My cousin's Crestie died.

**Pareeeee** · 02-12-17, 01:35 PM

Hey everyone. I got a message that my 15 y/o cousin's crested gecko died this morning. I was the one who had recommended a crestie to her, and gave her instructions on how to keep it. Her mom sent me a message, they want to know why he died. I told her it could be any number of things, but that I would ask you guys if you had any input at all. My cousin was really attached to the little guy and is trying to make sense of things. Jack was only between 1 and 2 years old.

Here's the message I got:

Quote:

Good morning, Paris. I have a question about [cousin's name]'s gecko, Jack. He died...When she got up this morning he was on his back and was not moving. She said it looked like there was blood on his mouth. I didn't think he was acting normal yesterday, he looked pale and was awake during the day...but I thought maybe he was getting ready to shed. Do you have any ideas? I know they can live a lot longer, but obviously something was bothering him.

(I asked her some basic questions about the gecko)

Quote:

yes everything looked normal. Just looked pale, like he was about to shed.

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Thank you...we all loved Jack. See if anyone has any answers on the forum. Thank you so much.

He was in a Zoomed enclosure with reptibark, fed Repashy's CGD, misted regularly.

ThirteenRavens · 02-12-17, 02:22 PM

I'm sorry to hear this

I had a crestie that was given to me by a dear friend and one of my worthless cats killed him............hopefully someone can give you some insight soon =/

Cyclops · 02-12-17, 04:26 PM

I am sorry for your loss... I am sure he enjoyed life.

sirtalis · 02-12-17, 06:46 PM

Here's a thought, cresties require high humidity but a screen enclosure can't really offer high humidiy, perhaps they should have a more enclosed environment to allow more humidity? Idk, just a thought. With monitors their internal organs slowly dry up if they don't have appropriate humidity so it may be the same with cresties.

**Pareeeee** · 02-12-17, 08:13 PM

It wasn't a screen enclosure, it was the glass one.

RAD House · 02-12-17, 10:13 PM

Unfortunately without a necropsy or description of symptoms you may never know. Was the animal captive hatched from a good source? It could have been a congenital problem. Unfortunately not all creatures are meant to thrive. I think the best you may be able to do is explain that this was a freak occurance and point them to a better source.

**Pareeeee** · 02-13-17, 06:19 AM

I believe it's a good source. I have never heard any bad things about this guy's herps before. Perhaps Jack was already ill and they didn't notice the signs, or had sustained some sort of injury and the stress of the shed on top of it did him in. Unfortunately it was very sudden with few symptoms. I already told her that it could be pretty much anything but that I would still ask here just in case. This will be very hard on her - the family cat just passed as well (died with a "yowl" in her room beside her bed in the middle of the night). A lot for a 15 y/o, who absolutely loves animals, to deal with.

GyGbeetle · 02-13-17, 09:00 AM

I had a baby boa die in November. The vet told me that reptiles tend to hang on to illness longer than any other pets. So there could be something fatally wrong with them, but unfortunately, you won't know or realize it until it's too late to do anything about it. The only way to know for sure is to have a necropsy performed within 24 hours of the pet passing away. That way, they will have resolution in knowing what killed Jack. Otherwise, it's just a guessing game. We unfortunately didn't perform a necropsy on Oreo, so I have no way of knowing if she passed away due to a congenital issue or if it was improper care or injury. She was fine, and then she wasn't fine, and then she passed.

**Aaron_S** · 02-13-17, 09:47 AM

Cancer. to make your cousin feel better say it was likely a cancer/tumour and reptiles don't normally show symptoms the way we do until it's far too late. Nothing they could have done.

sirtalis · 02-13-17, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pareeeee

It wasn't a screen enclosure, it was the glass one.

My bad, sorry about that

**Andy_G** · 02-13-17, 12:53 PM

I'd agree with Aaron. These things are almost bulletproof unless they get too much heat or you literally starve them. Sorry for your cousin's loss.

Albert Clark · 02-14-17, 07:08 AM

Sorry to hear about the loss. Always a difficult and challenging experience to deal with. However we can't really can't blame ourselves or our practices bc these are fragile creatures that are susceptible to many unforseen instances. Sudden death in reptiles is very prevalent. I hope you all can mourn the loss and bounce back quickly maybe even with a new crested soon. Best wishes.