Eating problem

[Brandy]

I got my leopard gecko Taffy from the local pet store on Christmas Eve. She was in sand and weighed 7g. The first few days she acted like she was starved and ate everything in site. Last week her weight was 9g. I have not seen her eat in 6 days and her weight is back down to 7g. I don't know what could be bothering her. I tried to feed her the soup mix in a dropper this morning and only got her to take a couple licks then she refused anymore. Is it time to call the vet now?

Tank cool side 79 warm 94
Humid hide, splagnum moss, humidity 45%
repti carpet
mealworms and crickets offered (dusted with calcium) and occasional waxworms

 

[Tony C]

Has she been defecating regularly?

 

[Brandy]

Well, I have more than just her so I wasn't sure. She has been seperated into her own tank for 24 hours and hasn't. She did shed 5 days ago, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it but it just seems like a really long time now.

 

[Tony C]

This is one of the reasons why proper quarantine is so important. Good job on separating her from the group, but you should read up on quarantine procedures so that you know how to treat a new gecko in the future.

Keep feeding her the soup, get as much into her as you can, you don't want a gecko that small losing any more weight.

How is her temperament? If she tolerates handling well, pick her up and examine her belly. You are looking for dark spots, and feeling for hard lumps that may indicate an impaction. If you find any then you should immediately start treating her for impaction, and even if you don't find anything, I would try a warm water soak to see if that helps to stimulate defecation.

 

[Brandy]

Yes she has a small dark spot on her belly. Could the impaction be from when she was at the pet store since they kept her in sand even though it's been 2 weeks? I will look up how to treat for impaction now.

 

[Brandy]

Okay, I have her in a warm soak now. Just repeat this twice a day and continue offering the soup twice a day? How long do I let this go on before taking her to the vet?

 

[Tony C]

It could be from the store. I'm on my way out the door, don't have time to type it up, but do a search for impaction and you can find the preferred treatments, if you have any more questions after that I'll do my best to help when I get back home.

 

[Stomlin35]

If you have the means, I would take her to the vet instead of waiting. She could be impacted from the sand from the store... that type of thing generally wouldn't just go away on it's own. If she has blockage, the warm baths should help. You may also want to consider getting her a fecal exam for parasites.

 

[Brandy]

I'll call the vet first thing in the morning and hopefully they can get her in really quick. She had the one dark spot and right after her bath the spot seems a little lower and there are two dark lines on her belly. I'll just take a pic in a min so you can see for yourselves. There also looks like there is a piece of white fecal at her rectum now. Thank you both so much!!

 

[Brandy]

Well she went to the bathroom just a tiny bit. The lines that came up on her belly after the warm soak went away. Here's the pic of her belly now. The spot has definetly moved down some.

 

[Tony C]

It's a good sign that the blockage is moving. You could try giving her a drop of olive or mineral oil to help move it along, and keep soaking her, hopefully it will be able to pass soon.

 

[sworntotheblack]

Aww, the poor thing, I've never experienced that with my geckos but i would say you should take her to the vet. The only impaction pictures i've seen were at my vet and there was a much larger area than that in the gecko's that were impacted but just because its small doesn't meant there is more there or that its not causing an issue.

 

[Brandy]

Well she went to the bathroom a tiny bit more but she seems worse. She is very weak and I can't get her to open her mouth to take the mineral oil. I did give her another warm soak. Now she's burrowed down in her moss, which she's never done before. It seems like the poor baby can barely hold her eyes open. I will be calling the vet first thing in the morning, just wish there was more I could do for her now.

 

[Angel]

Vet will be the best op asap, however keep doing the warm soaks even a few times a day, a drop or two of the oil see if she licks it , has she drank at all ? she needs to get calcium in if she is drinking add some liquid calcium to her water, also try dabbing some calcium powder on her lips see if she licks that up,.

 

[Brandy]

Finally got her to take some oil but now she's just laying in her water dish. Is that okay? I'm afraind she's going to drown herself! She did take a couple licks of pedialyte today.

 

[Tony C]

She could drown, I would remove the water dish for now. She should be getting sufficient water from the gecko soup and pedialyte, so dehydration should not be an issue.

 

[Stomlin35]

If she's laying in her water dish, she's most likely in a lot of pain. At this point, I would say vet is your absolute best option...Get her in there asap. (Personally, I wouldn't remove the water dish completely...just make sure it's shallow)

 

[Brandy]

Well, Taffy didn't make it through the night. I just don't understand how this happened. I thought I was doing everything right and don't have anything that could have impacted her.

 

[jclee]

Don't blame yourself. Juvenile geckos shouldn't be kept on sand, so it sounds like she got her impaction in the petstore. They might even have had her on (shudder) calci-sand. It sounds like the problem was there when you got her, and you did everything you could have.

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

Im sorry she didn't make it, you did what you could. If/when you are ready for a new Leo there are plenty of breeders on this site that can start you out with a healthy animal.