Jack, Day 14

Two weeks today!

When I picked him up, I wasn't sure he would last this long. He's a fighter, this skinny little gecko.

We got some good news today. Jack doesn't have to take his medicated eye drops anymore. If he understood that, he would be thrilled. He HATES those eye drops.

He will still be getting the saline drops, because he is still quite dehydrated, and his eyes are very dry. He doesn't mind those ones nearly as much though.

He will also be getting a bath every night.

Also got a couple double-open-eyes shot of him today. Progress.

He was walking around on my hands, watching for when I put another hand in front of him before he stepped, so he wouldn't fall. If that isn't proof that he can see, I don't know what is.

He's still very squinty, and not a fan of bright light.

==UPDATE==

Jack pooped. 

I took it in for his parasite test.

but when I got home, little Jack was dead in his cage. 

R.I.P. Jack

Jack, Day 13

Jack tried to poop on my computer today, but I caught him in time. Unfortunately, when I slipped the tissue under him, he stopped trying.

He has figured out that computers are warm.

I gave him another warm bath to get things going, but he's stubborn. Maybe there will be poop in the cage in the morning. It's been 2 days since the last one.

relaxing in his tupperware bathtub,

He only ate about .3 mL today, but I fed him after his bath, and he drank a LOT of water in the bath. I'm guessing he just wasn't as hungry after.

Bathtime is drinking time.

After his bath, he got belly rubs to help his digestion. It relaxed him a lot...

Relaxed gecko is relaxed.

He wasn't even terribly upset about his eye drops tonight, he behaved (mostly) while I put them in. Only got the creepy face once, and I was already done.

post-eye drops glare

He was still happier when it was all done.

Jack, Day 12

I don't always thrash
around in the bath,
but when I do, it's because
I didn't know it was just water.

Jack got a bath today.

At first he didn't like it. He made faces, tried to climb out, thrashed, and even rolled over a couple times.

Then I started slowly pouring water over his head.

He opened one eye, realised that it was just water, and proceeded to start drinking. I finished his bath rather easily after that.

He ate .5 mL again tonight.

Jack, Day 11

Got a shot of his eye today, after doing his eye drops.

got finger hugs too

Jack, Day 10

Jack ate a whole 1.0 mL of baby food in a single sitting (he actually ate just a tiny bit more, but it didn't go up to the next notch. I am still very excited)

He's been wandering around across my shoulders all evening, and only fell asleep once. He's getting a lot stronger, and his shakes are nearly gone (he used to shake whenever he tried too hard to do something)

He's still very, VERY skinny, but he feels noticeably heavier than last weekend.

I need to get a scale. seriously.

Jack, Day 9

Jack gets his dinner.

He is pooping regularly now, though he seems to find it amusing to wait until I am asleep or at work, so that by the time I find it, it is dry and I can't get a sample for the vet to do a parasite test.

Perhaps it's his revenge for the eyedrops.

He drank more water tonight that all the nights previous put together. I am pleased, I was very worried about how dehydrated he has been. Hopefully this pattern continues.

Jack, Day 8

No new updates today. Jack is doing well, he's active, and eating.

BUT

TODAY is his 1 week anniversary since I brought him home, SO, I think that calls for some then vs. now pics, just to show his progress.

THEN:

NOW:

He's not fully recovered. He still has a long way to go, BUT he is a lot better than a week ago.

Happy week-iversary, Jack.

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.

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.

 

 

 

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.

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.

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.