infected tail after shedding

[newbie2003]

We have just acquired a 2 year old leopard gecko one week ago. On the day we brought it home, it started to shed. Most of the shed has come off, except on the tail. Within the last 3 days we started to see some dark spots on her tail. Now there are red and dark spots, the tail is shrivelling and she smells bad. She has not eaten since she arrived, even though we got new crickets and wax worms. Can someone help us, please?!
[addsig]

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[JonnyB]

I don't know that much but sounds like a vet trip would be a good idea
Good luck and Welcome to RTB/RH [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
[addsig]

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Constrictor_BO]

You definately need to call around and find a herp vet to take your gecko to. It sounds like the tail is infected pretty bad if it is smelling and antibiotics are needed to clear it up.

Where did you get the gecko from? One week is not really enough time for an infection that bad to occur from just a bad shed IMHO unless it is living in filthy conditions and I cant see that being the case in just one week. It sounds as if something more is going on there. If you got it from a store or breeder, you might aught to call them and let them know about it also. Most things purchased from places like that have a 30 day health garantee.

In the future. When you gecko sheds, you need to look it over and help remove any part of shed that didnt come off. Be carefull when doing so because you can cause damage to it's toes, legs and such if you are too rough.
[addsig]

[eddie]

First off, welcome to Reptilehaven! (RTB to me still....)

At this point, yes, a vet trip is needed as it does sound like a nasty infection that may be on the way to being systematic and will lead to the demise of the leo if not treated.

Now lets talk prevention.

Leos need at least one humid hide, usually a small tupperware container with some sphangum moss to aid in shedding.
During the shed faze, you will see the colors get dull to nearly white, this is the time to find the tweezers, to have on hand, for when the shedding is complete.
After the leo pulls its shed skin off, there may be small bits of old skin still attatched to anywhere on it, the tail, toes, nostrils, eys etc. Check evrywhere!
Use the tweezers to gently get the shed skin off of where it is to prevent constriction of the involved parts. Even the tiniest amount of retained shed can cause loss of the toes and tail.
In other areas, such as the eyes, the shed will harden and can scratch the eyes, causing blindness up to infections, which will become deadly very quickly.

Here's a pic of a leo that suffered from retained shed which caused the loss of most toes and scratched eyes.


The scratched eyes, led to the inability to hunt, therefore eat.
It was left untreated for retained shed for quite some time, allowing further damage to the eys, leading to an infection severe enough that the eyes did not exist and there was no hope for it. ( I put it down asap!)

[addsig]