Meet Tripod, the special needs leopard gecko.

[Tim Benzedrine]

Tripod has not had a good time with things lately. i adopted him/her for that reason. Either by way of an injury or poor shedding causing constriction, the poor thing lost a leg, and some other injury took its tail. The tail will grow back of course, and has begun to do so, but the leg is a goner. He is quite ambulatory and a vet supplied some ointment to stave off infection. He or she is eating and eliminating properly, so I have hopes that it will grow up and lead as normal of a life as possible. I do have some concern over the whitish places, I'm unsure if that is a remnant of the ointment previously applied, or some leftover skin or something else. I'm gonna give some short soakings to see if that remedies the issue, but for now I am gonna allow for adjustment to the new environment, I figure it is under enough stress at the moment. If it happens to lose the other leg despite my efforts, I'm a little unsure what I'll do. whether a gecko that crippled could live a quality life, I'm not sure.

 

[miss moxie]

Poor baby. Life's not fair, lil buddy. You get it.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Poor lil guy!

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Well, he isn't down and out. Researching in order to get an idea of whether or not trying to raise the lizard up was a good idea, i came across a video if a fellow who had one with a similar issue. He posted an update and it turns out his did quite well.
And on his second night here, he ate TEN roach nymphs. I asked one of his caregivers, who had expressed glee at the news, if they has been disabling prey. they had not. He had been eating, but in his condition, he does not need to be burning energy chasing prey down.

On the other hand, i guess I should be trying to avoid obesity by over-feeding. I just sensed that he might need a good "powerfeed" with dusted prey. That was something else I asked about, what food he had consumed had not been supplemented, which I feel was crucial.

 

[keks]

I find that this gecko can live a very good life with three and a half legs. They are very hardy.
Overfeeding is never a good idea, and "oversupplementing" not at all, too much of some components in the supplement can be counterproductive. Feed it in normal frequency and it will be good.
I miss my Eublepharis macularius !!! They are gorgeous pets. But I don't wanna keep vertebrates anymore ..... .

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Well, I wasn't really thinking in terms of overfeeding and over supplementing. But I imagine that it actually fed very little since it had been ill and injured and not quite as capable of hunting down prey. So I did boost it up a notch for its last feeding.

I've never kept a baby one before, but I do know that when my adult has had enough, he simply loses interest. I ceased feeding the baby before it lost interest, though. Dusted about half with plain calcium. The amount that remained on the very small nymphs was pretty negligible. I'll just have to see how it goes, I guess

 

[keks]

My three-legged frog survived, so your little baby will survive too ^^. We underestimate the nature. I hope you will post some information from time to time .

 

[CWilson1351]

On the other hand, i guess I should be trying to avoid obesity by over-feeding. I just sensed that he might need a good "powerfeed" with dusted prey.

I went through something similar with my male when he first came home. Before me he was very underweight and under-supplemented. Though he wasnt a baby, I did give him a bit more free reign with how much he ate. I had to also reduce his feeding quite a bit after the first 3 months though. The species definitely will overeat if given the chance.
From what I've seen you have things pretty well managed, but one suggestion I can give is to keep a written log of his eating patterns. Also, I have to give you credit and respect for taking on this poor little guy! He definitely needs some extra TLC. Glad he will be getting it!

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I'm gonna try my very best. I'm actually quite excited about the prospect of nurturing it to a quality life. A missing hind-leg is really of little consequence these guys, apparently. He scoots along pretty well, all things considered. I've never just dumped prey in and forgot about it to my perfectly healthy adult. I have a flat glass saucer on which drop the crickets or whatever is on the menu and he quickly approaches and gobbles them while still getting some sense of hunting them. Part of the reason I do so is because I've chosen to use reptile carpet which has its pluses and minuses, and one of those minuses is the occasional incident of the gecko of getting teeth caught on the carpet. Plus, feeding in that manner sort of enhances the interaction of feeding time somehow.

I'll return from time to time with updates, I just hope I don't have to come with bad news.

 

[Deb60]

I'm gonna try my very best. I'm actually quite excited about the prospect of nurturing it to a quality life. A missing hind-leg is really of little consequence these guys, apparently. He scoots along pretty well, all things considered. I've never just dumped prey in and forgot about it to my perfectly healthy adult. I have a flat glass saucer on which drop the crickets or whatever is on the menu and he quickly approaches and gobbles them while still getting some sense of hunting them. Part of the reason I do so is because I've chosen to use reptile carpet which has its pluses and minuses, and one of those minuses is the occasional incident of the gecko of getting teeth caught on the carpet. Plus, feeding in that manner sort of enhances the interaction of feeding time somehow.

