Adopted a leo with health issues... Needs nutrients

[Zenyatta]

Hello guys -

So I just adopted a male leopard gecko from a friend. I was a bit "tricked" into taking him as I didn't realize that when I gave her two of mine, I HAD to take him because she needed that cage for the two juveniles. I'm ok with it because he is the sweetest, calmest little dude, and he's beautiful.

However, I have concerns that he was not kept as well as he should have been. Her other leo seemed to be in good condition, and this guy looked physically ok, other than his tail was slightly skinnier than it should be. The problem is that when I put him on sand, he immediately started lapping it up. I took him away again and eventually reintroduced him (keeping an eye on him) simply because I needed to get rid of the extra tank in my room. I hadn't seen him eat any sand since then, but I hadn't seen him eat any food either. However, I realized last night that there are several poops in the cage that are solid sand, which obviously alarmed me very badly.

I immediately put him back in a tank with paper towels and fed him some mealworms, which he lapped up. I also attempted to give him some calcium but none of my leos seem to like the taste of it, and he's no exception. He wouldn't eat the worms with powder on them. I realize that he probably is malnourished or hasn't had enough calcium/vitamins and I'm worried about him. How do I get him back to health at this point? He doesn't seem too badly off, as long as he passes whatever sand might still be inside him. I just want him to gain weight and get the calcium he needs.

And yes, I'm considering switching to reptile carpet instead of sand, although I have had absolutely no issues with any of the other geckos, just this guy. Since he's male, come January/February he'll have to be in his own tank because I don't know if I want to breed him or not. At this rate I'm heavily leaning towards no, and absolutely not if he's not back to health.

Please help me know of any products I need to buy, anything I can give him that might get him some quick nutrients, etc. Thank you!

 

[JennyBeen]

My gecko came with a jar of fluker's cricket gutload that is specifically enriched with calcium. I'm new to this, but the mealworms love it and engorged themselves on it. Maybe this would help get the calcium in him if he's fussy about the dusting?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Adult males tend to eat next to nothing if they're happy and well fed. I feed mine about 10 mealworms each per week and they are all in the 50-90g range. He may not be picky about dusting but simply not hungry.

Sand is a difficult topic. Many folks have successfully kept geckos on it for long periods of time without a problem. I believe the issues occur most often in geckos that are deficient in some vitamin or mineral like your guy seems to be. Calcium sand is especially dangerous as it turns to cement when it hits stomach acid and once this happens the gecko is pretty much lost even though they take a super long time to waste away and die, sorry to say. I would be very worried if you've actually seen your guy eating sand and get him off it ASAP - especially if its calcium sand. The potential of serious harm is very real.

 

[Zenyatta]

Oh, that is not the news I wanted to hear. He's already off the sand, the second I saw the poops I took him out. Are there any signs to look for that he damaged his stomach?

Also, he's eating pretty heartily now that he's isolated in a smaller tank. The only worms he wouldn't eat were the ones that were dusted because he licked them first. He gobbled the rest up. ALL of my geckos do that, haha. Picky little turds. He also ate several crickets last night and still seemed a bit hungry. Thankfully he'll eat the dusted crickets since he can't take the time to lick them like he does the worms. I know the male I had before this one hardly ate, but I attributed that to his having MBD and not getting around easily. I did get him to eat worms occasionally though.

Still, very very sad about this potential scenario. I'm going to pray that I caught it in time. He was only on the sand for a day or two. But I'm sure that's all it takes.