Concerned about my Leo

Hey everybody is been a while since I posted on here. My little girl has been doing really well she's been eating and sleeping and doing all the good things that Leopard geckos do.
However in the past two days maybe three she has been sleeping in a completely different area of the terrarium. I would say that she usually sleeps and her dark hide a little cave like structure about 98% of the time.
Now she is sleeping in an open area of the terrarium that is surrounded by high wall rock like structure that has an under the tank heater and a heat lamp above it. This morning I found her sleeping and what looks like the most comfortable position I have ever seen her in where her belly is completely on the ground and her legs and arms are just sprawled out not holding herself up at all. She did wake up when I said hello and stood up with no problem. I have been feeding her with much larger mealworms than normal because these pet store had not got the medium size mealworms that I normally feed to her in yet.
Could it be that she needs more heat on her belly to digest then normal because of the larger worms? Also the last two poops that she has made have been mostly white with very little dark.
Any insight that any of you may have would be very helpful.

Thanks


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tomcatguy74 said:

she usually sleeps and her dark hide a little cave like structure about 98% of the time.

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Is this the "cool hide" on the cool side?

tomcatguy74 said:

Now she is sleeping in an open area of the terrarium that is surrounded by high wall rock like structure that has an under the tank heater and a heat lamp above it.

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On the warm-side floor, outside the "warm hide"....this can be quite normal. They self-regulate and this spot happens to have the most-preferred belly-temp and/or ambient-air temp.

tomcatguy74 said:

This morning I found her sleeping and what looks like the most comfortable position I have ever seen her in where her belly is completely on the ground and her legs and arms are just sprawled out not holding herself up at all.

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This is normal. I would be worried if she DIDN"T sleep well. Mine sprawl out allll the time, even in the open floor areas.

tomcatguy74 said:

Also the last two poops that she has made have been mostly white with very little dark.

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By "mostly white," I am going to assume that you mean it is "mostly urate" (solid white excrement). This is normal if they have "skipped a meal" or are just taking a little longer to digest the food...so there is no feces ready to be expelled.

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Overall, all sounds like there is no problem (assuming the "mostly white" stuff is urate....not a white feces).

What does intrigue/slightly-concern me: She spends so much time on the (I assume) cool-side...that it worries you when she started spending time on the warm-side? If this is correct, I would like to know how often and how much you feed her.

I am suspecting that you could feed her more and/or more often. If she has no need to digest, she would probably spend her time on the coolside. I feed my leo's plenty, and they spend alot of time on the warm side to digest....then they have routine fecals that are never "urate-only" unless they stopped eating due to ovulation/egg-laying. So my observations of my leo's eating/warming/pooping habits are my basis for my theory. (All leo's are different..your results may vary..lol)

Not sure about your area of the country, but where I live the weather is just starting to get warmer, many people begin to run their heat less often when this happens meaning that air temps in the house actually go down a bit. This could definitely explain why your leo has started spending more time in a warmer area. Have you noticed any changes in air temperatures in her tank?

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Sorry I haven't replied sooner but I found out why she was spending so much time in that area as opposed to her normal hide. Yesterday when I I looked in her terrarium again she was not in the same place she was hanging out for so long, she was back inside of her normal hide.
When I went to pick up her hide see how she was doing she was "getting undressed ". I found her in mid shed.
She must of had some trouble trying to shed that's why she stayed in that area for so long. She has a perfectly set up moist cool hide that she normally uses.
When I saw her at first it looked like she was sleeping and then her head snapped to the right and looked at me like she was surprised. I came to my own conclusion that she must had trouble getting the shed off so I lightly misted her with water.
About an hour went by and I went back to check on her and she had completed the shed.
This morning when I went to check on her it looked like she either pooped out solid shed or she threw it up in the middle of the night. I picked her up and look at her and she was alert and acting normal like nothing was wrong and I didn't see any problems.




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Keep an eye on her to see if she is eating, not vomiting, and proper fecals. They should only vomit if they eat too much, and that is usually only once when they are young and don't know what "full" feels like. Eating shed skin shouldn't be too much volume for her stomach, unless she has a really small stomach maybe??

btw, You never said how much or how often you feed her?

