I had a 5 year old female leopard-gecko (some sort of albino morph) in for a check-up since the owner suspected mouth rot.
Owner first noticed the patch on the lips a couple of weeks ago, and since the it has grown a bit. She is the third owner of this gecko and as far as she knows it has no previous illness, except possibly dehydration and some shedding-difficulties at the previous owner.
Owner has suspected that she might be a bit neurologically "off" because she is a bit goofy during feedings.
Gets mainly mealworms, vit D3 and calsium but no vit A.
Temp is between 23-25 in the cage. Heating mat. No overhead heat-source. No UV.
Normal feces and eats as normal according to owner, but she hasn't eaten for a week now.
Weigth: 29g
I see this patch of skin, but no big changes in the mouth itself. I took a dental xray lateral and VD of the mouth, but couldn't see any changes in the bony tissues. I can find the images on monday if you want to see.
What would you do with this pasient?
I'm thinking more varied diet, vit A supplement, maybe a better heating option and an increase in temp, analgesia and antibiotics if this actually is mouth-rot. I was also wondering if it might be fungal or even a burn of the skin if the gecko has burrowed down to the heating mat.
That gecko looks terrible. It is a myth these do not need UV light. I’d culture the mouth, do rads/ct, test for the usual vita and tell the owner to revisit the husbandry. That said, the prognosis looks bad