Re: [gecko]Sand impaction

[maleldil]

Thanks, Elizabeth,   Currently I have the gecko on a paper towel in the hatching rack. She was healthy and normal sized to begin with because she was actually produced by my breeders last year. She is close to adult size which is why I moved her to the regular enclosure. In fact aside from the bony pelvis, she is still thick and normal sized. With all the talk about calcium overdosing, I switched from dusting every feeding to leaving a calcium dish out for the geckos. I can always go back to the regular dusting.   Anyway, I will have to see how things go from here.   Mike   Hi Mike--- First I'd recommend paper towels as a substrate for these small geckos.  Was this "sick" animal healthy and normal-sized to begin with?  Are you dusting their crickets with phosphorus-free calcium with D3 at every feeding? I've experienced two rectal prolapses with a 15 gm gecko who passed very small amounts of sand several weeks after each prolapse.  Each time this necessitated trips to the nearby ER in the middle of the night and ultimately x-rays!  The vet recommended feeding only chicken baby food for awhile (which was fed by hand on the gecko's lips), using CatLax on the geckos' lips to soften any stools passed, and a tepid water soak once daily.  The gecko recovered both times and seems to be doing well now! I hope this advice is not too late for your young Agamura persica. Elizabeth Subj: [gecko]Sand impaction Date: 3/23/04 7:03:13 PM Pacific Standard Time From:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] (maleldil) Sender:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To:    [EMAIL PROTECTED] This topic comes up quite a bit and I tried to find something in the archives but no luck. While feeding my young spider geckos I found one with a "boney" pelvis. I picked her up and felt her abdomen and it has a hard mass in it. I keep them on sand. I felt the "healthy" female's abdomen to be sure and it did not have that hard lump. This "sick" female does have mass in her tail and is very energetic so I have found the impaction early. I thought it might be an egg but I know this is not likely. I put a cricket in her mouth last night as she bit me for picking her up and sure enough, it was vomited up this evening. I give her vegetable oil and I soak her in warm baths. I am just waiting for the sand to pass. My question is, what else is there that I can do for this gecko? I was thinking I should try the vet but aside from warm baths and oil or water, there isn't much left to do but surgery. Can a little 5 gram gecko be cut open by the vet so the sand can be removed? What other sorts of things do vets do to eliminate impactions? Any experiences would be good. I would like to know how vets usually handle impactions in small geckos. Thanks, Mike          l                       l                        l                 ^^  /..\              ^^  /..\  ^^           ^^  /..\  ^^        l  l   ^^              llll                      \\\          l  l                    llll                      ///        l  l                    llll                      \\\        l  l  ~~              llll                      ///   ~~  (                ~~    )   ~~         ~~   (    ~~            )                   (                            )         (                        )                       (            )                   (                            )          lappert                   robert                        hubert          15.5 yo                    r.i.p.                           r.i.p                                           (All Lepidodactylus lugubris!)