Leopard Gecko Illnesses

"Some illnesses that you may come across with your leopard gecko include tail loss. Now tail loss is one of the most feared illnesses by a leopard gecko owner simply because, especially if they are used for breeding or for show purposes, because the tail that's lost, they can regrow their tail, but what regrows is not the same. It comes out in the shape, more like its head. This is actually meant to be able to fool its predators, because they are able to drop their tail, they want to be able to distract their predator from their head and use their tail as a decoy, which they can drop and escape at that point. Now what does grow back is also not colorful. It's most likely going to be white. Not very pretty, not for show. This can also compromise the health of your leopard gecko. A leopard gecko that's lost it's tail is going to be weak, it's going to be stressed, and your going to need to take special measure to make sure that your leopard gecko is going to make it through the loss of its tail. Now a couple things you can do is you can quarantine it into a separate cage, and you definitely want to raise the temperatures. In any sick reptile, raise the temperatures, it always helps. You also want to make sure they have plenty off food, plenty of fresh water, and a nice warm area, but also a nice cool area to thermo-regulate. Now another health issue is shedding. A lot of times leopard geckos cannot properly shed. This is for several different reasons. Sometimes the temperatures are too low. Sometimes they lack vitamin A, which is not something that is taken in in large amounts, but it is something that is found in most reptile supplements. Even in low dosages you just want to make sure that your leopard geckos is able to have at least a little bit once a week or so of a vitamin A mix. Now another reason your leopard gecko may not be able to shed is the humidity may be too low. Another reason would be parasites, external parasites such as mites or ticks. Leopard geckos don't get this very often, but it is something that can cause your leopard gecko to have trouble shedding. So carefully examine the body and make sure you don't see any little bugs. Look carefully between the toes and in the folds of the skin. Now also you'd want to make sure that you have a humid shelter available. If you have this shelter available at all times, you will not have a problem with shedding, almost guaranteed. Now this inability to shed and if it's not treated and taken care of, it will cause the leopard gecko to become ill, it will cause it to lose weight, and it will become a little bit listless. Now addition to becoming inactive and losing weigh, if your leopard gecko is unable to shed, it may also develop eye problems. It can cause infections on the digits, especially in those little small areas like the fingers and toes and maybe even the tip of its tail. If skin is kept on there for an extended period of time, it can cause an infection which can cause loss of the toes. Now if you're having trouble helping your leopard gecko to shed, you might want to try using a cotton swab with some peroxide, that may help remove the skin. You can also try lubricating it with like a eye lubrication. Not necessarily the type that gets the redness out of your eyes, but you want to make sure you get specifically eye lubricant. This is often a useful tool in removing attached shed from your leopard gecko."