# leopard geckos with fatty liver disease



## ped86 (May 20, 2010)

Hi,
looking for any kind of advice for my leo, i have two leopard geckos(male and female) both about 3 years old, about 10 months ago, i found out from vet that my male(marvin) had fatty liver disease. dont know how long he has had it but before i found out i was feeding him a lot of wax worms as he was not eating crickets. i now do not feed any of my geckos them at all.
one vet told me to put him down, then when i went to put him down it was a different vet and he said not to put him down as he is still a very active llizard and seemed happy allthough you cant always tell with reptiles. 
he is still alive now and only really eats meal worms, and occasionally a couple of crickets. marvin is a really active hyper lizard and as soon as i open tank to feed him all he can think about is getting out of tank and doesnt want to eat. it seems like he gets distracted looking for an escape. 
So what should i do? any advice would be appreciated

also my female has just laid an egg, i am currently incubating it, it looks fertile but will the gecko if hatches be healthy?


----------



## nuttybabez (Jul 21, 2007)

Just keep your eye on him and don't feed him any more waxies or pinkies.

The egg you are incubating should hatch fine - fatty liver disease is not hereditary.


----------



## GlasgowGecko (Feb 23, 2008)

When the vet diagnoses FLD, what tests did he (or she) do? The reason I ask is that the tests to diagnose FLD are quite intense (including blood work, x-rays or ultrasounds and often Liver biopsies). Furthermore after diagnosis, treatment can be quite intensive also, often including the need for stomach tube administration of medication.

I'm not for one minute questioning the possibility of FLD, but if your animal was diagnosed with it (and not for example diagnosed as obese with the potential of developing FLD) then I think the vet should have given you further information as to how to proceed, as it would be poor practice for them not to (IMO).

Hannah (9Red) wrote an excellent article on FLD in PRK magazine several months ago. If you pm her, I'm confident she will send you a copy. It details all aspects of the condition including treatment and prevention.

Kind regards,

Andy


----------



## ped86 (May 20, 2010)

he definintly had x rays and blood taken from his tail, you can also see the dark spot on his underside where the liver is. it is darker than it should be, with my gut feeling i think he is doing okay as he is not lethargic, he definintly is not overweight, he has enough fat reserves in his tail but it could be a little fatter,
my main concern is his lack of eating crickets, he is very keen on meal worms, i would think that a constant feeding of meal worms cant be good for them. as soon as i open tank to put crickets in he looks at them for a second then tries to get out of tank, turn your back for a second and he is under the couch. lol. thanks for feed back.


----------



## GlasgowGecko (Feb 23, 2008)

ped86 said:


> he definintly had x rays and blood taken from his tail, you can also see the dark spot on his underside where the liver is. it is darker than it should be, with my gut feeling i think he is doing okay as he is not lethargic, he definintly is not overweight, he has enough fat reserves in his tail but it could be a little fatter,
> my main concern is his lack of eating crickets, he is very keen on meal worms, *i would think that a constant feeding of meal worms cant be good for them.* as soon as i open tank to put crickets in he looks at them for a second then tries to get out of tank, turn your back for a second and he is under the couch. lol. thanks for feed back.


What treatment did the vet give you at the time?

As for the highlighted section above, I'm not really sure what you mean by this?

In terms of feeder insect variation, then in my opinion this isn't really needed. What IS needed is a good gut-loading and supplementation. But that aside mealworms ARE high in fat, as all insect larvae are. This is not to say don't use them as a feeder, they have many positive aspects. But don't over-feed them.

As mentioned, the article on FLD is certainly worth a read.

Andy


----------



## ped86 (May 20, 2010)

I was given medicine, to try and reduce the fatty liver, sorry i cant remember exactly what it was called at the moment but i will find out, he also would not take any food at the time which i think was due to the stress of getting tests done so i was given food in a liquid form to feed him with a syringe to fatten him up a bit and to give him energy.he was kept in the vets for a few days and vet tried to feed him live food and he would not take it, when i got him home he eat within a few days. when i took him back to the vets about 2 or 3 weeks later the liver was in same state. 
As for comment highlighted about mealworms, what i meant was that my gecko will only eat meal worms at the moment and very occasionaly the odd couple of crickets, (this was stated in my first post), what i am asking is can a gecko have a diet that mainly consists of mealworms?, i wouldnt of thought so, and do you have any tips for trying to get him eating more crickets and hoppers. i will have a good read at the article though.

thanks


----------



## GlasgowGecko (Feb 23, 2008)

ped86 said:


> As for comment highlighted about mealworms, what i meant was that my gecko will only eat meal worms at the moment and very occasionaly the odd couple of crickets, (this was stated in my first post), what i am asking is can a gecko have a diet that mainly consists of mealworms?, i wouldnt of thought so, and do you have any tips for trying to get him eating more crickets and hoppers. i will have a good read at the article though.
> 
> thanks





GlasgowGecko said:


> In terms of feeder insect variation, then in my opinion this isn't really needed. What IS needed is a good gut-loading and supplementation. But that aside mealworms ARE high in fat, as all insect larvae are. This is not to say don't use them as a feeder, they have many positive aspects. But don't over-feed them.


Ah, well in that case I answered this bit above. There is no reason (in my opinion) why mealworms cannot be used as a sole source of live food, providing they are properly gut-loaded, and supplemented. Most importantly, like mentioned above you need to keep an eye on the volume you feed though so as not to over feed, a tendency people have with mealworms.


----------



## ped86 (May 20, 2010)

thats what i wanted to hear, thanks for that, i will keep trying with crickets, just one more question, if that is is sole purpose of food, what would you suggest for feeding amounts and how often?, assuming he isnt going to eat many crickets at all


----------

