Forced feeding concerns

[Desdemona]

So she is getting egg drops on her nose, though tonight I picked her up and simi-bottle feed her some more egg, after unsuccessfully trying to get her to eat a mealworm. I then gave her a short "swim" (per vet suggestion) and put her back in the cage. She seems pretty freaked out by the ordeal. Not eating also seems to be a common reaction to stress. Could I only be making the problem worse?

Tomorrow I am suppose to get some Dubai's from the local petstore (who will hopefully actually have them since he didn't today) and I'm hoping she will eat those without any intervention. I could also try wax worms if she won't eat those, but I'd hate to get her hooked on them.

Thoughts?? The vet could find nothing physically wrong with her, she is not impacted. If you look at my "egg and vet visit" thread you can see how thin she is. Not, "going to die tomorrow" thin, but her tail fat is almost all gone.

 

[Dog Shrink]

How long have you had her and what are her temps like? Are you misting her tank to avoid dehydration if she isn't using a water bowl?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Force feeding is very stressful and should not be done in most cases. It takes a bit more patience to do the drop on nose method but is better for the animal. Trying to address every issue at once is stressful. Excessive handling of a gecko that isn't feeling well is stressful. Unneccessary stress is not in the best interest of your animal. Did your vet run a fecal test?

 

[Desdemona]

No fecal test because she hasn't had any droppings for over a week (and I didn't save the ones before that since I didn't know she'd completely stop).

I got some wax worms today, hoping she will eat those, though I am not giving them in large numbers. I also have Dubai's on order. I will stick with just dropping the stuff on her nose.

My other question has to do with hides. Right now she does have one area that she can go where I can't get to her to do nose drops or anything. Should I just hope I catch her out or remove the hide? Maybe not put it in at all and only stick to hides where I have some access to her? Of course the only thing I need access to is her nose at the moment.

She has a bowl of water, are Geckos pretty good about not dehydrating themselves when they have 24/7 water?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I've had the best success in placing my gecko in a 6qt shoebox (any small box will do), just pick up and put in, no holding. Then drop the stuff on their nose. When it licks it, drop some more, keep repeating. Some will get rubbed or shaken off but it's no big deal because it can't run and hide. It takes a little patience but is low stress for the animal. This way you don't have to change anything in her tank that she's trying to adjust to, thus reducing stress. As far as water, some drink from a bowl and some don't. Water can be added to her food mixture to be sure she's getting enough. I use paper towel in the moist hides and some drink from the condensation. A few tubs I have to mist the warm end a little and they drink droplets from the sides of their tub.

 

[roger]

So she is getting egg drops on her nose, though tonight I picked her up and simi-bottle feed her some more egg, after unsuccessfully trying to get her to eat a mealworm. I then gave her a short "swim" (per vet suggestion) and put her back in the cage. She seems pretty freaked out by the ordeal. Not eating also seems to be a common reaction to stress. Could I only be making the problem worse?

Tomorrow I am suppose to get some Dubai's from the local petstore (who will hopefully actually have them since he didn't today) and I'm hoping she will eat those without any intervention. I could also try wax worms if she won't eat those, but I'd hate to get her hooked on them.

Thoughts?? The vet could find nothing physically wrong with her, she is not impacted. If you look at my "egg and vet visit" thread you can see how thin she is. Not, "going to die tomorrow" thin, but her tail fat is almost all gone.

Can u answer Dog shrinks questions.How long have u had her and what are the surfave temps ?

 

[Desdemona]

Sorry bout that, I have only had her for 2 or 3 months. Her temps on the warm side are in the mid 80s and her cool side mid to low 70s depending on the time of day. I do have the 10-20 gal Under the tank heating pad, maybe I should have gotten the larger one. It only covers maybe a 3rd of the bottom, since it is a long and not a tall. I have probe thermometers on the floor so I am confident about those temps.

I went ahead and moved her favorite hide to the warmer side, in case she is just too cold because she doesn't want to be outside of the hide. She is still very active, but tail is pretty thin. She has started to have some poops again, at least, but they are quiet runny. I am going to call the vet tomorrow and ask if I can bring a sample by for them to look at.

 

[roger]

Sorry bout that, I have only had her for 2 or 3 months. Her temps on the warm side are in the mid 80s and her cool side mid to low 70s depending on the time of day. I do have the 10-20 gal Under the tank heating pad, maybe I should have gotten the larger one. It only covers maybe a 3rd of the bottom, since it is a long and not a tall. I have probe thermometers on the floor so I am confident about those temps.

I went ahead and moved her favorite hide to the warmer side, in case she is just too cold because she doesn't want to be outside of the hide. She is still very active, but tail is pretty thin. She has started to have some poops again, at least, but they are quiet runny. I am going to call the vet tomorrow and ask if I can bring a sample by for them to look at.

There is your problem! your warm end is only in the mid 80's.You need to really bump up your warm end to 90-95 deg surface temp.When u do that she should start eating.Also u need to stop moving hides in and out and rearranging that can stress.

 

[Desdemona]

I only rearranged it once, short of taking away the new "wet" hide that she was hiding in and not coming out. Yesterday I moved the probe around, jammed it under her warm hide, and it did jump up to the 90s. I think the problem did start with putting in that darker wet-hide, and it not being in the warm part of the cage. I am leaving her cage alone, she is on the warmer side, so hopefully in a few weeks she will de-stress.

I do have a question about the egg, how much and how often do you feed it? The Vet said 3 times a day, but that really seems like too often given the above. It seems like it would just up the stress level. I also don't give her large amounts. Yesterday after she started smearing the egg on the side of the feed box (put inside her cage so I could handle her as little as possible) I stopped and slowly tilted the box sideways so she could walk out on her own. I think tonight I will put the box in sideways and try to gently coral her inside. That would seem less stressful than catching her in.

I do agree with you Roger that the hide thing attributed to the problem, but adding the wet hide seemed to be the key. So, that hide is gone until she relaxes then maybe I will try it again. Until then I need to figure out a better idea for when she does start molting again. I am guessing that won't be a problem until she starts to eat and grow?

 

[roger]

I only rearranged it once, short of taking away the new "wet" hide that she was hiding in and not coming out. Yesterday I moved the probe around, jammed it under her warm hide, and it did jump up to the 90s. I think the problem did start with putting in that darker wet-hide, and it not being in the warm part of the cage. I am leaving her cage alone, she is on the warmer side, so hopefully in a few weeks she will de-stress.

I do have a question about the egg, how much and how often do you feed it? The Vet said 3 times a day, but that really seems like too often given the above. It seems like it would just up the stress level. I also don't give her large amounts. Yesterday after she started smearing the egg on the side of the feed box (put inside her cage so I could handle her as little as possible) I stopped and slowly tilted the box sideways so she could walk out on her own. I think tonight I will put the box in sideways and try to gently coral her inside. That would seem less stressful than catching her in.

I do agree with you Roger that the hide thing attributed to the problem, but adding the wet hide seemed to be the key. So, that hide is gone until she relaxes then maybe I will try it again. Until then I need to figure out a better idea for when she does start molting again. I am guessing that won't be a problem until she starts to eat and grow?

whats the surface temps at under her warm hide.It needs to be 90-95 deg.what i do is have 2 hides,one on the warm end with temps of 90-95 deg and on the cool end.the hide on the cool end is a margarine container with damp vermiculite in it with a hole cut in it for access.