Leopard Gecko Illness

Although geckos are basically amazingly clean reptiles, which is actually an important factor that keeps them healthy, it is best if you recognize some common illnesses that might infect your gecko for some reason.

Here is the list of infections that may occur to your gecko:

#1 - Gastroenteritis or diarrhea is an infection of the gastro-intestinal tract due to unhygienic environment. It is indicated by watery stool with or without blood. You can also find undigested insect debris. Your gecko may experience weight loss and a skinny tail due to dehydration. If not quickly treated it could possibly die.

#2 - Coccidiasis is also a gastrointestinal disorder caused by protozoan parasites. It affects the lining of the intestine. This is a contagious disease that could spread to other geckos. The symptoms are similar to the above and when not promptly treated your gecko get dehydrated, stop eating, it will move very slow and get anorexic

#3 - Metabolic Bone Disorder or MBD which is caused by calcium and Vitamin D3 deficiency. This is due to wrong feeding of foods that lacks those mineral and vitamin. Those elements are essential in the formation of bones and eggshells. The sign and symptoms include spongy bones, spine and limb deformity, tremor and loss of appetite. Recovery is considered very slow and very difficult.

#4 - Anorexia or loss of appetite can be caused by a lot of factors that may include stress, unhygienic condition, nutritional deficiency and some other illness. Your leopard gecko will look very skinny especially the tail which is usually very thick. It becomes weak and moves very slow. In severe cases, your gecko will stop eating and finally die.

#5 - Dysecdysis is a shedding problem due to several factors such us malnutrition, improper care and lack of humidity. Incomplete shed skin may show like dry patches on the head, surround the eyes, limbs and tail. In such condition could develop eye problem, walking complication due to a remarkable tighten skin bands around the limbs. Untreated condition will trigger serious infection.

#6 - Dystocia or egg-binding is a condition where a female gecko is not able to push out her eggs. This may be caused by a too big eggs, nutritional factors, sick and weak female or other factors. A female with dystocia will usually stop eating and get weak and exhausted.

#7 - Pneumonia is a severe bacterial infection in the lung. The cause could be too cool of an environment with high humidity. The sign is the appearance of mucus bubbles in their nostrils with some degree of breathing difficulty. This condition can be restored by increasing the temperature to a warmer condition

#8 - Cryptosporidiosis or 'crypto' is a highly infectious and fatal disease. The failure to identify this disease in its early stage may lead to the death of your gecko. Even though a clear diagnosis is hard to be made, some symptoms can be recognized which include spots of food regurgitation and watery stool in your gecko cage. Your gecko is showing an extremely thin body and tail. It is very hard to cure this disease and usually ends up with killing the gecko.

#9 - Stomatitis, sand impactions and prolapse could happen occasionally when your gecko for some reason ingest sand or other kind of substrate.

The key to prevent the above unpleasant conditions is keep your clean gecko environment clean, which includes you and your entire family who should possess a mind of cleanliness to be applied for you and your gecko