Do leopard geckos brumate? Worried!

[Gordongecko]

I can't find much on how long a leopard gecko brumates for, if they even truely do. I have a male that is about three years old, have had him for a little over two years. About a month and a half ago, he started staying in his moist hide which is on the cool side at about 70-73 degrees. The warm side was about 80-82 degrees with an undertank heater. He started eating less but he was never a huge eater.

About a week ago I took him to a reptile vet and he took x-rays to look at the bone density and said he was starting to lose bone mass. He just recently had started to kind of belly slide more but he does walk and the vet said his bones are not soft yet so not affected with MBD terribly yet. Dumb me never thought to check the expiration of the calcium jar! I am kicking myself!!

Anyway, do geckos brumate if they are males who have never had a female with them? Also, if so, how do I get him to come out of it? How long can he go without eating? I am giving him some Neo-Calglucon that the vet prescribed for calcium and I am trying to syringe feed him meat baby food with calcium powder mixed in that. The problem is, he does not want to eat it or anything else. He is still in good weight and eyes clear. He just seems sleepy or really tired, but maybe he doesn't feel well!?! He has the spunk though when I do try to feed him or give him water so I am hopeful.

I now have the the warm side up to about 85 degrees but it seems like he really does prefer the cool side. Oh, I have never had him on any kind of substrate that he can ingest so that is not a concern. Sorry so long, but wanted to give as much detail as possible. I am worried.

 

[Tony C]

You need to warm him up, your temps are way too cold and will cause him to slow or stop feeding. The warm side should be 95-98, not 85.

Also, you mentioned expired calcium, is it a pure calcium supplement, or calcium and D3? Pure calcium will not expire.

 

[Gordongecko]

It was calcium with D3. I will definitely get a warmer bulb then. Even on the warm side it seems like he wants to go to the cool side. If I have the heat up to 90-95 degrees and he goes to the cooler side, should I prevent that? How do I get him to come out of brumation, if that is what it is? Will just the warmer temps do it or is it too late maybe?

What are "classic" signs of brumation?

Also, my vet told me to turn off all lights at night. That would definitely drop the temps to the 70s as we keep our house cool. He said in the desert the nights get cool so that would be a natural cycle. I haven't done that though as I am afraid if he is definitely brumating I don't want him to keep doing it.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Tony C]

Your vet has given you some bad advice. Take a look at Gregg M's care sheet, it is a great resource for basic husbandry. I would strongly suggest using an undertank heat pad as your primary heat source instead of a light, it is a much more efficient method of heating. Since your house is cool, you could keep the light on as well to boost the ambient air temperature, which should not drop below 80. You can leave an infrared or black heat bulb on all the time, it will not disturb their nocturnal activity.

 

[Gordongecko]

Yes, I do have an undertank heat pad and a 75 watt infrared bulb on at all times. I have also been told they do not need the UV light but I have one anyway to try to simulate true night and day cycles. I will pick up a 100 watt infrared tomorrow to boost the temps.

Do you know if that will/should bring him out of being so "sleepy?"

 

[Tony C]

He should become much more active and resume eating once you get his temps up.

 

[Gordongecko]

Is an infrared bulb or a basking light better to use for heat? I always used the infrared thinking that the basking lights would be too bright and he would want to hide on the cool side.

 

[Misstasha]

i went out of town for three days, left a friend in charge, i have a UTH and a basking bulb, without the basking bulb my temps never seem right - while i was out of town the bulb burnt out... with in three days all my leos stopped eating, and were very slow! i never seen them... I put a heater in the room got a new bulb and now they are always walking around ... I aloso hvae a large 60 gallon tank (its square so theres more floor space) in the winter my leos only stay on their hot side but they are very active on their hot side.

 

[amygotgrace]

Question please. My gecko is doing the same thing. It has been 6 days and I've only seen him once. His temps on the warm side are 94.5 and around 70 on the cool side. If the temps weren't warm enough for him wouldn't he stay on the warmer side more? I'm a newbie so please bare with me. :main_huh:

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I use a temperature probe thermometer or Infrared temperature gun to make sure my leos have a warm spot on the floor of about 89-92 degrees that is generated by an Under tank heater. I do not recommend using overtank heat unless your home is under 65 degrees the majority of the time. If it is cool in your home I would recommend getting a black light or a Ceramic Heat Emitter. Both red light and full spectrum lights are visible by most gecko species and will mostly stress your guy out while pulling humidity out of his enclosure - especially if the tank is smaller than a 20 gallon.

Does he have a moist hide? You gecko may be looking for a humid spot in his tank since the lights dry out the warm side. He also could be looking to get out of the light. Make sure he has a good hide that he can go into to get 100% out of the light on both the warm and cool side of the tank as well as a moist hide.

As others have said, Pure calcium does not expire but if it is mixed with anything like other vitamins or D3 those may degrade over time.

Good luck with him and keep us posted on how he does!