I think my baby gecko is sick and I don't know what to do.

[ShelbyLu]

About your leo:
- Sex : Too early to tell
- Age & Weight Again I'm unsure. I will weigh them and measure them tomorrow.
- How long have you owned your leo: Two weeks
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) +++++

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: Every day, often multiple times a day.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now: She doesn't seem to be eating.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe: She is a baby and she is still getting used to handling.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)
- When was the last time he/she went: Tonight, I put her in a smaller container while I cleaned out her cage and I put some dubia beetles in her container with her and even a wax worm in an attempt to get her to eat anything. She ate nothing, but while she was in there she had a bowl movement that was diarrhea and it smelled really bad.
C) Problem
I've had them for 2 weeks and currently the two geckos are cohabitating. Tonight I was able to set up a second habitat so that I can separate them, but I need to buy a second under the tank heat pad and light. So tomorrow they will get separated.

As far as I can tell she is not eating. I thought she was finally eating worms, but really they were under her carpet. They got out of the dish apparently. I think she must have eaten a cricket now and then because she was has still been having bowel movements. But since there are two in the cage, it's hard to know.

I'm separating her because A) I have seen dominance issues with the other and slightly larger gecko and B) I can't tell how much she is eating and pooping. To me she looks skinny. I'm actually concerned that she might have lost weight. I'm going to weigh her tomorrow. I am very worried that she is not eating.

If she has eaten, it's been crickets and today for the first time I offered dubias. As far as I can tell she's never touched a worm of any kind, not even the wax worm. Tonight, she had a bowel movement that was diarrhea and smelled bad. But I had her in a different container and I think that stressed her out.

I'm really worried because I hear that +++++ lizards often have parasites, etc. I just don't want her to starve or waste away or anything like that. I am too new to gecko care to know what I can do for sick care.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20 gallon Aquarium
- Type (ex. glass tank) Glass tank
- Type of substrate: Reptile Carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind: A cave and also a big rock with three floors inside to hide in.
B) Heating
- Heat source: Red heat light and under the tank heating pad
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) Cool side is 80's and hot side is 90's. Not sure of the floor temp, I just bought an infrared thermometer today, so I'll be able to get accurate measurements tomorrow. However, the other gecko seems to be doing fine.
- Method of regulating heat source: I don't know what this means.
- What are you using to measure your temps: In the tank thermometer and thermogowhatever for humidity and now the infrared thermometer.
- Do you have any lights (describe): Red lizard light
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): One albino gecko, too early to tell sex.
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Initially I was following +++++s advice which was to just always leave a few crickets in the cage. I have since stopped doing that. But I have kept a plate of mealworms dusted in calcium supplement in the cage all the time. Then I offer crickets a couple of times per day. Just today I started offering dubias instead of crickets. I hope they take to them because I think the crickets are nasty.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) Worms in dish, crickets loose, plus I have tried offering had fed and tried offering her food in a separate container out of her cage. If she eats, it's never in front of me.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) I have a calcium supplement, I don't have it in front of me, but can update the thread later with that info.
- What are you gut loading food with: I'm gut loading the crickets with orange gel cube things meant to gut load crickets with. I'm gut loading the meal worms with apples and carrots and I'm gut loading the dubias with fresh veggies that I would normally feed my beardie.

Any help as to what I can do to encourage her to eat ANYTHING would be much appreciated. Someone told me I could offer babyfood fruit? Is that true?

She was already on the thin side and now she looks like she has lost weight to me. I don't know if it's my imagination, I just really want to help her.

By tomorrow afternoon she'll be in her own enclosure which will help me accurately assess her intake and output and will ensure no domination issues are taking place.

Thanks!

~Shelby

 

[ShelbyLu]

It blanked out the name of the pet store. I bought her at a main chain pet store. I also forgot to mention that I have a shedding hide in her tank as well, which has damp moss inside of it.

Thanks,

~Shelby

 

[funkyj]

First things first, stop handling them. They haven't adjusted to their new home yet. Handling them repeatedly will continue to stress them out.You did good by separating them. You need to find out the floor temp. Without proper belly temps, they can't properly digest food. Don't leave crickets or worms in the enclosure without supervision. They can and will eat the gecko. Too many bugs wandering around the enclosure will also stress them out more. Sometimes newly acquired animals take up to a month to get comfortable enough to eat. I've had some take longer than month. Keep us updated.

 

[ShelbyLu]

Okay, so last night I finally bought an infrared thermometer and the floor was too hot. 112-113 in some places. I had an under the tank heater and a red lizard light above.

I removed the red heat lamp above and will see what the floor pretty quickly went down to the mid 90's. So I'll check it again soon to see if it retains proper temperatures.

I haven't separated them yet, but they will be later today. I was able to get a new terrarium set up, but I need to go to the store to buy an under the tank heat pad for that one. Then it will be ready. I'm going to leave mine in the cage she's been in to hopefully not add any stress.

Can too warm cause them to not eat? The worms I leave in the cage are in a dish, so they can't bug the geckos or nibble on them. Also, currently I have her on lizard carpet, which I hate. I bought tile to put down, but I haven't changed it yet.

I just want her to feel good and be happy.

~Shelby

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Too hot can stress them out a lot and even hurt them if it is way too hot. Low 90s on the floor (not the air!!) is what they need. Anything over 93 isn't very good for them. I might pick up a dimmer to regulate the UTH and a temp gun or probe thermometer to make sure your temps are correct. I would continue to keep the worms in a dish in her cage so she can eat when she's ready. I would also try to make sure her tank isn't in a super bright area with lots of traffic until you're sure she is eating and healthy. I think keeping them separately is best but they should be okay together until 20g or so as long as they have adequate space and hides.

Good luck with them and keep us posted!

 

[ShelbyLu]

Okay, so I did get them separated last night. I kept mine in the original enclosure that they have been in because I thought the less stress/change, the better.

I bought an infrared thermometer finally and for SURE the temperatures are too high. I've removed any sort of external heat source except for the uth. The healthy gecko, i put her in the new terrarium which I set up with tile. I feel like the floor temps in there are perfect.

However, in my gecko's tank, even without the heat bulb the temp is too high through the reptile carpet. I feel like by switching her from reptile carpet to tile this will solve the problem, but the only reason I haven't done it is because I'm afraid that taking her out of her tank and then making a big change my super stress her out and I already am unsure if she is eating.

However, I did notice this evening that she did poop, which is good and a few of the worms and one of the little dubia roaches I had in there are missing, but I've thought she's eaten before only to find them later under the reptile carpet. (another reason I want to switch to tile.)

So, which is the lesser of two evils? Leave her as she is with potentially heat conditions on the too warm side, or take her out and switch her substrate to tile? I'm sort of thinking I should just switch her to the tile because if she is having a rough time, keeping her in a too warm environment could be the worse of the options.

Sometimes it's so hard to know.

~Shelby

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Buy a dimmer and turn down the power to the UTH. They're like $9 on Amazon and you can have it by Saturday. You still need to watch your temps with it but at least you'll be able to get the temp down within range easily with it. I've never had an UTH that I could run without some regulation. They all seem to run 110+

 

[ShelbyLu]

Okay, I made the substrate switch from reptile carpet to tile tonight. After it's settled, I'll take the temp, if it's still reading too hot, I'll buy a dimmer.

However, taking her out just made me that much more worried about her. She is so skinny. I really don't think she's eating much at all. The only thing I know for sure that she ate is a wax worm because that was not accounted for when I cleaned out the cage. Pretty much any meal worm or dubia that I thought she could have eaten was under the carpet.

So now I have her all set and I keep a few meal worms and a few dubias in a dish that they can't climb out of in hopes that she will eat something, anything during the night. I also was told to try going out to get some baby food and mix her vitamins in it and put that in the cage for a while or maybe get some on her nose.

Are geckos like beardies and a bath could help her? I'm just not sure if that would just stress her out. At this point, I feel like I just need to watch her for a couple of days and see if she eats anything at all. The one thing that gives me hope is that she has been pooping every day and they look normal. (Assuming her poop has been normal all of the way through.)

So I guess I'll watch her through the weekend. If she continues to not eat, I feel like we might lose her. If we do, when I get another Leo, I A) will not get it from +++++ and B) will likely NOT get a baby.

I feel so bad and so helpless because I don't really know of much else that I can do for her and she's getting pretty skinny. I'll try to get pictures for you when I feel like it wouldn't stress her out for me to do so.

~Shelby

 

[Ozy]

Ok. You need to put in a humid hiding spot. Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy a Lutron Lamp Dimmer.. They are like $10. You also need Repashy Calcium Plus. DO NOT use baby food. To make a humid hide, just get a cheap glad container, cut a little hole in the side, put in some damp paper towels and put it on the warm side. Then you should have the other hide as a dry, warm hide, put the 3 level one on the other side for a cool hide. Don't handle her AT ALL and cover 3 sides of the tank. I hand feed my gecko, have ever since I brought her home. She was also from the place where the pets go, and was the smallest one in the enclosure. She took right to the hand feeding. Try just taking a dubia, grab it with some tweezers, dust with Repashy. Then move it around on the floor right in front of her nose. Movement stimulates the feeding response. This is what Ozy looked like the day I brought her home, the next pic is her last month. You can see how Ozy looked when I brought her home. Just stay calm and keep it simple.

 

[ShelbyLu]

Thanks, Ozy.

So first things, first. We definitely have had a moist shedding house/hide from day one. Instead of using wet paper towels, we have a moss we bought at the reptile store as the substrate for the shedding house.

Also, my daughter's albino leo, who also has stopped eating, seriously looks almost identical to the first picture that you posted of what your gecko looked like when you got her. Then mine is even skinnier than that.

UPDATE: So I ran around town and got the ingredients to make the Slurry Gecko soup, and they did eat some!!! This is fabulous news. I put it in a medicine dropper and put some on their mouth nose and they did lick it off and they would even lick some right out of the dropper, so I would assume that means they liked it.

I put some in a shallow dish in each of their cages just hoping they'll come out tonight and lick some up. If not, I'll try to give them a little each day. I have NO idea how to get them interested in eating the bugs on their own. We have tried everything, even hand feeding them or wiggling them on the ground in front of them and they won't eat at all.

I've tried, crickets, Dubias, meal worms and wax worms. Hopefully after some time eating the slurry each day, we can get them interested in eating the live food again. One thing I'm worried about is this...is it possible that they don't even notice the live food in the dish?

If I set it loose in their cage, they are really good at hiding in any nook or cranny and I worry about them bugging the geckos. So I keep them in shallow dishes just deep enough that the worms and dubias can't get out. They are dusted, but the geckos have not touched them.

I don't think they got a LOT of slurry in them today, but just the fact that they got SOME in them makes me feel like I will be able to keep them alive. Also, maybe they will get used to food coming from me and I can switch it up to feeding them live food over time?

I don't know, really. At this moment, it just feels like a relief that I have some hope that nourishment is getting inside of them.

~Shelby

 

[Ozy]

Try the hand feeding. My gecko won't eat out of a dish, never would. Just take one feeder at a time on some tweezers, dust it and move it in front of them a bit. That should spark their feeding response. Best of luck. And Ozy is a Blizzard leopard gecko.

 

[ShelbyLu]

I will try that, Ozy. I wonder if Anna's gecko is not an albino like the petstore said, but instead is a blizzard?





These pictures are from when we first got them.

The good news is that we're on day two with the slurry and they ate WAY more today. They were happy to lick it out of the dropper. So I was thinking that next time maybe I would put slurry onto a dusted worm and see if I can start the hand feeding that way.

Today was the day to thoroughly clean the cage and mine seemed to have a lot more spunk behind her indignation of her stuff being moved and taken to be cleaned, which made me happy. Less lethargic.

If they won't eat out of a dish and will only eat via hand feeding, I have no problem with that. Just need to transition to it.

Thanks for the help!

~Shelby

 

[ShelbyLu]

Oh also, I do think her eyes are a bit red.

~Shelby

 

[Ozy]

She is an albino for sure. Ozy has no kind of pattern on her at all. You can see the yellow stripes on that one. Hopefully they will continue to improve!

 

[ShelbyLu]

*sigh*

Well, day 3 with the slurry. Still feeding it out of a medicine dropper and while they eat, they don't eat a lot. I tried tantalizing mine with a worm and it literally would have nothing to do with it no matter what I did.

I'll keep trying. It's good that they're eating slurry, but they aren't eating much and shouldn't normal geckos want regular food too? I'm just not sure what to do. They're so skinny.

~Shelby

 

[ShelbyLu]

Well, I'm still feeling pretty discouraged. They eat the slurry from the eye dropper but that's about it. They will not touch a worm or roach no matter what we do to entice them. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up crickets and see if I can interest them in crickets. I know when we first got them that they would eat a cricket now and then.

If they won't eat the crickets then I'm not sure what to do. My gecko is shedding. I guess that is a positive sign.

Shelby

 

[ShelbyLu]

YAY! A more positive update! (I don't know if anyone is still following this thread lol)

So last night, I picked up small crickets. Previously the pet store had told us that we needed the medium ones. And while they did eat those initially, I think they were too big.

So, last night, instead of letting them lick the slurry from the dropper, I put three small crickets in each of their cages with a cube of cricket food as well so they would have something to eat. And this morning, all 3 crickets are gone!

So unless they have some creative way to hide on this tile substrate, like they did with the reptile carpet, then I think it's safe to assume that the geckos ate the crickets!! I'm so excited because this is GREAT news.

If they keep this up, they should be on their way to healthy soon. And now I have plenty of slurry frozen in the freezer in case something else should happen in the future. (Let's hope not.)

I also put a cloth down on Sweetie's floor until I get out to buy a dimmer just to make sure the ground is not too hot. I'll keep you posted, but my hope is that this means we are on the road of recovery.

~Shelby

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Do you have a picture of what "really skinny" looks like? Skinnier than in the couple pictures you posted? As long as they eat a half mL of slurry or an insect or two every day or two they should be okay. They don't need many calories to survive so as long as they get a few they should be okay.

P.S. crickets have creative ways to hide everywhere. They can even chew on your gecko when they are trying to sleep and hurt them. I would not leave them in the tank, especially with sick or lethargic geckos. Crickets also take a whole lot of energy to catch because they are quick and jumpy. Mealworms or dubia in an escape proof dish are a much better choice. If they're hungry they will seek them out. If you're feeding them slurry every day they may not be hungry enough to go hunting and the stress of being hand fed may be exhausting.

 

[ShelbyLu]

They are super skinny. I'll get pictures of them tomorrow for you so you can see. We have stopped feeding them the slurry since they started eating crickets.

I tried leaving meal worms and also dubia roaches in dishes that they couldn't escape from and they geckos just wasted away because they never once ate a single worm or bug from the dish.

Tonight I'm giving them a couple of wax worms because honestly, they just need the calories. I did have to handle my gecko quite a bit because she was just not getting the shed skin off of her toes and she needed help with that. I put her in a warm bath and used a q tip on her toes. I think I got it all, but it is hard to tell and she gets pretty upset with the bath.

I *think* things are getting better. The last time I put a cricket in mine's cage, she got excited and poked her head out of her hide but when she saw me she ducked back in, but did eat the crickets after I left the room.

I am nervous because they seem so skinny that it scares me, but I've been reading these boards and following every care suggestion to a T. I honestly am not sure what else I can do? But I do think that the slurry saved their lives. I'm hoping that when they are older and healthier that I can switch them to roaches, but currently the only thing they seem to eat are crickets or slurry or I'm hoping tonight wax worms. They ate a wax worm when I first got them.

I'll keep you updated. Thank you for the help!

~Shelby

 

[ShelbyLu]

I think my baby gecko is sick (Updated with pics 11/18/13)

Okay, I got some pictures today. First I'll show you Sweetie. She is my daughter, Anna's gecko and as far as I can tell in the last 5 days she has eaten 2 small crickets and one wax worm and some slurry. She was the one that was doing the best, but now by far she is doing the worst. We only had her out today because I needed to thoroughly clean her cage and I had my daughter let her lick slurry from the dropper since she just isn't eating much. She just had her first shed and did very well with it.




Below is my gecko, Pretty. She doesn't look great in the pictures, but she is doing a LOT better. She has definitely put on weight. We have no weighed them because we're trying not to stress them out. In the last 4 days or so she has eaten 6 crickets and two wax worms. At this point she is fully off slurry and eats whatever I put in her cage. Now that she's eating I'll up what I'm giving her each time. I've only been giving them like two crickets at a time just hoping they would eat even that. So this little girl I feel less nervous about now.

The problem we have with Pretty is that she did not shed well. This is her first shed and if you look closely it is still not completely off of her toes. Every day I've been soaking her in water and working on it with a q tip. If you blow up the one picture, you can see that one toe is darker and possibly a bit swollen.

She did walk through some slurry which dries dark, so I really thought it was that and it still could be, but I am not sure. Is there something I can put in her water? I know with my beardies I can put betadine (sp?) in the water to help with things like that. But I wasn't sure if that's the same for geckos or not.