My poor leopard gecko

[ChiKat]

Echo is my 12-year old leopard gecko. A few months ago he had a really bad shed, and ended up hurting his eyes- one eye was completely closed/infected. I brought him to the vet who prescribed eye drops. She also did things with his hemipenes and a pair of tweezers that I'm pretty sure he will never forgive me for
So I had to give him eyedrops twice a day, and eventually his eyes improved. This entailed wrapping the squirmy guy in a washcloth.
The vet was adamant that he would need surgery to remove abscesses on the top of his head, but at our follow-up appointment she determined surgery was unnecessary.
The next problem was getting him to eat. He lost a fair amount of weight throughout this whole ordeal. He is finally eating again.

This was at the follow-up appointment. He was noticeably skinnier than he had ever been.

Well now he is extremely skittish. He never liked to be handled, so I always left him alone. He would bask on top of his hide practically all day. He never moved when I opened the lid of his tank, or walked past, or whatever.

Now he hides all day. If he pokes his head out and sees someone walk past he FREAKS OUT and hurries back to the safety of his cave.
I'm worried that he will never be the same.
I covered part of his enclosure with paper to make him feel more secure, but I don't know if that's a good idea. He is already in a secluded part of the house.

The only way I can get him to eat is if I put his food dish at the opening of his cave, so he barely has to leave the security of his cave.

If you have any advice of what I can do to make him not hate life, I would appreciate it!

Chunky monkey in his happier days:

 

[ascott]

IMHO....once your gecko is fully healed and then time passes I bet he will work things out again.....by the way he is beautiful

 

[ChiKat]

Thanks Angela, I hope you are right!

 

[Angi]

Poor guy . I have a couple other questions about him. How big is he? When did he reach full size? Do you have over head heat or just under heat. I am asking because I am pretty new to Geckos.

 

[Jacqui]

Poor guy. Did you figure out why the bad shed? Not enough humidity or what?

 

[Tom]

Do you have a small dark humid hide for him? Those help a lot with the shedding issues.

For the shyness, try hand feeding. When he starts to see you as the "food goddess" again, instead of the "washcloth tormentor", his attitude will change. See if you can find some Blatta lateralis. They call them "red runners". They are active little roaches and tend not to hide and bury themselves. Their frantic running around often awakens the "hunter" in little leopard geckos. If you hold them by the end of the abdomen with your thumb and forefinger, your little man will begin to associate YOU with the little wiggling yummy treats.

 

[ChiKat]

The shedding issues were due to lack of humidity. I bought some new sphagnum moss to put in his humid hide, and his sheds have been normal since.

Angi- to be honest I can't remember when he was full grown! He is pretty big, especially compared to my tiny female! If he ever decides not to hate life I will measure him for you.
I only use an overhead bulb (an overpriced black light) because that is what was recommended back in the day. I looked up a leopard gecko care sheet recently out of curiosity, and it looks like people recommend under tank heaters now.

Tom- thanks for the suggestions! I will try hand feeding. May have to bribe him with a waxworm