Leopard gecko seriously injured

[Kaimetsu]

I just wrote up a long post and then lost the entire thing before i could post it, So i'll just give an overview of the problem.

Basically my girlfriends leopard gecko has a terrible injury on the side of his head just behind his eye, we arnt sure how it happened and we don't know what to do. We are prepared to take him to the vet if necessary but i want some opinions of what we should do. When we first noticed it it was massively swollen, this picture was taken hours later and the swelling has gone down alot. It's not a very good picture but it's the best i've got right now.

We are both really worried and need some advice on what we should do.

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Can you give us some husbandry parameters to determine what might have happened? It would be odd for a gecko to get an injury like that in a typical enclosure, so I'm almost wondering if it wasn't an abcess rupture that went un-noticed long enough for him to itch it on things and open it up like that. Abcesses also often kill the tissue below the skin, eventually causing the skin to slough off, which is another possibility. Just seems more likely to me than him somehow ripping off half of his face on the enclosure, at least. For now I would flush it really thoroughly with sterile saline and see about applying a topical anti-bacterial like SSD Cream until you can call a vet.

Personally, I would really suggest a vet regardless of what advice is given here though; that looks quite infected, and it almost looks like there is some discharge coming from the mouth too. An injury in and of itself isn't a big deal, but an infected injury is another thing altogether. And if this was an abcess, it definitely requires anti-biotics even after the rupture, as there's normally bacteria in the bloodstream.

 

[Kaimetsu]

Can you give us some husbandry parameters to determine what might have happened? It would be odd for a gecko to get an injury like that in a typical enclosure, so I'm almost wondering if it wasn't an abcess rupture that went un-noticed long enough for him to itch it on things and open it up like that. Abcesses also often kill the tissue below the skin, eventually causing the skin to slough off, which is another possibility. Just seems more likely to me than him somehow ripping off half of his face on the enclosure, at least. For now I would flush it really thoroughly with sterile saline and see about applying a topical anti-bacterial like SSD Cream until you can call a vet.

Personally, I would really suggest a vet regardless of what advice is given here though; that looks quite infected, and it almost looks like there is some discharge coming from the mouth too. An injury in and of itself isn't a big deal, but an infected injury is another thing altogether. And if this was an abcess, it definitely requires anti-biotics even after the rupture, as there's normally bacteria in the bloodstream.

The tank is a 20 gallon long with reptile carpet, two hides, a water dish, and a few rocks. For heat we have an undertank zoomed heatpad and a red heatlamp on the warm side. Is it possible for a superworm bite to have caused this? I doubt it but we did find one loose in her tank. Another possible cause are the rocks in her enclosure, they are a type of shale that were used to form part of one of her hides. They have somewhat sharp edges but not very sharp.

We've had her since november when i adopted her from someone on craigslist who was keeping her on sand, I immediately replaced it with reptile carpet due to the risk of compaction. When i first got her she went almost a month without eating. From what i've read leopard geckos sometimes do this when they get moved due to stress, though her tail never got thin. Almost three weeks ago we cleaned her tank out and she apparently decided it was too much change for her and stopped eating again. Other then that she seemed fine, i don't think the two problems are related but i suppose it's possible.

I'm confident that we would have noticed an abscess as the gecko gets taken out often, except that my girlfriend had been away for 3 days and her dad was taking care of the gecko. We found a vet that does reptiles and will be taking her when possible.

Thanks for the help Ren, incidently this isnt the first time you've given me advice. Your friends with my cousin Jack and through him over facebook you warned me that my G rosea could hurt herself if she climbed to the top of her tank and fell.

 

[xhexdx]

In my opinion, a superworm is capable of inflicting damage like that. The only other possible option I can see is if the gecko somehow fell on the edge of a rock...I doubt brushing up against one would cause that type of injury.

