Hi John,
I would get a fecal series done on the remaining geckos and offspring and see
what is going on there if anything. Ask for the crypto test, it is not part of
the normal fecal. Sometimes crypto is not detectable using fecal samples from a
live gecko. Ideally a thinning gecko should be separated and set up by itself
ASAP, I am not sure that happened here though. Sometimes they have parasites or
disease when they are healthy, and a stressor, whatever that stressor may be,
comes into the picture and bang bang bang your gex start dropping dead. A
necropsy would be worthwhile if a fecal does not yield you any significant
results. If you have a sizeable collection that is well worth the expense (can
run a couple hundred $).
Here are a couple of things I now do to decrease spread of disease and parasites:
Use fresh latex gloves or wash hands with antibacterial soap between handling
geckos.
Use fresh latex gloves when handling or touching anything in a gecko environment,
then strip them off and put on another set when going to the next environment.
Any remaining crickets in a gecko environment are disposed of and not shared with
any other geckos.
After a gecko environment is empty it is sterilized with a 10% bleach solution
for at least 20 minutes.
Any object that is used for all the geckos is cleaned with disinfectants
regularly. This includes water sprayers, cricket bins, etc. It is also a good
idea to clean door knobs and light switch panels in the gecko and food rooms.
Hope these tips help. Assume that disease and parasites can come from any source,
at any time, and you will be better off. The best advice for gecko rehab is to id
the disease and parasite, of course, and then remove all stressors possible so
the gecko has a chance to recover with proper intervention.
Julie B.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I would like to join this thread with a parallel experience involving
> Leopards and a Banded. I hope someone can offer an explanation of what might
> have caused the deaths of the lizards and suggest
>
> As a rule, the only time I handle my animals is when I clean their cages. Two
> years ago I had a 1.3 and a 1.2 colony of Leopards and a 1.1 of Bandeds; all
> of them were in my possession for at least one year. At the end of the
> summer, I decided to place the male Leopards in separate cages and to place
> the females together in one cage. I noticed that the tails on some of the
> females looked thin, but didn't think too much about it.
>
> All the geckos were kept on newspaper. I fed them dusted crickets everyother
> day ad librum and provided water daily. After several weeks, I found one
> female dead, totally emaciated. Within six weeks, all but two of the females
> died, wasting way amid an abundance of food (I also offered superworms,
> mealworms, and pinks during this time). Also, my female Banded died, seemly
> starving to death.
>
> None of the males showed any signs of starvation, nor did two of the females.
> In fact, I still have all the surviving geckos except for a male Leopard
> which I sold.
>
> I kept back one of the hatchlings from the eggs laid that season; last summer
> she seemed to evince the same sympthoms. She was kept alone and had been
> eating well. I raised the temperature in her cage and removed the hind legs
> of all the crickets I offered her. She has done well since then.
>
> Any ideas, anyone?
>
> John
>
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