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

[landlubber]

He is just so darling! It's so great to see him doing so well!

[Sweet Pea]

It looks like he's smiling. Gotta love that healthy tail.

What would you say is his prognosis at this point? Is he still getting pain killers? Does he have any improvement in his front legs or will they stay the way they are? Sorry for all the questions. The Kid just has me fascinated.

[JulesRolyCrab]

This is so great! Sorry, don't know much about leopard geckos, are they more solitary?

[wodesorel]

What would you say is his prognosis at this point? Is he still getting pain killers? Does he have any improvement in his front legs or will they stay the way they are? Sorry for all the questions. The Kid just has me fascinated.

It'll be four months tomorrow - it should be around 6 months before the bones recalcify and the fractures heal completely. At that point we'll know for sure what his long term prognosis is as he could potentially (though unlikely) continue to improve until them.

We stopped the pain killer maybe a month ago (?) when he showed signs of severe light sensitivity. His eyes would overreact to light and constrict to the point of blindness. It's a known side effect of opioids. He was doing so okay without them that there was no need to start them back up again.

It's doubtful his front legs will ever be weight bearing again. They've been healing at completely the wrong angles to allow him to put pressure on them. However, he could surprise all of us later this year once they heal up and he tries new things. He wants to use them, but they're a little flippery still. There was sadly no way to splint them with the state his bones were in - had we done so the leg bones would have shattered on either end of the splint or cast. So long as he's mobile and seemingly not in pain there would be no good reason to attempt to reset them, as there are serious risks to that.

The great news is that they've stayed a healthy pale pink through the last few sheds - no more swelling or bruising! It was so weird to watch them go from purple to normal this far into his recovery.

He fascinates me every day. MBD is common, but severe broken bones like he had are very rare in leopard geckos. I still haven't found another case quite like him. I'm trying to document as much as I can of his comeback as possible.

The weird thing is that looking back on the photos of when I got him, he doesn't look all that different. Weight and hydration have improved tremendously as has his bone hardness and overall health (which can't be seen), but he's still broken and squirrely. He still does the corkscrew tail occasionally.

This is so great! Sorry, don't know much about leopard geckos, are they more solitary?

It's safer. Males cannot be housed with other males or they'll harm or kill each other over territory. (That's how I know that The Kid is around 17 to 18 months old, he was housed with two other juvenile males and they were all so sick by the time they hit maturity they couldn't hurt each other.) Some females can be housed together in pairs or groups, but they need to be watched for signs of fighting or of ones being stressed or not getting meals. Breeders often will house one male with multiple females (spreads the male's harassment around) but that holds the same risks as housing just females, moreso as the males can cause major damage to smaller females. Groups can work, but it really comes down to the individuals. They are happy being alone. You might see videos or pictures of them "cuddling", but in almost all cases that's them showing dominance over key areas in the enclosure and not a sign of them enjoying the company of one another.

[Sweet Pea]

Thanks for the information. I sure hope he continues to do well.

[JulesRolyCrab]

Thanks for the info, I totally did not immediately look up leopard geckos cuddling..... I never thought I would call a reptile "cute", but this thread has changed that.