I've only rarely seen symptoms anything like what you describe. One involved a gecko that had Cestodes which were missed on initial fecals. One explanation I received was that this could have resulted in a B12 deficiency that causes the neurological symptoms. The animal did recover with a lot of work, B12 supplements and hand feeding. After several months it went in decline again and did not recover.
I have seen less severe, but similar problems with a rescued leopard gecko. When I got it, it was a little larger in diameter than a pencil and suffered from MBD (walked on bent forelegs instead of feet). It did recover surprisingly well. After several years it lost condition and seemed to have trouble seeing and would sometimes stare at the sky instead of the food dropped in front of it. After several months it passed away.
Considering generations of leopards have been raised on primarily mealworm diets, I'd be surprised if your gecko got sick from something you're doing with the diet. What type of supplements do you use and how often?
Neil
If anyone can shed light on what these necropsy findings might mean, and how to keep this from happening to my other geckoes, I would appreciate any input, suggestions, and even speculations.� Quick history: My leopard gecko was recently euthanized due to long-standing neurological disease. I had her for just over a year, and her original symptoms started within two weeks after I got her from a pet store (June 2002)-head tilt, stargazing, inability to accurately strike prey, progressing to anorexia and inability to move. She was treated with Baytril, Ivermectin, a steroid, fluids, and recovered almost fully over a period of weeks. Inability to strike prey persisted, and slight head tilt and stargazing still occurred very occasionally, but appetite and activity level were excellent and she became fat (having become very thin during first illness) with hand-feeding of crickets. Anorexia returned approximately late April 2003. I thought it might just be a seasonal decrease in appetite since she did not lose weight, but within a month severe neurological symptoms returned starting with stargazing, progressing to incessant circling, falling over, tremors and tics, and apparent extreme distress, finally ending with very little movement. Treatment was initiated upon return of neurological symptoms, same regimen as in previous illness, with the addition of vitamin B injections. There was no improvement, only a steady decline and gecko was euthanized. Necropsy results were that the brain tissue was normal, which goes against all of the speculations my veterinarian had during the course of the illness (bacteria, virus, protozoa, tumor, etc. as possible causes). The only abnormal finding was severe liver damage, with the liver being infiltrated with fatty tissue, "diffuse and severe hepatic lipidosis." This was not part of anything discussed during treatment, so I am surprised and puzzled. My vet suggested that the buildup of poisons in her system due to impaired liver function could cause the neurological symptoms.
The veterinary pathologist was at a loss to explain his findings: "I have no idea what to do with this lesion in this species: is it a reflection of a terrible metabolic disease, or is it a completely nonspecific reflection only of a sick gecko? I see fatty liver frequently in specimens sent to me from various reptiles and amphibians, and I have the same difficulty in almost all cases!"
I feel as though I have done the "right thing" and ordered a necropsy to try to explain and learn from the death of my gecko, but that veterinary science seems very much in the dark when it comes to these relatively new "pet" species. I found mention of fatty livers in lizards autopsied in a German study, in the GGA archives (October 2002) posted by Magnus Forsberg, with the suggestion that too much food or an unvaried diet could possibly cause this condition. I could not find a citation, so any help on tracking down this article or other information on this subject would be appreciated.
The questions I have and have not yet gotten a satisfactory answer to are these: what could have caused the liver problem? Was is present during the first illness, and if so, how did she get "better"? And if not, did something I did, or her original treatment, cause it? I realize that attempting to answer these questions is to engage in speculation, but would appreciate thoughts on this nonetheless since it may be a more common problem in captive herps than has been realized. More practically, I especially would like any information regarding husbandry practices that can help me avoid this problem with my remaining geckos (African fat tails) in the future. Thank you, Denise Wales
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