OMG! Truly sad rescue, may be too late

I just picked this guy up from a friend of a friend. I'm beyond sad right now, and furious. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? Typical story, kid gets gecko, kid tires of gecko, gecko suffers for 6 years!! :rage:
I have very little hope for him, the trip may have really done him in. He is blind in at least one eye, and I suspect the other. He weighs 33 grams, is dehydrated and has stuck shed all over the place. I got some of it off but really didn't mess with him too much, quick soak to get the major clumps of stuck sand off his butt and the big chunks of shed off his toes.
He's in his humid hide now, he's never seen one of those before. I don't have a clue when he may have eaten last, there were a lot of living and dead supers in the sand and I'm sure he could not have found them anyway.
I really don't know if all the slurry and hand feeding in the world can save him now. I'll try, God knows I will, but I am not optimistic. Poor little gecko. The pics are not pretty, view at your own risk :(

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...e_3/gecko2.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...e_3/gecko1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...e_3/gecko3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10...e_3/gecko4.jpg

AWWW:mad::mad:
I have some choice words for that kid if I met him.
I don't know alot about leos, but I would get him checked out by a vet, mainly to determine why the one eye is blind and if the other one is or not. I actually doubt the other one is blind if he is moving around. Do you know what caused the eye to go blind?
The stuck shed, lack of food, stuff like that, can be easily and quickly remedied, but I would be worried about that eye.

The eye looks infected... I would get him to the vet and get an evaluation. These guys are pretty hardy so I wish you the best and turning him around.

If he's impacted you can get him a couple drops of olive oil and sometimes it helps him pass it. I rescued a female recently who's belly was hard from sand and I gave her a couple drops of olive oil for a night or two. She ended up passing about 3 grams of sand.

Stuck shed can be removed and isn't the primary problem (that eye does not look good and a bad infection can bring an animal down fast.) I highly suggest the slurry recipe that can be found here if he is refusing to eat.

Again, good luck. It's terrible when people mistreat animals and let them get to that condition.

I don't know what's going on with the 'big eye', not sure it's infected though...no discharge or infected 'look'. It's actually very dry and hard, the film on it is much whiter than it looks in the pics, not green-ish as it appears here. I would sort of describe it as scratched plexiglass...cloudy. I think it's a result of sand and irritation, along with all his other troubles. I did moisten it with a Q-tip and rubbed it oh-so-gently, he didn't seem to mind at all. Hated it when I touched his feet though.
I will take him to the vet for sure, but not until I can get a gram or five on him. I'm going to pick up some crickets tomorrow and whip up a slurry. He licked a drop or two of water off his lips but hasn't really had a good drink yet. His poor little tongue is barely pink, he is in rough shape. He's still in his humid hide, he barely has the strength to move around.

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Originally Posted by Clementine_3

I don't know what's going on with the 'big eye', not sure it's infected though...no discharge or infected 'look'. It's actually very dry and hard, the film on it is much whiter than it looks in the pics, not green-ish as it appears here. I would sort of describe it as scratched plexiglass...cloudy. I think it's a result of sand and irritation, along with all his other troubles. I did moisten it with a Q-tip and rubbed it oh-so-gently, he didn't seem to mind at all. Hated it when I touched his feet though.
I will take him to the vet for sure, but not until I can get a gram or five on him. I'm going to pick up some crickets tomorrow and whip up a slurry. He licked a drop or two of water off his lips but hasn't really had a good drink yet. His poor little tongue is barely pink, he is in rough shape. He's still in his humid hide, he barely has the strength to move around.

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It sounds like the eye might need to be removed. If it doesn't seem to be infected then I don't think it's a bad idea to put a little weight on him before you go to the vet. Antibiotics can make him stop eating, if that is what is prescribed. It's hard to see them in that shape, I'm actually working with a male mack snow that has terrible MBD and is about 30 grams underweight.

Again, good luck, and keep us updated.

:(:( i wish u best luck and hope that he will recover... :( may god bless him..

I smushed up some supers and emptied just the guts out, added a tad of water, some calcium and some acidophiliz+ and gave him a yummy breakfast. He licked about .3 cc's. It's a start.
I'll get more 'ingredients' later today, our roads are super icy right now.
I just feel so bad for him and get so angry at the whole situation, no critter should ever be allowed to get to this point. :rage::rage::rage:

Today's update:
He's had about 2 cc's of slurry so far (since I got him). He actually tried to struggle a bit this morning when I picked him up!
I just checked on him, he came out of his humid hide at some point and had just done the tiniest poop known to man, but he passed something. It was a drop of liquid and a small bit of semi-solid, about the size of a baby mealworm. I was pleased to see that...I figure it has to count for something.
So far he is keeping his end of our deal, I told him if he keeps breathing I will do the rest. I added this morning that he had to poop too, and he did. Sort of. Neither of us is giving up just yet.

That is very very sad!

I hope he'll pull through for you, he's a tough little critter if he's made it that far!

Poor little thing, I hope he pulls through! What a trooper!

Poor fella...I feel nauseous now...the way people treat their "pets," I hope the best for him hope you provide an update later. I just recently got my leos so I'm no expert but that eye is definitely strange, could have inflammation due to an infection...silkworms can help with inflammation.

That's just horrible.. even though it's a reptile people should understand that it is still an animal and should be treated with good care. In my head it's the same thing as keeping a dog that you really wanted, stop caring for it because you got bored, and let it get to horrible conditions. All my animals are treated with care and the respect they deserve. They didn't ask to live in captivity, so I do the best I can to keep them healthy and at the weight they should be at.

