Lynden Veterinary Hospital

Write a Review360-354-7988

OPEN NOW - Closes at 1:00pm

CRESTED GECKO OWNERS BEWARE.Went in with my Crested Gecko, Pastrana, today to get his back checked out thinking it was some sort of break or MBD setting in. At first Dr. Berry seemed great, he said he has 23 years of experience with reptiles and he was saying things initially that matched up with what all of my research had been telling me. He decided that Pastrana had a fracture. He gave Pastrana a Calcium Gluconate injection and said to come back once a week for the next three weeks to have more injections done to jump start the calcium absorption into his system. He then began to tell me that I should keep Pastrana at 85-90 degrees while he's healing to boost his immune system. Those temperatures are very dangerous for a CRESTED GECKO. He then began talking about how pet stores give wrong information (ex. suggest keeping lizards on sand even though it can cause impaction) even though Cresties that I have seen are never kept on sand, even in stores, because they are a TROPICAL ARBOREAL species not a desert ground dweller! It became apparent that maybe this vet didn't know as much as he claimed. That would have been fine until they did the fecal float and determined he had some parasite eggs in his system and needed an Ivermectin injection. One of the assistants came in this time, I didn't catch her name and she isn't listed on his website, she didn't seem to know what she was doing and asked me to hold him so she could give him the shot. He was not happy at all after receiving this second injection, his mouth was gaping, his tail was wagging and twitching and he was trying to bite us, when we first tried to pick him up to get him back in his carrier. I asked her to leave him alone to calm down for a minute and instead of waiting and letting me get him on my own she tried to pick him up again. (Why in such a rush to get us out of the room? It was already closing time no one else should have been coming in at that point.) He darted off the counter onto the floor and then tried to run back underneath the counter. She grabbed him (by his legs, she claims, I couldn't see around her to tell for sure) because apparently they have a hole underneath the counter that goes into the wall. (Why isn't this patched up in a vet clinic that deals with animals small enough to fit inside such a hole like lizards, snakes, mice, and rats?) He dropped his tail but we got him back into his carrier nonetheless.What really made me angry was that the assistant went to confer with Dr. Berry and came back saying that he should be fine because the tail drop is a natural defense mechanism (it is) and it will grow back. OK. Stop right there. Grow back? Anyone who has worked with Cresties at all, or even done a bit of research via Google will know that CRESTED GECKOS DO NOT GROW THEIR TAILS BACK. Thinking maybe he had meant the little nubs that regrow in place of their tails I asked the other assistant who was helping me if I could speak with him personally, she came back and said he was busy working with two other clients at once but that he said to keep the cage clean and if I was worried I could put some Neosporin on the area to prevent infection while it healed up but don't worry, it will grow back.This was my first, AND LAST visit to this vet clinic with ANY reptile. I currently own ten crested geckos, I have had a bearded dragon before, and I'm looking into ball pythons. Under no circumstance will I take any of them to this vet. Even if he is more experienced with a different species of reptile. When I called yesterday to ask about them being able to see a crested I specifically asked if they had worked with the species before and was told that yes, they had seen many crested geckos. Apparently this was not the case because if they had seen this species before they should have been more knowledgeable about care requirements and the species behaviors.

Dr. Berry used to have time for his patients, but not anymore. He's almost never available to answer my questions. He also seems to be very money-driven, as the user below said. He recommends expensive treatments, but when I got a second opinion at another clinic, it turned out that a much cheaper option was available. My friend tells me that he did a surgery on her animal, and the poor thing has never been the same since. Would not recommend!‎