escaped leo

[sochellysays]

One of my juvenile leos escaped a little less than a week ago. I literally TORE apart my room in search of the little bugger, with absolutely no success. I looked in every nook and cranny. NOTHING. The only place it could have gone was into a small hole around the heater pipe into the walls of my house. I kept hoping that maybe he didn't go there. Turns out, he did. I found poop in the bathroom 2-3 days after he disappeared. The bathroom too had a hole into the wall where the heater pipes go. The poop was dry so I am not sure if that was from the first night. Now the possibilities are endless. The upstairs is the hottest so I am doubting he went downstairs. It is at least 10 degrees hotter up here. I keep scanning the floors every night before I have gone to bed. I have left mealies out, as well as a heat light-nothing. Now as I look more into my house I find more holes.. and then in the other upstairs bedroom there is a door that leads to the "attic". The door was left open, which now I am completely hopeless. Inside the attic there are holes in the floor, on the ceiling, in the walls...EVERYWHERE. The attic is probably a bit warmer too, and of course more dark.

Is there any way I would be able to see my little guy again? I am completely devastated.
Is there possibly any way I would be able to lure him out of the walls, or where ever he might be?

 

[thibeau89]

My guess is , if your in the house where the gecko is lost and you cant find him your chances of someone over the internet finding him are very small ! Other then that good luck finding him and be carefully in the future with proper care you shouldnt have him escaping.:main_robin:

 

[sochellysays]

I'm merely asking for advice in order to find my gecko, not for someone over the "internet" to find him.. I am more than positive I am not the only one this has happened to. Even the best of us make careless mistakes. No one can be perfect 100% of the time. Since it is impossible to turn back the clocks I would like the fix the mistake rather then dwell on what I should have done. I do think I have done enough of that already. It just takes up the time I could use on thinking of what to do to find him.
I appreciate the "good luck" (of course, thank you for that), but you must understand the stress I am undergoing since time is quickly running out. I have read of geckos lasting months before owners happening to find them, but I got this gecko with a skinny tail from *****. The tail did fatten noticeably, but definitely not enough to last a couple months. We do have occasional bugs running around since I do live practically in the woods. Hopefully something can provide a snack for him in the mean time. As of now, I sit and wait for some kind of miracle.

Maybe I have done everything I could, but maybe someone out there has a life saving idea.

 

[stellascura420]

I've never had a leo escape but I can only imagine what it must be like. The only idea I have would be to leave a dish of mealies or waxworms out to attract him. I've heard some people put out humid hides to try to lure them out. Maybe you could try a calcium dish too, who knows, he could smell it and come licking? Good luck I hope you find him soon!

 

[Wreptile]

Maybe try putting hides next to each one of the holes?

 

[porcelaindoll]

I have a trick I learned. Leave food out in various places. And around the area, put flour or some powdery substance and when your leo walks away, you can trace the little toes.

 

[Linford]

Mousetraps on heatmat with mealies or waxworms as bait at every wall hole. Works every time for me!

Joking! but in all seriousness, good luck. Iv had close calls when iv left my tank-front open and woke up to sctraching wth my gecko tryng to get down the chest of draws the tanks on.

 

[GeckoGathering]

LOST and FOUND (ESCAPEES)

One of my juvenile leos escaped a little less than a week ago. I literally TORE apart my room in search of the little bugger, with absolutely no success. I looked in every nook and cranny. NOTHING. The only place it could have gone was into a small hole around the heater pipe into the walls of my house. I kept hoping that maybe he didn't go there. Turns out, he did. I found poop in the bathroom 2-3 days after he disappeared. The bathroom too had a hole into the wall where the heater pipes go. The poop was dry so I am not sure if that was from the first night. Now the possibilities are endless. The upstairs is the hottest so I am doubting he went downstairs. It is at least 10 degrees hotter up here. I keep scanning the floors every night before I have gone to bed. I have left mealies out, as well as a heat light-nothing. Now as I look more into my house I find more holes.. and then in the other upstairs bedroom there is a door that leads to the "attic". The door was left open, which now I am completely hopeless. Inside the attic there are holes in the floor, on the ceiling, in the walls...EVERYWHERE. The attic is probably a bit warmer too, and of course more dark.

Is there any way I would be able to see my little guy again? I am completely devastated.
Is there possibly any way I would be able to lure him out of the walls, or where ever he might be?

TAKE TIME TO PULL THIS UP!
GOOD LUCK. Take care. HJ

http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=34820​

 

[sochellysays]

Thank you all for your support and ideas! A week has passed and still no sign of him. I've placed a heat lamp, mealies, a moist hide, and a calcium dish in the attic. The attic is probably around 80 degrees maybe a little warmer. My room is the hottest room in the house being 76 degrees and it slowly drops from there. The basement is probably 70 as well as downstairs. I'm going to set up more traps tonight.
Thank you again!

