# NEED HELP Leopard Gecko lethargic/ closed eye



## hissycrissy (Nov 14, 2012)

Hi, I'm brand new here so forgive my lack of understanding on how this all works  I have a female adult leopard gecko, about a year old. She has been very well since I got her but recently she has stopped eating, sleeps a lot more than before, keeps her eyes closed but will open one when disturbed. She did open both today when I was handling her and I noticed gunk (eye boogers) in there, as well as the other eye, a very small amount. I used clean sterile water to flush it out and it didn't help. I lowered the wattage on her light, placed her in a half inch of lukewarm water, checked her thoroughly for any other signs of illness and she otherwise seems fine. She is still healthy on her weight and tail is still full. I will admit that she was eating a mealworm based diet and crickets once in a while. I was informed of the dangers of a nutrient deprived diet and i am kicking myself for that. I didn't realize. does anyone have ideas? I would attach a picture if I could figure this forum thing out. Any advice is welcome!!


Thank you,
Crissy


----------



## Jesterone (Sep 30, 2012)

Are you sure it's not stuck shed?

Could be the problem. But without photos it's hard to say. 

Probably a vet visit to be fair. 

Maybe someone else can help.


----------



## katevictoria (Oct 19, 2012)

can they get gunky eyes from respitory infections? is your moist hide on the hot or cold side of ur viv?

Just a suggestion, but if its too cold and damp in there she might have some form of resp infection which might explain why she's lethargic and gunky?

Does sound like a trip to the vet is needed  I wish you luck its so shitty when your animal is sick you feel helpless  Good luck! X


----------



## hissycrissy (Nov 14, 2012)

she just shed about a week ago. Thank you


----------



## hissycrissy (Nov 14, 2012)

katevictoria said:


> can they get gunky eyes from respitory infections? is your moist hide on the hot or cold side of ur viv?
> 
> Just a suggestion, but if its too cold and damp in there she might have some form of resp infection which might explain why she's lethargic and gunky?
> 
> Does sound like a trip to the vet is needed  I wish you luck its so shitty when your animal is sick you feel helpless  Good luck! X


That makes a ton of sence actually. I have been misting her cage and the temperature in the room is around 70. Her temp in the tank is 82 average. I think I will follow up with a herp vet. Thank you!!


----------



## katevictoria (Oct 19, 2012)

That's ok glad I could be of some sort of help! 
I'm not an expert at alll by any means, but maybe 82 is a bit cold I think on the hot side if you have a probe in the hide it should be about 88-91 so it might just be that she was a bit damp and cold and run down. Does she have nutrobal or anything along with her food? That might help her immune system a bit.

But yeah take her to a herp vet and get some expert advice and help, good luck!! Keep us posted on her progress hope she gets better soon little one x


----------



## katevictoria (Oct 19, 2012)

hissycrissy said:


> Hi, I'm brand new here so forgive my lack of understanding on how this all works  I have a female adult leopard gecko, about a year old. She has been very well since I got her but recently she has stopped eating, sleeps a lot more than before, keeps her eyes closed but will open one when disturbed. She did open both today when I was handling her and I noticed gunk (eye boogers) in there, as well as the other eye, a very small amount. I used clean sterile water to flush it out and it didn't help. I lowered the wattage on her light, placed her in a half inch of lukewarm water, checked her thoroughly for any other signs of illness and she otherwise seems fine. She is still healthy on her weight and tail is still full. I will admit that she was eating a mealworm based diet and crickets once in a while. I was informed of the dangers of a nutrient deprived diet and i am kicking myself for that. I didn't realize. does anyone have ideas? I would attach a picture if I could figure this forum thing out. Any advice is welcome!!
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> Crissy



Also, if you create a photobucket account, you can upload photos onto there, then it gives you an img code after you've uploaded it, if you copy and paste the img code from photobucket straight into a post the picture comes up  hope that helps and makes sense! Xx


----------



## hissycrissy (Nov 14, 2012)

Okay thanks i need to change her light back to the higher watts. I dont have a photobucket  but I can try to figure one out. Thanks so much for your help and i will keep you updated!


----------



## Jesterone (Sep 30, 2012)

Just going by what you've said. 

Leopard Geckos don't need to have their tanks misted. They require a really low humidity level. To help with shedding you just use a 'Moist Hide'. 

Second to that, I see your heat source is a bulb. In the wild, a leopard gecko will rest on rocks that have been warmed by the sun. The rocks hold their heat for several hours. The reason being is that Leopard geckos need ground heat to aid in their digestion. 

Bulbs are better at creating ambient heat whereas a heat mat will give you the ground heat a Leo needs. So if you're not using one you may want to look into it. 

As for the temps the warm side should be, as said already, around 88-90 Fahrenheit. To get an accurate reading you'll need a digital thermometer. The analogue ones can be almost 10 degrees inaccurate. 

Just a couple of things you may want to look into. 

Hope your Leo gets better


----------



## hissycrissy (Nov 14, 2012)

Jesterone said:


> Just going by what you've said.
> 
> Leopard Geckos don't need to have their tanks misted. They require a really low humidity level. To help with shedding you just use a 'Moist Hide'.
> 
> ...


Thanks!! That's a lot of really good info to have. She has a nice rock cave but no bottom heat source. I use a towel in place of sand, maybe a nice heat pad under the towel would be beneficial. I will switch her light and thermometer as well. Thank you again


----------



## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Just to add to the good advice -

Misting a leo's tank frequently increases the humidity and increases the risk of respiratory infections and numerous other infections - just mist the moist hide.

Up your temperatures - I would go as high as 95F in the warm end, especially if she is lethargic.

Predominantly mealworm diet is not necessarily bad but you have to gut load them really well and dust with a good supplement (D3, multivitamin and calcium). Obviously variety is best but not all reptiles go for it.

With the actual problem, I would say vets. Could have been a bad shed, which is often caused by dietary problems (lack of vitamin A is a common cause of bad shedding in leo's). The OH recently had a similar problem with his leo's - required the vet to clean out the gunk, oral antibiotics and eye drops. Best to get it sorted sooner rather than later too, leave it too long and infections can set in.

Good luck with her


----------

