# My leopard gecko died...=( (Warning: photo)



## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

Hey all.
Some point in the last few hours, my leopard gecko, Zilly died. I was just going in to feed her, and found her curled up in her hide, seemingly asleep. Normally she'd get up to investigate the viv opening/to see if it's food, and she didn't so I checked on her and she was stiff and unmoving =(.
I don't know what it was, she ate 2-3 days ago, and nothing seemed amiss, she was in the same conditions she's been in for the last five years (the time that I've had her). She was only 5-6 ; :'(
She _was_ a rescue, the person who had her as a hatchling had neglected her and her feeding response had always been a bit iffy, but I don't know...I'm just hoping it wasn't something I did, or something that could spread to my other animals. I don't have any other leopard geckos, or even lizards, but I have three snakes, and I heard some diseases can transfer between different reptiles.
She had black discolourations, bruise like on her underside. I can't say for certain how long they'd been there, it's been weeks since I've actually looked at her underside. Here's a photo
https://41.media.tumblr.com/8e070a87962bfdd57f6e6bd200b9877a/tumblr_nlp8zuU09q1qidatro1_1280.jpg

I know the brown bit looks like a burn, but I severely doubt it was, she was heated by an overhead light source and had been in the same setup for five years, there was nothing that could have burned her. I'm thinking it was internal bleeding caused by...something. But just wondering, I am planning on disinfecting the viv, but do you think I should get my other animals checked out? I'm in a bit of a...situation financially, as in I'm unemployed and poor at the moment, so I'd have to borrow off of friends if I were to =/. I can't afford a post-mortem either, hence why I'm wanting the opinions of people here.
She hadn't been losing weight or being inactive or anything. She even shed her skin perfectly only two days ago, though she did leave a bit piece of it uneaten, but she did occasionally do that in the past so I didn't think much of it.
I've got a photo here of the underside, in case anyone had seen anything like it? Google said it might have been impaction, but I know it wasn't since she was on lino. She'd been on mealworms as her staple, with occasional waxworms and locusts, though she was always really fussy with food, and would always refuse crickets. 
I'm sorry, I know I'm not exactly articulating all of this well. This happened some point in the last few hours and I'm not exactly handling it well =(.


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## RandSReptiles (Mar 20, 2014)

I'm really sorry for your loss buddy 

was it self adhesive lino? because they can release fumes when they get heated which slowly kills them.

where the floor temps right? did you not use a UTH?


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

sorry for your loss  unfortunately animals which are neglected early on, do tend to have shorter life spans...sounds like she died fairly peacefully in her sleep at least

the discoloration looks to me to be the start of the body decomposing, which tends to happen fairly quickly, especially if the animal dies while over/under a heat source


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## Janos (Oct 26, 2009)

Thank you. And self-adhesive lino can do that? It was  I think that might have been it > . <. I mean, she'd been living on it for five years.. 
And ahh, it might just be decomposition then, since she was under her warm hide when I found her, and she'd been dead for at least 2-3 hours when I found her (she wasn't there when I looked in before then).


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## Fizz (Jan 18, 2014)

If she has been on the lino for 5 years then I really doubt that this was the cause. CloudForest is right it sounds as if she went peacefully. It was most likely not anything in particular that caused her death. 
Sorry for your loss.


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## Debbie1962 (Dec 5, 2008)

So sorry to hear of your loss. I agree with Fizz, after all this time it is unlikely to be fumes from the lino. As CloudForest said it may well have due to her previous neglect. She had a happy loved life with you and it sounds like she passed peacefully.


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## Munkys Mummy (Feb 23, 2007)

SS for your loss, R.I.P bonny girl xx


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## rossiriley (Jul 11, 2010)

It may be the photo, but it looks like it had eggs in that pic ,maybe egg bound?


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