Monday, March 31, 2014

Jack, Day 7

Not a lot of new news.

Jack ate his .5mL of babyfood
He's proud of himself.

He got his eye drops, and did his best to rub/lick them out
He hates his eye drops.

but most important,

FEAT OF STRENGTH:





That is all.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Jack, Day 6: POOP!!!

When I woke up this morning, there was a tiny little poop in Jack's cage.

Unfortunately, it was too dry to take it for a sample. He did it during the night, and it dried out before I saw it. Still, he pooped. That is a very good sign.

There will be more poops.



Jack got moved in to his own Exo Terra 18 inch cube with front-opening glass doors today. He has been very mobile the last couple days, and the tiny terrarium I was keeping him in just wasn't enough room for an active gecko.

My healthy pair of high-yellow leopards share an 18 inch cube just like it, so Jack is being VERY spoiled right now. I bought it for him last night over Craigslist, but I sprayed it down to sterilize it, and I wanted to rinse and dry it before putting him in.


He started wandering around exploring right away. He looks happier in there.

More happy, messy face Jack pictures. He's eating really well. Up to .75mL per feeding now.



 

 

 



Saturday, March 29, 2014

Jack, Day 5, A Visit with the Vet.

Jack had his appointment with Dr. Peach this morning.

It was mostly good news.

He's not impacted. She shined a light through him, and we could see that his intestines were completely empty. The poop just hadn't made it that far yet.

His eyeballs are not collapsed. The stuff that I thought was collapsed eyeball was ACTUALLY layers of dried mucous from a bilateral eye infection. It has to come out. She couldn't do it, because she said it would take hours, maybe even days to loosen them enough to get them out, but she showed me how to do it without hurting him.

She also gave me medicated eyedrops to treat the infection.

Still no poop, so we couldn't do a parasite test.

Weigh in: 20.8 grams.
An adult leopard gecko should weigh between 40 and 80 grams.

---
 


Just spent 4 hours soaking his eyes and rubbing them with q-tips. He hated it. He bit the q-tips several times.

Just a little bit of eye peeking out from behind the nasty.














But the crap is OUT!

I couldn't believe how much was in there. I didn't think there was enough room under his little eyelids to fit this much.

His eyes underneath are absolutely beautiful, a greenish, bronzeish, silvery color.

And, he can SEE. He reacts to movement, but snaps his eyes shut at any but the dimmest light, so I couldn't get pictures of that, except the one a little way up when his eyelid was still stuck open from all the crap under it.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Jack, Day 4

Jack has a LOT more energy today. He is crawling all over everything and exploring with his little tongue.

He feels a little heavier, too. I am sure a lot of that is poop, as he has had a bit to eat over the last few days, but hasn't pooped yet since I got him.

Happy Jack

Water drop on his nose. Geckos need to drink too.
 He enjoys coming out of his cage and exploring. He has a lot of energy, and I find myself having to watch him closely.

He is blind, but he is fearless. He strides off in his chosen direction as if it will be completely even territory forever, and if I don't keep an eye on him, that confident stride will take him right off the edge of the bed.
 I soaked his eyes with water to get them open, and see what I was dealing with.

I had no idea what I was looking at. It looked a little like it might be collapsed eyeballs.It was whitish yellow, and kind of wrinkly, but hard and dried out.

Whatever it was, it was gross.



I made him an appointment with my vet, Dr. Peach, for tomorrow morning. She wants to see what he's got going on under those eyelids too. She also wants to test and make sure he doesn't have any other problems or parasites.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Jack, Day 3

Good morning Skinny!
 Jack was up at the glass waiting for me when I woke up this morning.

I had to go to work, so I couldn't stay with him long, but he did get some pets. He loves getting pets. He arches into my finger like a little cat.

I have been conversing over Facebook with my vet (Yes, I have a reptile vet, and yes, she's my friend on Facebook. With all the reptiles here at the den, how could I not?) I told her he hasn't accepted any food since day 1 when I got him to eat the worms. She told me I should be feeding him meat based stage 1 baby food to get his digestive system going again.

I will pick some up on the way home from work.
Jack is happy I am home from work.


Brought Jack some baby food. The only meat stage one they had was turkey and gravy, so Jack gets to have some thanksgiving dinner over the next couple days.

I also got a syringe to feed him with, so I know how much he is eating. It also made giving the food to him a lot easier.





I just squirted a little bit onto his nose, and he licked it off. Then I squirted a little more.









I kept doing that until he started pulling away from the syringe. He ate about .5mL.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Jack, Day 2



In his quarantine tank. He got up and turned to face the other way on his own, I'm guessing the energy from those worms I got him to eat yesterday made that possible. He was barely moving yesterday, and never just because he felt like it. He could barely lift his head.

 
 

 









Tuesday, March 25, 2014

New rescue: Jack

Rescued a leopard gecko today.

By rescued, I really DO mean rescued. He was nearly dead, and wouldn't have lasted much longer.

I was in this pet store 2 weeks ago, and I saw him there then too,but I didn't have any money to buy him (they were charging $70) I thought he had maybe a day or two left in him then, and I felt terrible that I had to leave him.

I went back today, just in case, and he was still there, in the same spot, same position. He hadn't even moved.
Jack, in his cage at the pet store
I wasn't sure he was even alive, so I tapped on the glass. He moved his little left hand, just a little. I went up to the front of the store and asked the owner how much he wanted for the starving, half dead gecko. 
He said "Which one?"
I said "the one that looks like a little skeleton"
He said "show me." and went with me to the back where they had the non-fish animals.
I pointed him out, and said "THAT one."
He said "Oh, let me get rid of that for you..."
I said "No, I want to BUY him, how much?"
he said "$69.9..."
I interrupted him, telling him that was way too much to pay for a gecko that might not make it through the next 2 or 3 days.
He said "Well, what will you give me?"
I told him $15 or $20. 
He said he couldn't let him go for less than $25.
I told him I would take the gecko for $25.

 

When I got him out to the car, I noticed he was blind. That was why he hadn't been eating the crickets in his cage, he couldn't find them.

When I got him home, I offered him 3 small superworms. He ate them eagerly.