lepord geko

Question
QUESTION: hi iv just brought a leopard gecko and hes been doing great but today i got him out and he was sick and had a bit of blood in it , i noticed his tongue was gray and he just didn't look right . i put him back in his tank and he ate his food and looked a bit better but iv just noticed he has what looks like a pink clear bubble coming from his bum iv never seen this before does anyone know what this could be I'm really worried

ANSWER: Hello Bradley,

Oh wow, your leopard gecko has a prolapse.  
You JUST got him?  Wow, that is too bad.  Do you know what he was housed on before you brought him home?  Did you get him from a petstore?
A prolapse is when an organ or tissue is weakened & collapses through the anal area.  It could be a rectal, intestinal, colon, or hemepene collapse, I don't know.  It could be caused by a myriad of problems such as impaction (sand or loose substrates), hypocalcemia, poor nutrition & dehydration.
What you can try is put 2 tablespoons of sugar in some warm water to dissolve it then add some cool water then soak your gecko in that for 10-15 minutes.  Sugar can aid in helping with the swelling of the membrane areas to go back down.  If you have any KY jelly or vaseline to help keep the area moist so it doesn't dry out & become necrotic that would be good.  Do you have him on loose substrate or paper towels?
You will probably need to take him to the vet.  

Let me know things are going with him.

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi he is housed on bark and thats what he has always been housed on , i didn't get him from a pet shop i brought him out the paper and iv spoke to the people i had him off and they tell me they have never seen it before . iv had him out his tank today and the bubble has gone i really I'm worried as iv never had a gecko before and i don't know weather I'm doing things right , he wont eat crickets so I'm feeding him on locus he eats about 3 a day is this right ? should i still try and soak him in sugar water ? he seems better this morning thank you for your help

Answer
Hello Bradley,

Trust me, take him off of the repti bark.  He has probably ingested some of the bark, & over time, it is not passed successfully & will cause terrible impactions & death.
Please use non adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, felt, or tiles for him.  We lost a leopard gecko a long time ago to sand, as we did not realize he was ingesting it & he became impacted.  They don't always catch their prey on the first strike & can ingest the substrate too much.
Do you have a dish of calcium in the tank with him?  You will need to keep a small dish of calcium with NO D3 in it for him along with dusting his feeders.  How big are the locusts?  Make sure they are not too large for him.
How big is your gecko?
Do you know how much he weighs?
That is good the prolapsed area has gone back in.  You are going to have to watch to make sure he does not prolapse again.  Alot of times, once they prolapse, they are more prone to prolapse again simply because the tissue has been torn & stretched as well as damaged.  I hope that he is recovering.  
No, you don't need to soak him in the sugar water solution if the area has gone back in.  Though we do need to make sure your setup is correct so he doesn't have to strain to go to the bathroom, & he doesn't get impacted.

So, what type of setup do you have for him?  Are you using an undertank heater in combination with a low wattage overhead basking light on one end?  He needs a hot spot of around 88-90 & the cool end should be around 80 or so.  Place a moist humid hide on top of the undertank heater on the warm end to help with humidity when he gets ready to shed.  

Tracie