Geckos-Leopard - Please help!! What is this??

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Winxgirl Winxgirl KrazyKelli Active42 AditiLuna Smurfzilla Geckofanatic Winxgirl Winxgirl NEBherpdork Estott Leopardgecko23 Jakemyster44 Jakemyster44 Active42 Estott Winxgirl Camo_pants Estott Winxgirl AditiLuna

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#1839907

Winxgirl
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Please help!! What is this??

Something is wrong with my gecko’s lip! There is this weird hard, gray growth on it! I don’t know what to do....I posted some pictures so you can see what it looks like. The growth is not affecting her ability to eat...but I have noticed fewer stools than usual I do keep two geckos in the same tank, however.

08/22/08 10:34pm

#1839914

Winxgirl
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Message To: Winxgirl In reference to Message Id: 1839907

Please help!! What is this??

OK here are the pics...

08/22/08 10:41pm

#1839928

KrazyKelli
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Message To: Winxgirl In reference to Message Id: 1839914

Please help!! What is this??

That’s something a vet will have to see. It could be mouth rot or an infection of some variety.

Meanwhile, could you give us a rundown of your tank set up? Tank size, substrate, temps, humidity, what you put in the tank, if the gecko is with any others, etc.

08/22/08 10:51pm

#1839996

Active42
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Message To: KrazyKelli In reference to Message Id: 1839928

Please help!! What is this??

Looks like the start of mouth rot, which is an infection that affects the mouth, jaw, and inner mouth. Its at a beginning stage, which can be controlled by applying neo-sporin on it daily. Just rub it on the infected area, and within a week it should greatly decrease. If it does not work, I suggest taking him to the vet.

08/23/08 12:15am

#1840070

AditiLuna
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Message To: Active42 In reference to Message Id: 1839996

Please help!! What is this??

separate them of course, first off

I would say take it to the vet (waiting a week seems risky) and check out Dr. Gecko’s site list - look at fungal infections and mouth rot

08/23/08 02:25am

#1840226

Smurfzilla
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Message To: AditiLuna In reference to Message Id: 1840070

Please help!! What is this??

mouth rot is relatively easy to take care of though.. the main thing youll need from the vet is an antibiotic for infection.. other than that they take all the out and you keep it clean until it heals. ive dealt with it before with one of my afts.. when its caught early its easy to treat.. please dont let it go. if you do it can infect the bone, be extremely painful, and eventually the bone will start dying. separate the gecko, and keep it on papertowels to help keep things as clean as possible. its pooping less because its eating less because eating is probably painful. have a vet pop the out.. its gross if you have to do it yourself (ive had to do it on larger lizards.. its nasty.. not as bad on a little one though.. but still not something youd want to try on your own without experience)
if you want to see what bad mouthrot looks like go over the the WD forum.. there should be a massive post about a water dragon with TERRIBLE mouthrot.

08/23/08 11:19am

#1840261

Geckofanatic
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Message To: Winxgirl In reference to Message Id: 1839914

Please help!! What is this??

my gecko had what looks like the same thing i waited a week tried to wipe it with a wet cotton bud to clean it and it finally disappeared.

08/23/08 12:07pm

#1840375

Winxgirl
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Message To: Geckofanatic In reference to Message Id: 1840261

Please help!! What is this??

OK I have posted some pictures of my tank set up. I keep the heat level at around 76 on the warm side (which has a heating pad underneath) and on the cool side, 72. I feed them 4 crickets every day (For both of them, not each)...Anyway I don’t have any humidity stuff yet...but every now and then I will put in a plastic container with a damp paper towel in it. But anyway about the setup, I have a tunnel log, a big water dish, a little meal worm dish (I do feed them meal worms sometimes but they are not too fond of them), then I have an artificial plant and a big rock that they can crawl under. My bedding is chopped walnut shells (Very dusty!). By the way, is mouth rot contagious to other geckos, and how do I prevent it?

08/23/08 02:28pm

#1840422

Winxgirl
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Message To: Winxgirl In reference to Message Id: 1840375

Please help!! What is this??

OK I put my gecko in my only other tank which is sort of small...here are some pictures....
Anyway there is a lid in there with water (It has a soft rim) and there is a meal worm dish with some meal worms in it. I also put in paper towel and a plastic container with a opening so that she has a hiding spot. Also, there is a thermometer.

08/23/08 03:28pm

#1842174

NEBherpdork
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Message To: Smurfzilla In reference to Message Id: 1840226

Please help!! What is this??

