Humid Hide or No?

[Wick]

Once again I need your advice you gecko gurus! My female leo is having problems. First off, she is about 22grams and around 3 or 4 months old. She is living alone in a 20gallon long with large under tank heater heating about 40% of the tank. The temp on the hot side is around 90 degrees and cold side around 80 degrees. First things first. She is walking funny. This just started and it seems like she is walking on her elbow? I also noticed some dead skin around her foot. I think this is the reason for the weird walking. I have two hides. One large one on the hot side (incorporating both a 90 degree area and around 85 in the large hide alone) and a cool hide. On the warm side I've been putting a folded up WET paper towel in the hot hide. Is this enough of a humid hide? Should I add another hide specifically for humidity? Should I try to soak her and gently roll a cotton tip down her leg? I should also say that she stopped eating after I picked her up for the first time. She will only eat one superworm per day after I picked her up. Before she would eat around 3-4 in one feeding. Is one superworm per day enough for her. Please reply as soon as possible. I want her to be healthy! I also don't want to stress her out by picking her up again. I had her for about 2 weeks left alone before i picked her up for the first and last time. (I'm very gentle and the male I have (36grams) does great with being handled and eating) Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

~Wick :main_huh:

 

[ketz]

I would definitely get her a completely separate wet hide, and you should probably put it more towards the cool side because the heat will just evaporate the water quickly. What most people do is put damp sphagnum moss in the bottom, although I've used an old CLEAN shirt piece or washcloth that was wet.

Are you giving her vitamin and calcium supplements? It seems like either the skin is tightening on her hand and you need to get it off there quick, or she could be permanently hurt. Also, if you're not giving her vitamins+calcium with her food it could be causing MBD or Metabolic Bone Disease which makes her bones soft and can cause them to walk funny.

Also, when I first started, I didn't know to give them the calcium powder and my gecko didn't eat at all forever, once I started rolling the food in the powder, she eats every single time. Good luck and I hope that helped!

 

[bman123]

You have more then enough room in a 20long to keep a humid hide in there constantly. I keep my humid hide in my tank all the time. He will lay in the humid hide almost all the time when he is getting ready to shed.
I use a rubbermaid little plastic container with a hole cut in the lid and I put damp spaghnum moss inside. He's only shed once sice I got him but every bit of shed came off easily.

Make sure you dust your feeders with calcium, and keep a bowl of calcium in the tank for them to eat. They will eat it out of the bowl, I have seen mine do it a few times. The walking on it's elbow sounds MBD so you should really get some calcium powder right away.

 

[bman123]

My Leo eats about 2-3 superworms every 3-4 days and or 3-5 large crickets every 3-4 days, it just depends on what kind of mood he's in lol.
I'd get that calcium powder right away tho and leave a humid hide in there all the time. Even when my Leo isn't shedding he will sleep in the humid hide sometimes, I put my humid hide almost in the middle of the tank, its right next to the cool hide.

 

[TFerguson]

Once again I need your advice you gecko gurus! My female leo is having problems. First off, she is about 22grams and around 3 or 4 months old. She is living alone in a 20gallon long with large under tank heater heating about 40% of the tank. The temp on the hot side is around 90 degrees and cold side around 80 degrees. First things first. She is walking funny. This just started and it seems like she is walking on her elbow? I also noticed some dead skin around her foot. I think this is the reason for the weird walking. I have two hides. One large one on the hot side (incorporating both a 90 degree area and around 85 in the large hide alone) and a cool hide. On the warm side I've been putting a folded up WET paper towel in the hot hide. Is this enough of a humid hide? Should I add another hide specifically for humidity? Should I try to soak her and gently roll a cotton tip down her leg? I should also say that she stopped eating after I picked her up for the first time. She will only eat one superworm per day after I picked her up. Before she would eat around 3-4 in one feeding. Is one superworm per day enough for her. Please reply as soon as possible. I want her to be healthy! I also don't want to stress her out by picking her up again. I had her for about 2 weeks left alone before i picked her up for the first and last time. (I'm very gentle and the male I have (36grams) does great with being handled and eating) Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

~Wick :main_huh:

So, seems like pretty good advice so far. The concern about MBD seems warranted, especially if by elbow, you're talking about the wrist (foot turned backward)? Has your gecko been getting Calcium supplementation, and occasionaly (weekly) vitamin D3 supplementation? D3 is required to digest and metabolize calcium. If so, very unlikely it's MBD.

If it's a stuck shed, you need to get it removed ASAP, as there could be strangulation of the limb. Warm soaks and q-tips are in order. Hopefully no permanent damage has been done to date. You do need a dedicated enclosed humid hide. It's not just the wetness of the substrate, but also the trapped high humidity that aids in shedding. Humid hide straddling the warm and cool side seems to work best for me.

I'd also recommend turning up your warm side temps to ~95 degrees. It will stimulate appetite, and help in metabolization of calcium.

Good luck.

T Ferguson

 

[Wick]

Thank you so much for all your advice. I'm making a humid hide right now out of tupper ware box with a hole cut in the side and a moist clean washcloth. I hope she likes it. I did the soak for 10 min and roll a q - tip down her leg and I couldn't believe how much skin came off. She was really squirmy and didn't want to be picked up. She is a very shy girl. I hope this won't affect her eating again. I let her walk off my hand back into the tank and she was walking normal! Thanks again!!!

- Wick

 

[TFerguson]

Glad she's walking better. Don't worry about the eating part... we always want them to eat on our schedule. Turns out for healthy geckos, they eat when they need to.

T Ferguson

 

[bman123]

Yeah don't worry about eating, leave that up to me to worry about lol. I was so worried about my Leo eating I probably drove everyone crazy. I have come to find out like tferg said they will eat when they want to not when we want them too.

I'm glad to hear it's walking better, that is very good news.

 

[Taquiq]

I prefer a humid hide only when shedding. Especially because it takes up a lot of room because I keep in racks I will just substitute the warm side hide for a humid hide.

 

[bman123]

My Leo likes going into the humid hide even when he's not shedding so I leave it in there all the time. You have a 20gal long tank right? If so then leave it in there all the time, you have plenty of room if you only have one Leo in the tank.