 

[GeckoGal]

And don't give up! I had a freind that lost a young cornsnake for 4 months.Then found i'ts shed skin in the basement and they put a mouse in a large bucket. The next day the mouse was gone! did the same thing a few days later but stayed up and watched.... Bingo! they found the snake!!! and it even gained weight! so good luck and I really hope you find it!!!

 

[sochellysays]

It has been over a month since I lost my dear leo. I left traps but after a couple weeks I stopped checking them all. Today I just randomly decided to check the traps. The first place I look.. no sign of him walking there. The second place, still no sign. I disposed of both traps. I went up to one side of the attic. I couldn't believe it when I looked inside the trap, expecting nothing.. I saw tiny little footprints. I nearly freaked out. I couldn't really look much since most of that side was blocked my the central air and again I lost hope. I went to the other side of the attic which is located next to my room. I looked in the bowl of calcium dust and there were again, footprints! I checked a little over a week ago and there was nothing. I started to get hopeful but it still looked a tad hopeless when I looked all over the tiny attic covered with junk and holes in the walls and floors. I decided to lift up a board that was in a pile.. and I saw something in the corner of my eye scurry away further beneath them. I started again to nearly panic yelling at my boyfriend who told me to give up hope since he was most likely dead and he didn't want me to be upset when I found him. I screamed "I think I saw him! Well.. it was him a mouse or a giant *** bug!". Then I started to convince myself I was imagining things. My boyfriend lifted up the rest of the boards and at the other end of the attic, my little guy's spotted head poked out! I started crying. I couldn't believe he was alive. He didn't even get much skinnier. He slowly started to creep towards us, so I tried to coax him with a christmas cane decoration towards me, but it did the complete opposite and he darted the other direction and fell down a huge hole. My heart shattered and I started being a big baby. I was bawling my little eyes out. I completely lost hope and we tried to look for where the hole led to but couldn't find anything. I went back into the attic to find that the hole was less than a foot deep. He was under the floor boards. So he is now in a approximately 1ft by 20ft area. I left something in which he could clime out of. I put out more calcium, mealworms, water, and a heat lamp. Now i'm hoping he will come out tonight.. But my lord, HE IS ALIVE!

 

[jschaf1]

OMG! I hope you find the little fellow again and manage to catch him! He's definitly a survivor that's for sure. Hope it all works out! Thank goodness geckos are such robust and hardy creatures. I'm pretty sure most other types of lizards would have perished by now.

 

[sochellysays]

He was found! I placed food in the hole to make sure he was still in there. I checked later that night and nothing was eaten. As I turned around I saw his tail sticking out under a bunch of christmas decorations. I was scared of losing him again so i snuck up on him and grabbed him where ever I could, which happened to be his tail. I quickly put him in a tub next to me. Hes fine and so is his tail (THANKGOD). The size difference from him and my other gecko is very noticeable. He is probably half the body weight and is a lot skinnier then I first thought. He ate 4 mealies right away though, so good thing his appetite is booming.
Thank you everyone for your help! I'm going to make sure this will never happen again.

He was gone for EXACTLY 5 weeks.

 

[gitrdone0420]

Wow! That is amazing. I have had an escape artist... I know the feeling. Im really glad that you found him!

 

[ajveachster]

Congrats! Hope he fattens up again for you.

 

[GeckoNub]

Grats on finding him

I cant even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to lose him

Really glad hes ok I love happy endings :bigcry:

 

[mainelygeckos]

omg way to go! I am so happy you found him and just now reading over this thread gave me the chills. I woulda cried like a baby too so do not feel like a bawl baby for it. That just means we love and care about our pets Congrats again on finding him!

 

[jschaf1]

Hurray!!! :2thumbsup: I'm so happy you finally caught him and that he is safe and healthy. I've been wondering and worrying if you were ever going to find the little guy. I'm so glad this whole ordeal has a happy ending to it!! The little guy must have had quite an adventure roaming around the insides of your house. Maybe Disney will could make it into a movie!? :main_laugh:

 

[bromide]

thats amazing! 5 weeks is pretty long!

 

[roger]

Thank you all for your support and ideas! A week has passed and still no sign of him. I've placed a heat lamp, mealies, a moist hide, and a calcium dish in the attic. The attic is probably around 80 degrees maybe a little warmer. My room is the hottest room in the house being 76 degrees and it slowly drops from there. The basement is probably 70 as well as downstairs. I'm going to set up more traps tonight.
Thank you again!

congrats