Ocular findings in a group of healthy captive leopard geckos.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Leopard 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 STUDIED: Twenty-six healthy male geckos aged 1 year old (n = 4) and >2 years old (n = 22). PROCEDURES: All 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. RESULTS: All 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. CONCLUSIONS: Leopard geckos are amenable to ophthalmic examination and ocular diagnostic database testing with minimal manual restraint.