Thank you all for your kinds words and insight. It's with a heavy heart that I tell you he passed away sometime last night. I only had him for 2 days but still got attached to the little guy. I don't know if I'm more upset that he didn't make it or that he was in such a condition to begin with. I'm sure it's the latter. It just makes me so mad, words can't describe it. He actually looked better in the pics I posted. You could see every bone in his body, he literally was skin and bone. He gagged a few times yesterday and refused to even try to eat last night, I knew then he had given all he had to give. He was moving around the warm side tile, he just could not get comfortable. When I picked him up this morning (knowing he was already gone) I looked at his (lack of) belly, there was a green area of pooled something, I think his liver or kidney ruptured. He was so far gone he could not even handle food (slurry, a few licks at that) or water.
I'm so angry, he did not deserve, nor should have had to endure what he did. I'll bury him later today if the ground is not too frozen.
:tears: :tears: :tears: :rage: :rage: :rage: :rage:

I am very sorry for the loss. The poor guy did not deserve to be treated that way.
I just don't understand why they didn't rehome him 6 years ago, why let him suffer?... They can't claim they didn't know he was ill ..can't say they loved him and couldn't stand to let him go... there's just no excuse to have let him get to this point...
I just don't understand how anyone with an ounce of compassion could let any living being suffer like that.

Bless you for trying.... Sorry again :(

Sorry he didn't make it, you did the best you could and that's what counts! It sickens me how some people neglect their animals, as if they were just ornaments or playthings that could be tossed aside...

I am sorry for your loss!!! This was a very sad and heart breaking story :( May God bless your heart for trying to help him!!!

Bless you for taking him on. You will undoubtedly learn much. Shoot I just read he didn't make it. That stinks but at least you tried to help him. Bless you for that. All good things in the future.

Thanks all. I buried him yesterday, I miss the little guy.
I was feeding my guys last night and got all angry and upset again, he should have been able to wolf supers down with them too. UGH. I took my smallest girl out and weighed her, she is 78 grams. He was only 33 grams. Less than half the weight he should have been. That's just despicable.
Anyway, he is not suffering any longer and is hopefully in a better place.

You did what you could and that's what matters. It was very kind of you to rescue him but unfortunetly it doesn't always work out. :( Thank you for trying.

It is so hard to see any animal in that kind of condition and it is just unacceptable..

I REALLY cannot believe they let it get this bad. SIX YEARS!!!!! Are you kidding me, thats sickening! Poor little guy deserved the best, but unfortunatley was forced into a certain death. I applaud you for trying so hard to get him back to his normal self, but sometimes its just not enough. At least now he doesn't have to suffer anymore and can be at rest.

Oh man, I just found this thread :(:(:( I am very sorry that he didn't make it! Even more sorry that he endured 6 years of abuse. I wish he could have found you sooner.

At least he may have been a bit more comfortable in the end. I am glad he is no longer in pain.

Very heartwrenching. It is beyond comprehension that this little guy was put thru this.

Thanks for doing what you can. I am sorry it was too late. :tears:

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Originally Posted by SixSnakes

Oh man, I just found this thread :(:(:( I am very sorry that he didn't make it! Even more sorry that he endured 6 years of abuse. I wish he could have found you sooner.

At least he may have been a bit more comfortable in the end. I am glad he is no longer in pain.

Very heartwrenching. It is beyond comprehension that this little guy was put thru this.

Thanks for doing what you can. I am sorry it was too late. :tears:

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x 2 :(

To be somewhat fair, even though I don't want to be, the kid did take care of him for a few years at least. He had grown properly at some level, he had no obvious MBD (and since I could see every bone it would have been obvious), he was a good length for an adult Leo and he was 6.

I actually was speaking with my friend today, I told her he had died and she was very upset. She told me that the boy's father committed suicide a year ago, so I figure that is about when the kid stopped caring for his Leo. My friend had been buying worms and crickets for it for the last few months (they weren't even TRYING to care for it...why she didn't tell me about it then is beyond me) so she assumed it was eating what she was getting it. When I told her how bad he really was and that he wasn't eating because he couldn't and hadn't for a loooong time she truly was upset. She knows nothing about Leo's or reptiles and thought she was doing a good thing by getting the worms/crickets. The problem was that he hadn't eaten in so long prior to that it was way too late.

I have no idea (or scientific proof/data) how long it takes for a healthy Leo to starve to death but am pretty sure it's about a year. Well, maybe a bit shorter than that, he probably got fed sporadically for a while and then not at all. I will never understand why they kept him and did nothing for him, never. It took a week for the mother to tell my friend to find a home for him, for her to ask me and for me to go get him...why that could not have happened eight months ago, six months ago...even two months ago is what I don't, can't and won't understand. He would have had a fighting chance. I will never understand, never.

My father did not commit suicide when I was a teenager so I can't fathom what the boy and mother were going through, but it sort of seems to me that they just should have gotten rid of the Leo at some point, before it was too late. They must have known they were killing it slowly, they must have felt guilty, it would have been a relief to have him gone...or so I would think. I can maybe, sort of, in some non-understanding way understand that maybe they really just could not do anything about him for whatever reason, but not really.

I'm so sorry to hear about the little one. :( Maybe the kid was distraught in his own loss but he could have given it away to someone who could take care of it or sell it even.

Sorry to hear he didn't make it.