(normally I post on other forums, but...) what are the possibilities of Metabolic Bone Disease (or MBD)? I have had a crested with MBD, and when I was doing some reseach I though I read that MBD can cause the mouth to look like that as well, again I don’t usually post here and my reptile experience is with different species, so i could be wrong, but still does anyone know how MBD affects Leos?

08/25/08 04:09pm

#1843180

Estott
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Message To: NEBherpdork In reference to Message Id: 1842174

Please help!! What is this??

the rest of his bone structure looks good, this looks to be all in the mouth. the geckos limbs look good and sturdy so i don’t think it could be MBD.

08/26/08 03:30pm

#1843516

Leopardgecko23
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Message To: Estott In reference to Message Id: 1843180

Please help!! What is this??

moth rot,to much humidity in the tank

08/26/08 08:32pm

#1843621

Jakemyster44
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Message To: Leopardgecko23 In reference to Message Id: 1843516

Please help!! What is this??

There are several problems here:
-you say 76 on the WARM side? is this a typo? the warm side should be about 88 during the day, and 80 at night. The cool side should be low 80’s during the day and low 70’s at night. Your cage is way to cold.

-You have crushed walnut shells. That is the SINGLE WORST substrate that can be used with leopard geckos (other than shards of glass or something). It is eaisily ingested and WILL NOT pass through their system. this causes impaction. When you say that it is not pooping as much I am slightly concerned... especially with the really low temps.

-Large water bowl. A large waterbowl leeds to higher humidity witch is bad. I suggest a way smaller bowl...

-No humid hide. a humid hide is a small humid spot ( notice not the entire cage) that aids in shedding. Putting a damp papertowel every once in a while is not good enough. It is best to have the hide bwe constantly humid. Having the entire cage humid can cause respitorty illness.

Your feeding seems to be fine. I think you need to doa bit more reaserch on leopard geckos, as most of the problems you are having are due to easily avoidable mistakes.

Here are some suggestions: add humid hide (margerine container with constant damp moss or paper towel), take out all loose substrate (I had my first leo die [when I was very young] by beacoming impacted with the same stuff you are using... they use that to sharpen heavy machinery!) and replace it with tile, (dry) paper towel, or reptile carpet. THis eliminates the risk of impaction and infection due to sunstrate lodged in their mouth. Get a smaller water bowl, as talked about above. Get a humidity gauge (just a cheap $3 one...) and a thermometer if you dont already have one.

08/26/08 09:47pm

#1843625

Jakemyster44
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Message To: Leopardgecko23 In reference to Message Id: 1843516

Please help!! What is this??

by smaller waterbowl I mean one the size of that mealworm dish... you could actually get another just like it. And I forgot to add that I was not angry at you or anything. I realize that you didnt know you were doing anything wrong, and I was just trying to help (I felt the need to say this so you dont get mad beacuse I was "being a jerk" or something, lol. ) And if you have any questions myself and everyone else hewre would love to help you out.
-Jake

08/26/08 09:50pm

#1843640

Active42
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Message To: Jakemyster44 In reference to Message Id: 1843625

Please help!! What is this??

The humidity doesnt cause mouth rot, bacterial infections do, like I posted above. Are you putting neosporin on? If not, then take him to the vet but neoporin should do the trick. 2x a day, for 2 weeks, then every other day 1x.

08/26/08 09:59pm

#1843782

Estott
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Message To: Active42 In reference to Message Id: 1843640

Please help!! What is this??

yes and make sure it dosent have any aditives like aspren or anything

08/27/08 12:59am

#1844688

Winxgirl
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Message To: Estott In reference to Message Id: 1843782

Please help!! What is this??

Actually I just took her into the vet and all it was was a cricket leg shoved up in her mouth! LOL!
And yeah I was treating it with neosportin or whatever it’s called....but I was putting it on the cricket leg so I don’t think it was doing anything ....lol. Anyway about the temperature, I am raising it now. I know, I know, I am really new at this, Lol
Oh, and by the way, I was actually doing some research on walnut shell substrate and i found out it was VERY bad (like sand), so HOPEFULLY in a few days or so I will be able to get some tile (Since it is cheap and easy to clean). (Oh and also, I guess I figured that the walnut shell was OK because the people I bought my geckos from had that in the tank , so apparently they didn’t do enough research...like me...lol
But anyway, I would just like to say thank you for your help everyone!! It was really nice of you to help me out!
Oh and Jake, don’t worry about it, you were just being helpful! Thank you for all the tips!!

08/27/08 10:02pm