Ocular findings in a group of healthy captive leopard geckos

Abstract

ObjectiveLeopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) are popular pets and can be affected by a range of ocular disorders. Our objective was to report ocular findings in a group of healthy captive leopard geckos and to establish reference ranges for commonly performed ocular diagnostic tests.Animals studiedTwenty‐six healthy male geckos aged 1 year old (n = 4) and >2 years old (n = 22).ProceduresAll animals underwent ophthalmic examination, corneal esthesiometry, modified Schirmer tear test (mSTT), rebound tonometry, conjunctival bacterial aerobic and fungal culture, and measurement of ocular dimensions. Student's t test was used to compare values of corneal esthesiometry, tonometry and mSTT between groups. Multiple correlations were assessed by Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsAll animals had a normal ocular examination. Tear production as measured with a mSTT (mean ± SD) technique was 3.1 ± 1.3 mm/min and tonometry values (mean ± SD) were 8.2 ± 1.7 mm Hg. Corneal touch threshold (median, range) was 4.4 cm, 2.5‐5.0. Younger animals had a significantly increased corneal sensitivity compared to older animals (P = .0383). Results of culture showed no growth for fungal organism in any animals. Conjunctival bacterial isolation rates were low, with only 7/26 samples positive for nine bacterial species.ConclusionsLeopard geckos are amenable to ophthalmic examination and ocular diagnostic database testing with minimal manual restraint.

Antibiotic stewardship for reptiles

“…Studies have been performed to establish the range of normal conjunctival bacteria in a few reptile species, with variable results. In iguanas and leopard geckos, a range of bacteria have been shown to be present, but Gram-positives such as Staphylococcus species predominate (Cordeiro de Araujo et al 2017, Camacho-Luna et al 2020.…”