Well that's another concern that I have. I feel like I might be feeding her too much.
I keep a constant supply of mealworms in a small dish and her terrarium for her to feed on whenever she wants. I also often take her out of her cage and put her on a small chair and let her chase mealworms that I give her myself. Her staple diet is mealworms now lately the mealworms that I have been giving her are large and that is because those the only ones that my pet store has at the time that they sell in a refrigerator. I give her the refrigerated mealworms because they last a lot longer and I can keep 500 at a time. All the mealworms that I put in her small dish for her terrarium are dusted with calcium and D3. When I take her out of her terrarium and feed her mealworms myself I take them from that dish.
I took these pictures of her today.
I don't know if I'm feeding her too much or she's not digesting them properly. She is making poops on a normal schedule. The only thing that has changed in the past three weeks is I gave her some crickets which she doesn't normally eat as a treat and the large mealworms.
There are times when I try to feed her myself and she blows me off because she's not hungry. It's a cute blow off to because I'll put a mealworm in front of her and she will squint her eyes and turn her head and walk away.
One other thing I am concerned about is today I noticed a bright white spot in her belly that moves around when she squirms. I have researched it and a lot of people say that it's just urate that's moving in her bladder. I hope this is what that is.




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Ok, yeah, she definitely doesn't look underfed...nice plump tail .

I would really like to see a pic of her belly. Please try to make sure the white-spot you mentioned is as clear as possible....play with the lighting around you to reduce white-belly-glare, as needed.

Her belly is as big & wide as my gravid females, so I am wondering if you are seeing eggs/ovulation in her belly. (she doesn't have to have mated).

**edit: Ohhh, and ovulation may be a cause for females to change up their routines and favorite sleep spots/temps.

Here is a pic from today. The spot is smaller but looks more broken up. Sorry it's blurry but it's the best I could get for now. I will try again later.


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The pic is just a little too blurry and has just a little too much white-belly-glare.

Where is the white spot normally found at? (left side, center, right side??...when looking at belly?)

In the pics below, you will see my girl Ruby has "white spots that move around when she squirms" also. Right now, she has a developing egg visible on the left side (when facing belly), and it appears "broken up" because of dark "organs/veins" that make it appear divided (separate pieces).

You will also see that sometimes "less lighting shows more". The belly is already white, so turn down the lights halfway to reduce glare. Then any decent camera/phone can detect the "white object" as long as it is whiter than the belly. (It should be, since you see the white object shining through the white belly).

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Originally Posted by tb144050
April 2, 2014 (7 days after laying)
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.^^Nothing very distinct is visible in the photos yet.



Ok, tonight on "Day 9 after laying", I can see some 'production' going on. Looking at her tonight and then reviewing the pic from 2 days ago,...now I can kinda see the first sign of a small white mass in her center in the quoted pic above. it appears it grew slightly while moving to its location on the left side (while facing belly).
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In my pic you can see dark area shaped like a fork. At the top of the fork there is a darker spot just to the right. Right beneath that spot is where the white spot is.


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tomcatguy74 said:

In my pic you can see dark area shaped like a fork. At the top of the fork there is a darker spot just to the right. Right beneath that spot is where the white spot is.


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I just can't see the details in your photo. If it looks like the pic below, then it might be ovulation or even eggs (whether she has been mated or not). Ovulation and/or eggs are distinctly whiter (at times) than the belly. Good luck.
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I believe I see a urate forming (totally normal) and possibly a bit of ovulation. Nothing to worry about. She's definitely plump. I like my leos to eat when I feed them so I know they're hungry and healthy so I feed my adults once or twice a week. Females usually twice and males possibly only once. If she's ovulating I would expect her to decrease the amount she's eating. Most of my females stop eating for 2-8 weeks but I have a couple that are total pigs and eat right on through. She definitely can stand a bit of a fast so I wouldn't worry much if she's not eating as well for the next few weeks or so

Great news about the white spot doc! Thanks.
About the fat belly......should I stop feeding her myself for awhile and let her only eat from the bowl in her home?


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Doc?


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tomcatguy74 said:

Doc?


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I can tell you what DrCarrotTail always recommends

"Whether adult or juvenile, try to limit weight-gain to about 2grams/week." This might mean you need to remove the 24/7 mealworm tub and/or limit feeding just a bit. Before changing anything, I would be sure to monitor weight gain for a couple weeks to see if she is gaining too much weight too quickly.