Leo rescue, mostly confirmation on what I'm doing

[LotusCorvus]

Ok, first, the terrible cell-phone pics:





Major malnutrition and MBD, and whatever's going on with his clouded eye. Am I right so far?

When I picked him up he was on sand with no hides, no calcium dish, and a dish full of freeze-dried "leopard gecko food", and the guy who had him would feed this leo 2 superworms twice a day. Dude was trying, but... dear gods.

Gecko dude is currently in a pretty sparse cage with a quick make-shift humid hide. I've given him a small dish of phoenix worms to see if he'll eat them, and I've got crickets that I'll try feeding him in the morning once they've had a chance to eat up their gut-load goo.

Is there anything else I can do for him? I've never had a leo before, just snakes and cresties. I've been looking through the posts for similar situations, but it's taking a bit of digging. I also kind of just wanted to show him off. Despite his awful condition he's a very pretty boy, cloudy eye and all.

Thank you!

[iCandiBallPythons]

Cloudy eye Im pretty sure is an eye infection and can be due to a vitamin A defficiency. I see a vet

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[LotusCorvus]

I was thinking that, it doesn't seem to be puffy, but its still definitely a possibility. Eesh, he'll be #3 on the vet-trip list though, got an ATB we're setting up an appointment for now, she's got a bad RI and is drooling, and then I've got an adult female columbian who's also wheezing a bit. I don't know how great his chances are anyways, but if he makes it long enough to see a vet, I'll take him in.

He is showing interest in food at least, although his eye trouble is throwing off his aim. I've got him in a little critter keeper right now with his crickets so he's got a better shot of catching them.

*The snakes are both rescues, from the same place this leo was at.

[nachash]

I agree that a vet would be a wise. Now the feasibility of that may depend on your circumstances.

But I think giving it a BIT more heat, a good humid hide would be a good step. My leo's humid hide is made out of one of the notecard holders. I split the lid from the bottom and cut a line in the lid so it could fit into the bottom. Then I cut a 2"X2" hole in the bottom. I line it with paper towels that I keep damp and change about once a week. Other great containers are those gladwear tupperware things. Also maybe start giving him a few waxworms and slowly seeing if he can take on weight.

The problem with malnutrition in any organism is that if you give them even the recommended amount of vitamins and nutrients, that can cause shock and chemical instability in the animal. They need to be gradually given precise amounts to get them back to stellar condition. That's something you can only trust to an experienced herp vet. I do think it's good of you to do what you can for the little guy.

[LotusCorvus]

I agree that a vet would be a wise. Now the feasibility of that may depend on your circumstances.

But I think giving it a BIT more heat, a good humid hide would be a good step. My leo's humid hide is made out of one of the notecard holders. I split the lid from the bottom and cut a line in the lid so it could fit into the bottom. Then I cut a 2"X2" hole in the bottom. I line it with paper towels that I keep damp and change about once a week. Other great containers are those gladwear tupperware things. Also maybe start giving him a few waxworms and slowly seeing if he can take on weight.

The problem with malnutrition in any organism is that if you give them even the recommended amount of vitamins and nutrients, that can cause shock and chemical instability in the animal. They need to be gradually given precise amounts to get them back to stellar condition. That's something you can only trust to an experienced herp vet. I do think it's good of you to do what you can for the little guy.

I had to set him up kind of quickly, so I'm still tweaking his levels. I'll keep his heat up. Right now my biggest problem is getting his humidity under control. Putting together a better humid hide should help that though, I think. It really is so hard not to give him too much food. I've got a variety for him though, and I'll work him up slowly. He's definitely more active today. He's still weak so he has to rest a lot, but he's already stopped tolerating my hand being anywhere near him, which I'm taking as a good sign xD

[iCandiBallPythons]

Hope he pulls through for you!Keep us updated

[LotusCorvus]

Well so far, so good! He's been eating regularly, and when I got home from work he was napping up at the front of his tank which I took as a sign for "feed me!" since he's never up there. I gave him some more phoenix worms (which he'd been eating regularly with me since I got him), and he immediately perked up and started ferociously hunting them xD He still wears himself out pretty quickly, but there definitely seems to be improvement. Here's hoping this is a continuing trend. He's almost out of phoenix worms (man those things don't have much of a lifespan, more dead than eaten), but I've got him some mealworms to move onto next. It looks like he's been getting into his calcium dish too, which I'm happy about. I know its only been a few days but I swear his toes already took better.

and I've got a question- is there anything I can use for him as a staple diet that isn't crickets? I have no problem with worms but crickets just gross me out for some reason. I'll use them if I have to, and since he's still weak their level of squishability seems like a bonus, but I dont live too far from a big regular animal show so I could get him just about anything.

[LotusCorvus]

Wow, this guy is ravenous, lol. He's also learned how to beg for food. I'm afraid of feeding him too much too soon, but he goes absolutely crazy over any food I give him, and is always acting hungry no matter how much he just ate. So glad the Scott Smith expo is this weekend, my local shop has a good variety but not much in the way of quantity. His legs are beginning to look at least a teensy bit less skeletal and he's got loads more energy than he did at first. His eye is also no longer cloudy white. Its still definitely not a normal healthy eye, but I'm excited to see any improvement there, considering all I've done for him so far is improve his habitat and diet.

[cmack91]

Sounds like everything is going good so far. I had a leo surrendered to me this last september in similar shape. I've only been feeding her mealworms with calcium and vitamin supplements. I had to start her off slow with only 5-6 medium mealworms a day, poor girl was so weak I had to put the worms in her mouth the first day. After a week I bumped her up to 10 a day and by that time she was taking them on her own. 10 or so days later I bumped her to 10 large worms a day and she's been on 10-15 a day since then. I suggest mealworms over crickets, they live longer, smell WAY less, and my leo has never been able to catch crickets.

Here's a pic the day i got her, she weighed 23g:


And here she is at about 60g:


And here's her weight records if your interested:
9/15/2012-23g
11/15/2012-40g
12/31/2012-60g
1/31/2013-64g (this is when her colors finally came in)
2/28/2013-76g (i've put her on a diet since then)
3/26/2013-72g

Just dont give up, the first 4-6 weeks with mine were really slow going and then she started exploding. It's been about 6 months and i've had to put her on a diet lol. I'm trying to get her back down in the low 60's, she's too fat now lol.

[LotusCorvus]

Oh wow, look at the lil chubber xD Thats awesome, I'm glad she's doing so well with you. I'm definitely excited about this dude's progress (and this is one of the first herps I've brought home that the fiancee has shown real interest in, haha, so now I have to make sure I do the best I can with him. I may have finally found the critter to get her to join me in my obsession xP). I also can't wait for him to start coloring up, he's apparently a Mack Snow Tremper Albino, according to his previous momma. His baby pictures are pretty stunning.