New project - 3 leopard geckos with severe MBD...

[purpleperson]

That's great news! I'm really glad to hear good for him!


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[Sweet Pea]

Good news!

I hope your blood pressure stabilizes and you are better soon.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

That is awesome news! I hope you feel better sweetie. Blood pressure issues are awful. High swings or low? Mine are always low.

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[landlubber]

I hadn't seen you as active recently so I wondered if your symptoms were bothersome at the moment. I'm sorry to hear they are, but your safety is the most important thing-so stay safe, no falls!

You have certainly worked wonders with this little survivor! So glad to see him doing so much better.

[rainbow_crab]

I'm glad his shed went smoothly this time! I hope you feel better, keep up the amazing work!

[wodesorel]

He's being a little weird about eating. The crickets have grown a little bigger and he's eating less now. I think it's probably the same mass of crickets, but since they're not as small it doesn't take as many to fill him up. I've also started leaving a few half-dead ones in for him to start nosing around so he can eat on his own. He doesn't always take them, only about half the time, but it needs to be part of his recovery and they are disappearing.

I had a nice discussion with the reptile rescue today when we picked up the tanks for the crabitat build. Since it's been a month, he's basically out of the woods - I shouldn't have worried about him dropping dead like the others did. As I expected to hear, what will end up killing him will be side effects of the year-long lack of proper care, but whether that's a year from now or a decade from now remains to be seen.

All we have left to do is to keep his nutrition up to get him back to healthier weight, and see if/how his legs continue to improve. It'll be at least a couple more months before we'll know for sure how his legs are doing. I'm being told that he can stay on the metacam indefinitely (like with dogs for arthritis), so even if his legs don't continue to recover he can live a pain-free life.

I'm optimistic. Although the big question will be if he ever improves enough to where he can catch his own food and feed himself without me needing to maim it for him first. He does seem to be getting a stronger bite, but I don't see him being able to run down intact crickets.

However, he tried to climb up on his hide tonight!








(He was focusing on me and not his food, so I had to take a picture instead!)

[jclee]

I am both thrilled and impressed that he's eating maimed crickets on his own.
Hooray!

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Yay!

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[rainbow_crab]

Awesome! It's great he is eating so well, even if he has cut back a little due to the crickets size. To bad you can't do mealworms, they are much slower and might be easier for him when he would be able to eat on his own. But I know the allergies issue so darn.

[wodesorel]

I have a small mealworm colony I keep in the basement, mostly for Bennet so that I can raise her to not be picky and in case I get in any rescues that need them. The Kid won't touch them. All he has ever been fed is plain crickets, and that is all he recognizes as food right now. If it doesn't smell or taste right (ie, dusted) he spits it out. I figure once he's trying to hunt on his own and can kill by biting, I'll force the issue a bit more. He won't even take waxworms, which are insanely addictive for most geckos.

[Sweet Pea]

[rainbow_crab]

I understand. Some are picky eaters and when they are used to something it can be hard to get them to eat it. I've been lucky with the ladies by switching up there food consistently, since they were little I've been switching it up.

[wodesorel]

Weekly update to say he's still doing great! We're talking with the vet to get him more syringes and pain meds since things are starting to run low, and I had a syringe blow-out and lost a month's worth of his meds. (It wasn't a major loss - he needs so little it was about a $1's worth. But it's a controlled substance so it can only come from a vet.) I'm hoping that we won't have to transport him to a visit for refills.



I'm also on the lookout for a really cheap front-opening tank in our area for him. Since he may need to be permanently hand-fed, it'll make it easier on both him and me to have a tank that has doors in the front. I'd like to find something that is at least a 20 gallon (2 feet long) equivalent, as he'll need to be as mobile as possible once his bones fuse in order to stay healthy long term. If anyone sees any super sales online, could you please let me know? I'm hoping to find one used, but they're so popular that I doubt it. Really don't have much to spend, but I figure can always sell off some smaller spare tanks to make up the difference, or maybe even trade for one.

[wodesorel]

Small set-back in the last few days. Shedding and I think some constipation have tired him out a bit, and he's not been wanting to eat. We also had some major temperature fluctuations in that room due to the sudden cold snap here in Ohio. I'm not sure what happened with our thermostat, but the temp jumped 10 degrees upstairs, so he got a little overheated.

Started him today on a very weak CarniCare mixture with a drop of mineral oil and his liquid calcium (which has sugar in it) to see if we can get things moving again and give him a boost so he'll want to eat on his own. I could have probably waited a few more days to see if he'd have bounced back, but I don't really want to take any chances of him loosing weight or going backwards in his recovery. He took it well and was perky afterwards. Hoping he'll be up to having a normal dinner late tonight.

[purpleperson]

Hopefully he bounces back quickly


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