First-time owner needs help with female leopard gecko. :(

[tb144050]

I have had her for 3 weeks. My "questionaire" about food/floor-temps/etc have already been reviewed before (in the "Health & Medications" forum).

She ate for a few days, then stopped. She shed about 4 days later, and I have been waiting for her to eat since then. She ate 1waxworm and 5 mealworms 1 night, but she threw up the half-digested wad of them during the next night.

She was housed with a smaller female and a male of comparable size, but he is skinnier. He also stopped eating for over a week, but he is eating again as of last night. I caught the male biting at both of the females within 2 minutes, so now he is separate.

But please...what can you tell me about her? Approx age? Mature? Sexually mature? Pregnant? (she was housed with this male for 2 weeks here and unknown time with unknown males at the petstore.


Aura^^ (female)




Rex^^ (male with "wax" over pores)

 

[tb144050]

20 something views and I guess no one is sure? Can I hear some "it looks like she might be, but it's too soon to tell's"?

She is a little bigger than she is (length and girth; I am waiting on a scale to come in the mail). And since "males grow faster", I think that means she is older than him. And he is already "waxing".....so is it possible and/or does she possibly look pregnant or anything?

 

[Dinosaur!]

I wish I could help more, but I cant tell if geckos are pregnant for the life of me! those white spots could possibly be eggs, or they might be fat deposits. I really hope it is fat though, as she looks much to small to carry eggs. as for her being sexually mature or not, leos can lay eggs when they are young, but it can cause terrible complications because of their small body size. they could become egg bound, which requires surgery to save them, or they could even die from other complications. its good that they are separate though, and all I can say now is good luck to you!

 

[tb144050]

Thanks for the reply. I hope she isn't pregnant too young. I separated them as soon as I had a clue he was biting at the females, and then I found out to look for the "waxy pores."

 

[stager]

The bitting was him trying to breed. Hope he didn't get her because she is small where it may kill her. Most geckos stop eating while breeding and she don't have much to spare shes already a little skinny. Does seem like she may have eggs forming in there, but not the greatest picture. I'm not trying to lecture you but start researching right now, are you sure the other is female? I would try to feed the heck out of her. Keep us posted

 

[tb144050]

I've seen quite a few pictures of the male "pores" and "lumps". Rex is definitely male, and the other 2 are lacking the equipment. You can see several pics of all of them on my thread in "Health and Medications"...the title is "Just got 3 leos 3 weeks ago..have questions about eating and behavior."

I believe Aura (the possibly pregnant one) finally came out of hiding and ate 12 mealworms last night from the dish. And while I was in the shower tonight (an hour after I turned out the day-light), my wife said Aura came out of the cave and wandered to the corner. In that corner I found a massive well-shaped poop, so I think that was Aura's first food (that she kept down) in almost 2 weeks and 1st poop in about a week.

 

[stager]

Well good luck hope she's not pregnant. Keep us posted

 

[tb144050]

Do they form eggs even if they aren't fertilized? I am hoping this is true. If they are eggs, aybe she will reabsorb unfertilized eggs and avoid the hazard?

 

[Dinosaur!]

yes, sometimes females do produce infertile eggs, especially when a male stimulates them. they will either reabsorb them, or thy will develop them and lay them. if she does lay them though, there is a grater risk of egg binding due to the fact that infertile eggs tend to be larger then fertile ones. so keep the calcium coming, and good luck!

 

[tb144050]

yes, sometimes females do produce infertile eggs, especially when a male stimulates them. they will either reabsorb them, or thy will develop them and lay them. if she does lay them though, there is a grater risk of egg binding due to the fact that infertile eggs tend to be larger then fertile ones. so keep the calcium coming, and good luck!

I am still not "seeing" Aura eat. Last night Karma was stalking/licking the mealworms in the dish but would not eat them. This morning 12 mealies were gone. I hope Aura's shyness made her wait until the dead of night to come out and eat. One of the 2 females made a well-formed feces & urate tonight while I wasn't looking. My wife said Aura was actually out of the hide (unusual) and roaming that corner during the 20 minutes it occured. Whichever female made it, I am glad she is eating and digesting right.

As for the calcium, they won't hunt cricket, so I have sprinkled Calcium-d3 and multivitamin into the water bowl. And of course, there is a cap of calcium-d3 in the tank.

I try to sprinkle calcium+d3 on the mealworms but it really doesn't stick. So I turn on the UVB in the daytime a few days a week hoping to provide atleast a little d3 if they roam (if I understand UVB correctly).

Im still waiting on all 3 of my first geckos to begin eating and defecating normally on a schedule.

 

[Poppy243]

I like to put my mealies in a plastic baggie with some of the calcium I use (Repashy's, it's great stuff! It's calcium+D3 plus some other important vitamins and minerals) and just shake em up a bit! It's kind of fun to see the mealworms bounce around in the bag! It also gets them pretty well coated with calcium. I'll pull out uneaten ones in the morning to put away and I'll see the grayish powder still on them, though not as much as when I put them in. You can shake em up like that (which also gets em a bit riled up), put em in the feed bowl, and add a little bit of extra calcium into the feed dish, if you are concerned about them losing their coating. That way when the gecko strikes it may hit a little bit of that calcium, even if the mealworm has lost it's coating.

 

[tb144050]

That's pretty much exactly what I do. I try to coat them with D3, but I put cal -d3 in a dish and I put it on the mealies in their dish for that very reason. You might be able to see the mealie dish in some of my random photos with calcium in it too.

btw, 5 mealies missing from the 15 I gave the females last night.

 

[stager]

A pregnant female will appear restless and dig up and rearrange her cage. I at all possible I would take the other female out so you know she is eating and make her situation as stress free as possible. That way you can put the maximum amount of weight on her. Because some females will eat like pigs and not loss much weight but others will wither away and she ain't got much to spare.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I'm not really seeing any signs of eggs in her belly but the picture is not the best. Geckos have two fat bodies in their abdomen which is what I think you are seeing. They may form eggs even if they haven't successfully mated with a male. However, that female looks a bit small and thin to be doing so. I'd just keep on offering her food and make sure she has a nice lay box to dig in. You'll know in time whether she'll lay or not!

 

[tb144050]

stager, thanks for the input. She isn't restless. She is the opposite. She hides all day and night, rarely ever coming out when anyone is awake to see.

DrCarrotTail, Thanks for the input about the fat pockets in the lower abdomen. I've still got the male separate and he is restlessly trying to climb the divider. I am still waiting on that scale to come in the mail. I actually got it off eB__ for $1 less and free shipping. I hope it is calibrated when it comes in because I saw "calibration weights" listed as suggested additional purchases.

I am not gonna be able to invest in other terrariums to separate the 2 females....atleast until I see that their health has returned and I don't suspect they caught crypto from the stick-tails at the petstore .

Thanks all....we will wait and see.

 

[tb144050]

 

[tb144050]