leopard Gecko with a swollen right eye

Question
QUESTION: My daughter has about a 6-8 year old leopard gecko.  All of a sudden the right eye looked swollen behind it   Now it appears the swelling is getting bigger and down by its jaw and it is not eating much that we can notice?  What should she do or is there anything she can do to help?

ANSWER: Hello DeeAnn,

Hm, has the gecko had any retained shed recently on that eye?  Is the swollen area hard or soft?  Do you have a picture that you could post of her for me?
It sounds like it is an abscess that is starting to get very infected.  
Do you leave any crickets in the tank with her?  If so, a cricket could have bitten her & it might have gotten infected.  
What are the temperatures in the tank?  

Tracie

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gecko swollen eye   QUESTION: The temp is around right about 80 degrees.  I have attached a pictures. Yes there were live crickets when my daughter noticed the lump a couple weeks ago.  

Will this heal itself? Is there anything a pet store sells to help.

DeeAnn

ANSWER: Hello DeeAnn,


Ok, the temperatures on the warm side need to be 88-90 for a basking site or warm end with a cooler end of around 78-82 roughly.  You will need to use a digital probe or a temp gun to get better readings.  So if you are using a stick on type of thermometer, that will only measure ambient temperatures & the humidity but not higher temperatures for the basking site.

It is not recommended to leave crickets in the tank with him for prolonged periods of time, especially overnight.  They will bite your gecko causing bites that can get infected.  Crickets are extremely carnivorous.  
I am not sure if it will heal on its own or not.  If it is infected, he will probably need some medication to help take the swelling & infection down.  Otherwise, he could become very ill.
The petstore most likely doesn't have any type of medication that will help.   Here is a place that you can purchase Baytril online, without a prescription.  If you want to get some, I will dose it for you but I will need her weight so I can dose it for her weight.

http://www.allbirdproducts.com/bird_medication.html

If she is not eating, it would be a good idea to go ahead & start feeding her via syringe or plastic dropper.  Use chicken, turkey or beef baby food & start with 1ml, daily.  

Let me know how she is doing.
Tracie

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QUESTION: Thank you for all the advice.  I bought chicken baby food and it seems to like it.  It is shedding it skin right now too so I will watch to make sure it sheds it around the right eye.

My daughter Gecko weighs about 1.4 - 1.8 ounces.

DeeAnn Triethart

Answer
Hello DeeAnn,

Oh that is very good he seems to like the babyfood, they usually tend to love the flavor of it.  
So the eye area is getting ready to shed then?  I hope he doesn't have any trouble with that area!
Did you decide whether or not you were going to purchase the Baytril in case he does have a localized infection?
Ok, so at 45 grams, the dose will be .004ml.  That is based on a 10mg/kg because it appears to be an infection of some sort.  Do you have any syringes small to dose?  I believe that the site where you order the Baytril provides a small syringe if I remember correctly.
I would give that amount once daily, for 12 days to see if there is any improvement in that area.  Also, try to give extra oral fluids as well, because the Baytril tends to dehydrate them.
Also, you should give him some probiotics too while he is on the meds to help him deal with the medications better.  You can get non dairy soy yogurt, acidophiliz or benebac any are fine.  
You can sometimes find the soy yogurt at the store, or the acidophiliz or benebac at the petstore.  
I have an online reptile supply store, & sell some probiotics as well.  Here is my site, if you have trouble finding any probiotics:

http://www.bug-de-lite.com/


Tracie