Need some urgent help!

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 12:44 AM

Hi everyone, I know it's late (almost 12:30 am), but my fat tail gecko (one of five that I acquired on Sunday) has taken a turn for the worse. I am unsure of what could be the problem. Her symptoms are gaping her mouth and just now she has started spastic movements where she wretches her body from side to side. This doesn't sound good and it is even worse to witness. I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on how to put her more at ease for the time being. It's almost as if she is trying to cough, but can't.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks so much,

Adam

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 01:10 AM

guess nobody can think of anything...

Thanks anyways

Have a good night

-Adam

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 01:48 AM

following that last post, I am very sad to say that my little gecko died. I will contact the vendor that I purchased her from on Sunday and hopefully things will be worked out.

Thanks,

Adam

NewLineReptile · 11-26-03, 02:01 AM

Sorry that no one helped you out man. That sad new's I could not help you even if i tried. Don't know much about geckos. Hope things work out for you with the Vendor.

Brandon

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 02:30 AM

Thank you for replying. I guess it was too late by the time I had posted to do her any good anyhow. However, I'm shocked at how fast her symptoms got worse. I've never seen anything like that before. Yesterday she was just occasionally gaping her mouth, this morning she's dead. I don't know what to make of it. I hope to find out though.

Thanks again for your support,

Adam

Dani33 · 11-26-03, 02:52 AM

I am soo soryy to hear about her passing. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been able to help either. If I were you, I would keep a sharp eye on the others just in case. Best of luck with the vendor. Keep us posted if you find out what happened to her.

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 01:07 PM

Thanks Dani! Well, I have contacted the vendor and they are so awesome. I'm going to go into the store this Friday and we'll work something out. I will keep the body of the gecko to see if I can determine what the cause of death was.

-Adam

drewlowe · 11-26-03, 01:17 PM

Sorry for your loss. I know this sounds way silly and i'm probly way off but i'm going to give this a shot cause it's the only thing i can think of right now. Did your AFT eat a lightning bug??? The symptoms you decribed and how fast it hit sounds almost what happens to a bearded dragon after they eat just one lightning bug. I in no way know what happend to your gecko or the cause just trying to throw something else out there. cause i've never heard of a parasite or defincency that acts that quick.

So you know if your wanting a necropsy done you must keep your gecko in the freezer and it can't go pass 3 days.

mark129er · 11-26-03, 01:21 PM

Sorry for your loss, I hope you can work tings out with the vendor.

11-26-03, 01:25 PM

to me it sounds like a possible toxin in housing unless all others were housed with it. Regardless seems to symtom of a toxic reaction. not a liz person myself

silent_truth · 11-26-03, 01:31 PM

Although the top of the enclosure is metal wire space far enough apart for a bug to get in, I think it's unlikely that she ate a lightening bug as I only had her one day before she started with these symptoms and my bedroom door had been closed that entire day. But thanks for the suggestion! I will look out for those bugs in the future!

To reverendsterlin: She was housed with another gecko and that one is still healthy and acting like normal. I inspected the enclosure and nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. I don't use any toxic cleaners on my enclosures but that is an interesting point and I will keep that in mind for the future.

Thanks for the support and suggestions everyone!

Best wishes,

Adam

Dark_Angel_25 · 11-26-03, 04:03 PM

sounds like she was probably sick when you bought her and maybe there were no symptoms, still it is scary that it happened all in one shot like that

sorry for your loss...

Siretsap · 11-26-03, 04:09 PM

We went through the same thing with one of our leopard babies.
And since we are curious and both did some studies in biology, we decided to dissect the little girl. And to our amazement, she had eaten 7 crickets of a pretty good size. It caused an impaction in her stomach and she died of this. It could explain the twitching from side to side, geckos tend to push their food down this way. Gasping for air could be because the prey was stuck in the "traché" in french which is the tube that leads to the stomach. It is always important to give the appropriate size of food items and to make sure they don't eat too many at a time. it's better to feed it twice a day a few crickets than a whole bunch at a time. Geckos are piggies...

This could be a possibility as it could be many other things like reaction to chemicals or ulcers in the mouth or repiratory system.