# Lizards > Rhacodactylus Geckos >  Crestie rescue

## purplemuffin

My mom's friend had a gecko, but didn't take care of him right and gave him to me. He was being fed the Fluker's crested gecko diet(pellets..really?) and was in a bone dry dirty tank. His feet can't stick to anything(I'll show that in a video) and he's extremely thin. I'm going to weigh him tonight.

Pics:









I'd love some help to get him back to perfect health. I already bought repashy and have cleaned his enclosure/covered up the top. Just want to know what I can do to keep him comfortable and healthy. He looks so sad!  :Sad:

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## aldebono

I have honestly seen worse. I think he will have no problem making a full recovery!

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## DooLittle

Aww, poor skinny little guy.  He looks like he will be beautiful once in good health though.  Good luck with him.  I don't keep cresties, so I am no help.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

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## Royal Hijinx

Yeah, just get him some Repashy and maybe a dusted crick once or twice a week and he should bounce back.

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## purplemuffin

Yeah, I know he's not in the worst condition in the world(if he was extremely extremely unhealthy I would for sure be handing him off to a much more experienced crestie owner), but for such a sweet gecko it's still sad to see! I feel I can get him back on track soon enough. Already got someone who will give me some repashy until the stuff I ordered comes in. I'm hoping he'll start feeling more active soon enough.

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## EverEvolvingExotics

For the first few weeks I'd add some extra calcium into the CGD as well as spend 10-15 minutes with him in the direct sunlight.  I had a crested that came in horrible shape, within 2 months it has almost doubled in weight and looks beautiful by following these tips.  Once you notice it is eating the crested gecko diet (you see poop) I would then start offering some gut loaded heavily dusted crickets or roaches.  I would also fill your setup to the brim with fake foliage, the extra security really seems to help them recover faster.  I'd just use a tub with paper towels as substrate (so you can notice if it's pooping) and tons of foliage/climbing things.  It may not look the best but you can always change the setup once it fully recovers if you'd like and it's very affordable. 

Crested geckos are a very hardy species and yours should have no problems bouncing back.  Congrats on the new addition!

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## purplemuffin

Have been bumping the calcium and giving him some sunlight.

Unfortunately, I think it's vet time. After giving him some space for a while(stress+sick is not a very good mix, and his only problem appeared to be his weight/dehydration), I checked out his legs the other day and one seems to have a severe problem.

Here is his 'good' front leg:



Here is the weird one:



and a full body shot:




He has shed since he was in his care so his colors are looking lovely. It was a perfect shed, no stuck pieces, so I'm happy about that. He seems more alert, no longer just lays his head down 24/7, he looks around, seems to move about the cage, But he slides around on his wrists rather than his 'hands', and that's also keeping him from climbing despite having shed and gotten his stickiness back.

He actually bit me today so I know he's at least got some fire in him.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  The leg worries me greatly because three things come to mind--

The first thought I had was MBD. He had a terrible diet and obviously bad nutrition would start to affect his body. He was fed nothing but fluker's pellets sparingly for a year and a half and undusted, ungutloaded crickets. Very little calcium present there, and during an important growing stage of his life. 

The next thought was related--if he was developing MBD, he could have fallen or jumped and due to his weaker bones, fractured a leg. Could have healed weirdly and thus the weird bend/bump. 

The final worry is due to the severe dehydration. Having had dirty water when I got him and in all likelihood having had dirty water for a long period of time in their home, coupled with the gecko never being in a humid environment(no spraying, no substrate, all dry as their air conditioned home), I worry he could even have developed gout. It's a rare thing but I've seen it happen in crested geckos before, so the thought is there.

I'm mostly suspicious it's MBD, but I'm trying to think of any possibility.

So, to the vet on Monday it is.

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## EverEvolvingExotics

It never hurts to take them to the vet.  My thoughts upon seeing the picture was MBD as well.  I'm glad he seems to be improving for you, good luck and a let us know how the vet visit goes!

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## purplemuffin

Definitely will update you on what the vet says. Right now I'm trying to figure out all the questions I'm going to ask when I get there. I definitely want to check for parasites(hopefully if we get rid of any of those he will gain weight a bit faster) and I am sure we'll end up getting an xray done. Just want to make sure I have everything covered.

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## purplemuffin

Picked up a gram scale today. He's down to 16 grams now, so the vet trip couldn't come any sooner. He had taken a pretty big poop just before though, so that might have affected it somewhat. Right after being weighed he went straight to his food and gobbled a bunch up. Maybe he could sense I was upset at his weight!  :Razz: 

Vet is tomorrow. Wish us luck!

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## Cameron Lamb Exotics

poor little guy. Very adorable though. Good luck

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## mlededee

All of his limbs look very swollen which is indicative of MBD. That could definitely cause a fracture or weakened and bent bones. Either way, a vet trip is best. They should do a fecal and may give him fluids to help with dehydration and a shot of calcium. They should also give you pure liquid calcium to administer orally to help with his condition.

He is thin, but not so much so that he can't bounce back with the right diet and supplementation. With the MBD I would limit his climbing space somewhat until his calcium reserves are back up to par and his bones are strong enough to be able to handle jumping and climbing again.

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## Mike41793

How did the vet visit go??? Eager for an update on this lil guy!