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Abcesses can be surprisingly difficult to spot up until the point where they rupture, unfortunately. If one started deep in the tissues of his face, it may not have been readily apparent. I recently had a leopard gecko as a rescue who had six abcesses in her face, but even the vet did not recognize one of them until it swelled to the point of near-bursting. My suspicion, by the way her mouth is slightly parted and there is a crust visible in the mouth, that she may have suffered an injury or infection in the mouth that caused further infection to spread, eventually resulting in this surface rupture. But obviously I'm not a vet and I'm going by only one photo, so I am very pleased to hear that you are taking him to a vet :clap: Do keep us posted on his progress.

I'm not sure what vet you found but if you are living at all near me (near Jack before he moved), there is a very good exotics vet in Newburgh I could give you the # to if you find your visit with the one already booked unsatisfactory for any reason.

Best of luck!

ETA: Do you have a mode to regulate the temperature of the heat mat, and a probe thermometer on the hot end of the tank? The other possibility, though placement of the wound makes me think otherwise, could be some kind of burn from a heating malfunction. But I would suspect that more on the feet or belly. Is he able to reach the lid directly below the heat lamp, as does the lamp touch the lid at all?

 

[jebbewocky]

In my opinion, a superworm is capable of inflicting damage like that. The only other possible option I can see is if the gecko somehow fell on the edge of a rock...I doubt brushing up against one would cause that type of injury.

Personally, I really doubt that. I would aim more for an abcess that's popped somehow. Either way, this little guy needs to go to the vet.

 

[xhexdx]

Well, you guys are probably right. I'm glad he's going to the vet, too.

 

[The Snark]

I would be very interested in the prognosis and eventual outcome. From my observations, while Gecks can loose a tail without ill effects, a major injury like this (or the loss of a leg) inevitably results in death in the wild, but this is nearly always the result of an encounter with another predator while in a weakened condition. In a controlled environment I'm very curious of their recovery ability.

 

[Kaimetsu]

So she had her appointment today, this was the earliest we could schedule her. It turns out it was an absess caused by an infection inside her mouth, which explains why she hasn't been eating for a while. The vet isnt sure how it happened, he said sometimes these things just happen but it could of been from a superworm bite inside her mouth. He cleaned out a huge amount of puss from her head, it was definitely unpleasant. Now shes on an oral antibiotic, a topical ointment, and a solution he told us to bathe her in. He said she should start eating again in a few days and the wound should eventually heal completely. I'm glad we took her to the vet despite the cost, and i hope nothing like this happens again.

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Precisely what I expected; I'm very glad that's all it is and she has a good prognosis.

 

[Kaimetsu]

It seems the leopard gecko isnt out of the woods yet. Since our visit to the vet shes been on an oral antibiotic, a topical ointment, and and a bathe in some kind of antiseptic, all three of which she recieved daily. The location of the injury appeared to be healing fine but several days ago we noticed that her eye was bulging out in an unpleasant way. So she went to the vet again today, and it seems she had a new absess under her eye. The vet thinks he cleaned out the other one just fine but the infection moved under her eye somehow. I wasnt able to goto the vet this time but i'm told that the new absess was drained and the vet decided the oral antibiotic wasnt strong enough and the gecko now needs an intravenous antibiotic injected every three days. He also wants my gf to start force feeding her, since she hasnt eaten in so long. This is becoming a very expensive gecko.

 

[jebbewocky]

Bummer bro. I can sympathize. Part of the reason I left the reptile hobby.

 

[Miss Bianca]

Did we go with antibiotic shots?
How's this going?

Any updates?

 

[Kaimetsu]

Did we go with antibiotic shots?
How's this going?

Any updates?

Yeah shes still getting antibiotic shots every three days along with a bath and something topical every day. The injury is almost fully healed and after force feeding her twice she has begun eating on her own. Mostly mealworms and silk worms, I think we've decided to stop feeding her superworms just in case a superworm bite to the inside of her mouth actually caused this.

 

[jebbewocky]

Glad to her your gecko is doing better. I sincerely doubt that a superworm bite caused this, but if you'd rather play it safe that's perfectly fine of course. If she's eating on her own again that's a really good sign.