I'll return from time to time with updates, I just hope I don't have to come with bad news.

Hope your little guy continues to do well , I've had birds with only the use of one leg and they have survived, one lived to a very good age !

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

16 days later, still doing quite well. I needed to give him a short soak as it appears his feet are retaining some shed skin. He was not happy. These guys can vocalize pretty loud for being so small. it is downright startling. I'll repeat the bath tomorrow, and in the interim, am going to construct a humid hide. i was holding off until I was certain his wounds were completely healed, reasoning that a warm, humid environment might enable infection to more easily take hold. I think it is safe now.
He still eats well, and can zip around pretty much as well as a four legged one could. Amazingly resilient. The tail is regenerating nicely and as you can see is developing pattern.
If he turns out to be a she, a friend at work had suggested another name. "Peggy". I liked it so well that I may change it if need be.

I'm guessing that he is just a "normal" in regard to morph. I have an adult male blizzard morph, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes in regard to morphs. I'll return in a couple weeks with another photo showing progress.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Update: Tripod is still doing well, but the un-shed skin on the toes still presents a problem. I could not get him to voluntarily use a humid hide,no matter where I placed it. Cool-side, warm side, in the middle, he either doesn't like the choice of hide I constructed or does not enjoy humidity. So I'm considering using a shedding-aid product in his bath and swabbing his feet afterwards with a Q-tip if it isn't loosened up enough from merely soaking him a bit. I hate to resort to that method, he won't like being handled much and I worry about stress or even an accidental injury due to his size. Alternatively, I could place him in a container with damp material (such as paper towel) and leave him confined for a while, which would be a little less stressful and would have less risk of injury. I hope to have this resolved before his next shed, as the problem could be exacerbated otherwise.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Hes so cute. I think he'll live to a ripe old age, as long as he can catch food he'll probably survive. Best of luck

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Thanks!
I don't think catching food will be a problem, he is very quick and stalks the prey I offer, though I cripple the prey beforehand. I do that for my healthy adult as well, and I feed items individually to both of them rather than toss several items in at once. I like to monitor feedings to ensure prey is being actually consumed. I place the items on a glass saucer for my adult, and simply place a piece of paper down for the baby, the reason being that I use reptile carpet, and while convenient, it's drawback is the possibility of snagged teeth, which has happened to both lizards a few times. I've yet to see one snag a toenail , which is another thing critics of reptile carpet warn about. I suppose it could happen when I'm not around to see it, but I feel it is a negligible risk, really. I'd think that as much as I have observed them walking about, I'd have noticed it happening at some point.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

PS- I've seen your posts over at Geckos Unlimited, where I am considering registering. Seems like a friendly community.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

A rather early update because it relates to the previous one. I came home from work to find that Tripod was shedding. Coincidentally, I had decided to pick up a bottle of Shed-Ease that I mentioned I had been contemplating. I decided to go ahead and give the gecko a soak in it, as the last thing it needed was another layer of unshed skin on its feet and toes.
A 20 minute soak in the proper mixture of the Shed-ease with water and some gentle rubbing on the affected feet did the trick, and I believe the product helped because a previous soak in plain water had done little to alleviate the problem. As I said, I am sure that not taking action would have left another layer. And as I predicted, Tripod was not a fan of the operation, although he settled into the soaking pretty quickly. He didn't care much for the foot massage though, and squawked and even bit me twice. Don't worry, I think I'll live.
it is interesting to note that when his feet were submerged, I could easily see the stuck skin on his feet because they took on a shiny, silver-ish appearance similar to what a bubble sometimes looks like under water, no doubt from a thin layer of air trapped between the stuck skin and the skin beneath it.

After the procedure, I placed him back in his cage thinking "Well, he's pretty stressed now!" so I turned out all lights and waited for another hour or so before checking on him. He seemed unperturbed and ate several prey items I offered.

 

[CWilson1351]

Glad it went well with Tripod! Apollo (my male) isn't a fan of having to soak either. He doesn't cooperate in them at all. He doesn't mind the massages after though lol

 

[CWilson1351]

PS- I've seen your posts over at Geckos Unlimited, where I am considering registering. Seems like a friendly community.

Not sure who you were talking to, but I'm also a member there and they definitely are friendly and helpful. Just not the most active forum. Leo's are pretty well represented though.

 

[miss moxie]

Peggy? I knew you were a pervert.

 

[darkness975]

Is stuck shed a common issue?