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## purplemuffin

Vet visit had to be rescheduled. She had something else going on and couldn't get back to the office until wednesday. But wednesday at 2:30 is the official official time of the vet visit.

Until then she agreed, just give the gecko some sunlight and she told me to spoon feed him and make sure he gets a good amount of food. 

His weight as of today is back at 17 grams. When weighed though it seems to lean more towards him being closer to 18 grams, but that could be wishful thinking on my part. His belly is fat and happy but his body is still bony.

Anyway, have some cute pictures.

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## Mike41793

> Vet visit had to be rescheduled. She had something else going on and couldn't get back to the office until wednesday. But wednesday at 2:30 is the official official time of the vet visit.
> 
> Until then she agreed, just give the gecko some sunlight and she told me to spoon feed him and make sure he gets a good amount of food. 
> 
> His weight as of today is back at 17 grams. When weighed though it seems to lean more towards him being closer to 18 grams, but that could be wishful thinking on my part. His belly is fat and happy but his body is still bony.
> 
> Anyway, have some cute pictures.


Cool, good luck tmrw then. He looks pretty alert in the pics at least. That 3rd pic is delicious!

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## mlededee

Just aim for slow and steady with the weight gain. He's had a horrid diet for a long time, so give him time to recover. One or two grams can be the difference of one meal or going to the bathroom, but you will see more progress over time.

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## purplemuffin

Vet visit went well. First all the vet techs and assistants were ooing and awwwing over how cute he is while we waited on the vet.  :Very Happy:  They were all trying to help me name him, it was fun.

Anyway.

The vet says he's a very lucky gecko. He was very close to the point of no return in regards to his health with all the dehydration, bad diet, bad temperature, and metabolic bone disease all together and she doesn't think he would have made it had he been at that home much longer, poor guy. 

But, all the problems he does have should be able to be fixed with some TLC and proper care. She basically said to continue what I was doing--Make sure he eats a good amount every day, make sure he has the proper humidity(and an even higher humidity hidebox) and for sure keep up the sunlight/uvb. Every little bit helps.

She's very concerned that the swelling on the one leg is gout, but is praying it's just swollen from MBD, because the medication for gout has some pretty rough side effects and she doesn't want to see that on such a small animal.  So we're going to start with proper care and a little extra calcium and as he heals we will see if we need to look into it being gout.

No fractures, which is good, but it looks like he had small fractures before that healed kinda funky.


The best news to her was that his jaw, though a little swollen, is strong and working. The roughest time she ever has with animals and MBD is when it gets bad enough that the jaw..basically doesn't work anymore. Since a proper diet is important to fixing the symptoms of MBD, it's hard to get a proper diet in with an animal with a deformed jaw. Since we have none of that, that's good news.

I also have to watch out for any discharge from the nose, she didn't like how heavy he was breathing. Though he's easily spooked right now so he could have just been scared to death.


His colors look awful today, they are getting pale again, even when fired up.


Will let you know what the fecal results were when I get them.

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## mlededee

Did she give you Neo-Calglucon or any other liquid calcium supplement or how are you supplementing with calcium? This is a great product to use if the vet didn't give you something similar to use: http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/r...escue-cal.html.

Glad to hear things went pretty well otherwise. The swelling in his limbs really looks like MBD, so hopefully that is all it is and will resolve with proper diet and supplementation.

If he is really dehydrated still you can give him short soaks in a deli cup or other container with wet, warm paper towels. Just make sure he is always able to hold his head above any water--I would supervise this for now. Generally though, once you get the humidity right, mist the enclosure and keep fresh drinking water available they do not stay dehydrated for very long. Feeding the CGD as opposed to those horrid pellets will help with hydration as well. You can always give some drops of water from a dropper or syringe after feeding the CGD to help rinse everything down and get a little extra water in him if necessary. Just don't force it--let him lick it from the dropper or his nose so that you don't cause him to choke.

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## purplemuffin

She didn't give any liquid calcium because I was already using calcium dust mixed with the CGD. Just a small amount, not over loading it. 

That mix sounds perfect though, I wish I had seen it before. I would really feel good about having a premade batch of food for him to get better.

He doesn't like to get food or water on his own too often, so she suggested the same thing, using a dropper to drop a bit on his nose to have him lick it up. 

I'm actually setting him up for a soak right now. 

It's kind of a blessing and a curse that his sticky pads on his toes aren't working right now. It means he's stressed because he can't climb like he wants to, but it also means he can't fall and hurt himself!

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## Quantum Constrictors

I m glad everything is going good! Best of luck! It can be ruff but he will defiantly get better with an owner like you  :Good Job:

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## purplemuffin

Thought I'd show a before and after...but I made the newest pictures on top, my bad!  :Embarassed: 

Anyway, he's now 22-23 grams. His swelling on his wrists have gone down dramatically. He has started to eat on his own more often. 





And he's an active little dude! 

We ended up naming him Lil' Bit! And we are keeping him.

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## TerrieL

Love a happy ending   :Dancin' Banana:

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## WarriorPrincess90

Aww! He looks sooo much better.  :Smile:  Glad to hear you're keeping him. He looks very happy with you.

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## purplemuffin

:Very Happy:  I'm so happy with how he looks too! Healthy..at least healthier! He's still TINY compared to other crested geckos his age!

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## rasslinrinyu

Super cute little thing. Love the pic in front of his food! Great end to this story.

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