leopard geoko sick

Question
QUESTION: I have had a leopard gecko for about 8 years and all of a sudden he was shedding his skin and it wont finish and his eyes are crusted shut and he stopped eating. now he is getting skinny. its been a week or two. What should i do?

ANSWER: Hi Sean,

Shedding problems can have a dominoes affect with one problem leading to another. Retained skin around the eyes can cause irritation, infection and sight problems. Because leopards are visual hunters rather then scent hunters they subsequently stop eating and often stop drinking as well when their sight is impaired. The first priority should be to get the eyes cleared up and open.

You will need to flush and moisten the eye area and other areas of retained skin well to soften  it. That will also loosen it from the skin beneath and help to remove it more comfortably. You can place him in a small container and mist him with tepid water which may also encourage him to drink. Letting the skin stay moist for about 15 to 20 minutes is usually enough. At that point you will need to take a moist cotton-tipped swab and very gently swab around and over the eye. Often the fibres of the swab will catch and help remove the crust and old skin. Any other areas of old skin can be swabbed or rolled off with you finger. Check his feet carefully as well. This is a common area of retained skin which can cause circulation issues and toe loss.

Some eye infections can become more severe and need to be addressed by a vet. This link has some photos of shedding related eye infections in leos being treated.  

http://web.mac.com/exoticdvm/reptile_archives_2007/Gecko_Dysecdysis.html

Hopefully, once his eyes are cleared, sight restored and he is rehydrated, he will resume eating. Good luck with him.





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

QUESTION: Thank you for the help i was able to clear all the skin away from his head and eyes and he actually ate a cricket for the first time in about 3 weeks so i was very excited. But his eyes still seem to be bothering him they were perfectly clear yesterday after i cleaned them and now they seem to be a little swollen and have a clear fluid on them. what could this be?

Answer
Hi Sean,

I'm glad to hear that there was some improvement. I wonder if the crust that you noticed initially was some of the dried fluid that you are now seeing. If you need to continue flushing the eyes I would suggest that you use saline (sold for contact lenses) which would be less irritating to the eyes then water. I really think that if the problem continues though that a vet is really your best option.

I should mention that some sand substrates can produce an irritating dust that can affect the eyes. Also, the compact/coil fluorescent bulbs sold for reptiles have also been linked to eye problems, just in case either of these situations applies.