Hello there!

[Qu33n0fT1nyDr4g0n5]

Hi there, I was recently given a leopard gecko as her previous owners have recently become homeless and not wanting to store them in a car, gave them to me to care for from there on. I have never owned one before so I have been trying to research as much as possible to make sure I care for her correctly. We were given another Leopard gecko (male) that was estimated to be about 6y/o that passed away on Friday due to being poorly kept. We received both of them about 2-2.5 weeks ago & both were severely emaciated & kept in an apt the was 60 degrees F and in a solarium instead of a dark place. She has been eating about 2-3 waxworms per day to regain some weight along with a giant mealworm. We ran out of waxworms about 3 days ago so I have been feeding her the pupated giant mealworms instead and she’s eating about 2 of those. She’s in a 10g tank however we have been unable to get her a heating lamp as I am between jobs currently. I do however, keep my bedroom at at least 75 degrees F, with no ac running, fans on for very short amounts of time, and light only when necessary as I know they are nocturnal. She has recently started acting sluggish, and will only drink from small puddles and moistened substrate. She last ate about 15hrs ago & has started acting this way within the past 24-36 hours. We try to keep a close eye on her as we are afraid of losing her as well and while this is the first time I’ve had these tiny dragons, I want to provide her with the best care & most comfortable life I can give her! I have already sent an email to my local exotics vet & plan on following up with a phone call as to further my knowledge of my tiny dragon. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!
Crista

 

[acpart]

She looks like she needs a lot of TLC. Are you in any position to spend a bit of money on her? She could use some heat at the bottom of the cage, usually supplied by a heat mat or heat cable. If you're anywhere near a pet store that sells reptiles and that's not one of the big chain pet stores, perhaps they have some used supplies they can let you have cheap. Or else, advertise what you're looking for (see below) on craigslist or see if there's a local "everything is free" facebook group. Ideally the geckos need a stick-on heat mat or tape-on heat cable with the temperature in the low 90's. If you can't manage this, a heat emitting light could also work, though it's not as good. See if there's any way you can get either regular mealworms, superstorms or crickets to feed them. Get some calcium with vitamin D3 and dust the feeders with it. That's a good place to start.

Aliza

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum!