letting it swim around in some warm water. i wouldn't feed it for awhile.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Mar. 14 2005,1:06)]try letting it swim around in some warm water. i wouldn't feed it for awhile.
hahaha, yeah i tried the warm water once, turns out leopard geckos will attempt to fly, you would be suprised how high a leo can jump. As for the feeding it is nto a complete blockage and some stuff does pass through so i think having her not eat is worse than haveing her eat a little, though i have considerably cut back what she gets.
 
My mom used to have a leo, and the same thing happened.. unfortunately, the fact that the leo had a massive intestinal impact wasn't acknowledged until too late, and he died. He was a weak hatchling from the start, so he couldn't hunt his crickets, so he resorted to staying in his cave all the time and actually eating the sand for weeks.

I would say the only thing you CAN do is use the mineral oil and try this... I know you said she hates the water, but it seems like it would help alot right now. Fill a container with about an inch or so of lukewarm water and hold her in there if you have to, with her head above the water, and I'm thinking that maybe making sure her feet touch the bottom would make her a little more comfortable, and if not, she'll get used to it eventually. Let her sit in there for a few minutes (I don't remember the exact amount of time you should do this, because it's been a while since I did it, but try about 10 minutes), then take her out, dry her off, and massage her belly with your fingers for a little while. This should help to loosen up her tract and may help her pass the sand.

Good luck, and keep us posted!!

P.S. I'm going to add a warning against calci-sand in my caresheet, since apprently this is happening alot with calci-sand.
 
Calci-Sand is only digestable by adults with the natural bacterias in their system which most lack in captivity. They conveniently don't make that clear cause otherwise you'd have to buy another product (something baccillus) I always used a mix of large gravel and coco chunk (small - 1/4" peices) they are alot less likely to accidentally or intentionally swallow this.

Joe
 
I use English crushed walnut shell, which is labeled for birds usually, but my leo never swallows it, because apparently it's real bitter... he spends as long as he needs to to spit out every particle of that stuff if he gets it in his mouth. It's funny. Well, at least he's not gonna swallow it!
 
I've used it before and noticed the same thing I was just concerned that it was still small enough to be swallowed.

Joe
 
I never had this problem when I kept and bred Leopard Geckos.
Mine ate the sand but never got any blockage. Usually they eat the sand when trying to get minerals that they are lacking from there diet, usually calcium. I placed a bowl of reptical in my tanks and the Leopard Geckos would eat the powder out of the bowl. There was also some kind of calcium / vitamin liquid I used to mix in there water bowl as well.
 
What about gut loading the crickets before offering them. Perhaps this might help with any nutritional deficiencies that would prompt her to try to eat the calci-sand. Just a thought.
 
  • #10
I give mine's crickets and mealworms Omega One fish food flakes... same stuff I give my fish.
 
  • #11
First let me say thanks for the information, now it appears that she has passed the blockage as she is eating now, well till she developed a sore on her mouth but that is healing well. Her stomach is no longer swollen and she is much more active, the mineral oil works. Just a side note on the english walnut shell when i asked the vet about that he told me that they had just had to euthenise one who had eaten and when they gave it the mineral oil the blockage caused the intestines(i believe, could have been something else) to rupture and there was nothing they could do for it so i would recommend nothing smaller than their head, basicly if they can fit it in their mouth it is too small. i do have a dish of calcium in the cage i believe she ingested it when other people would drop mealworms from the top of the cage onto the sand instead of putting them in the dish like i did, so also if you use sand make sure no one is putting food on the sand because the gecko doesnt know any better.
 
  • #12
Wow, because my gecko eats his food from any random place, and he's never ingested the sand.. that's weird.

Well, it's great news that she's doing better!
 
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