Impacted? Pics

[MorganaMoonstone]

Hey guys, I gots some questions; I have a leopard gecko, and her name is Salazar.

Ok, so this is a little odd. I knew that gecko's stomachs were blue, but this seems more than the usual. She hasn't pooped in a while, but she never usually does. I've given her warm baths, and have been trying to get her to poop, but she's never done that in the baths. She's eaten the moss that I've had in her enclosure before, but it's never been a problem (she's kinda stupid, lol).

I have her on calcium sand, and I know, I know, you're not supposed to use sand, but it's never been a problem. She's digested it before and she's been fine, so it's not the sand.

I feed her a cricket in the morning, and a waxworm at night. She has a BIG appetite!

She's about a year old, she's never laid eggs before, and she sheds during the night, so I've never seen her shed.

Idk if I should be worried, because there's a little, small bump, but it doesn't seem out of the ordinary.

any thoughts? :main_huh:

here's some pics of Sal and the tummy.
here's the tummy
here's the closeup
here's my angel!!!

comments?

 

[mynewturtle]

This may not be impaction, but if it is..

I can almost garuntee it was the gecko injesting moss, or sand that would have caused this if it is impaction.

Your first step to helping the gecko would probaly be to remove the calcium sand and replace it with a solid substate that the gecko can not injest.

I would then make a vet appointment, we cannot do anymore for your gecko then give you advise, although a vet can.

Give the gecko warm water soaks, this will help pass any injested substate.

You say you give your gecko A cricket and A wax worm daily, I hope that is spose to be plural (Waxworms, Crickets).


Good luck with helping your gecko remember it might not be impaction, I can't see your gecko live so I do not know.

 

[fallen_angel]

Kaleb pretty much covered it, I just wanted to add a few things.

Just because a gecko "has ingested sand before and is fine" doesn't mean that sand is fine. The problem with sand is that it cannot be digested, so it builds up in their system. Of course, just a little bit isn't going to cause impaction, but a little bit every so often over time builds and builds. It's just not safe. The main reason people like to use sand is because it "looks better" or "more natural;" but trust me, paper towels don't look that bad, and neither does tile. Plus, it's much easier sleeping at night knowing that your gecko isn't on loose substrate.

Unfortunately, one cricket in the morning and one waxworm at night isn't a very big appetite, and wax worms should not be fed daily. They are basically really fattening - it's like a human eating cake everyday, it's just not healthy. On top of that, geckos have been known to get addicted to them and refuse all other food.

She should definitely be eating more, but if she is still eating, that is always a good sign.

Is the small bump hard? From the pics, it doesn't look like impaction to me, but as Kaleb said, we can't be completely sure by pics alone. If the small bump is hard, I would think that it very well could be impaction.

Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[yellermelon]

On the sand issue, A geckos insides are wet right, lick your finger and stick it in the sand,..yeah same thing with leo insides..Yeah I dont wanna start a sand debate...lol. The geckos tummy looks normal IMO, a vet can help more than me.

 

[MorganaMoonstone]

otay, i'll see what i can do. the blue is going down, which seems to me that she was just digesting stuff.

I don't want to use paper towels, because it's such a waste of paper, but I'll keep an eye out for some tile for the ground, any suggestions for that?

i'll see if she'll eat more than one cricket at a time, but i've tried a few times, and she's not big into eating more than one cricket at a time. Due to lack of mealworms (yay shortage! -_-), i had to switch to waxworms. However, if it's too bad for her, I'll get her more crickets. I'll try 2-4 crickets, but she's refused more than one before. Hmm...maybe she's just picky like that. I'll try again.

I'll keep an eye on it for a bit. I talked to my mom (she works in a reptile house at a zoo. So if anyone knows about this stuff, she definitely does) and she says to wait a few days, and to keep checking. She's pretty healthy otherwise, albeit skiddish.

 

[OSUgecko]

She may be refusing crickets because you're feeding her so many waxworms. Waxworms are NOT very good nutritionally for geckos. You really should cut back on offering those; I only give them to my geckos once every few weeks.

I understand that things are tough with the mealworm shortage, but try switching to superworms if Salazar doesn't want to eat crickets. They're easy to get at most places, most geckos like them, and they're a whole lot better for your gecko than waxworms. You could also try phoenix worms, silkworms, or roaches, all of which are nutritious foods.

If she's being picky because of the waxworms, you may have to wait her out... and it may take a few weeks before she'll start eating the "good stuff" you're giving her instead of pining for waxworms.

Paper towels really aren't that expensive, and you can stretch their use even farther by just removing the sheet on their "bathroom side" once a week and giving a complete changeout as needed (every other week to every couple of weeks, depending on how bad they trash things!). You could also use ceramic tile and get it cut to fit your tank. A lot of people use that here and have had great success with it.

 

[MorganaMoonstone]

thanks for the help guys, I'll see what i can do about the food (she'll be fine on crickets for a while, I'm sure.), and I'll change the floor tomorrow. I'm gonna see if I can get some tile. It'll be better for her, I'm sure.

 

[MorganaMoonstone]

ok, update!

she's fine!!! I overreacted. She defecated this morning, and she ate 3 crickets last nite. I put a few more in there this morning and she's chasing them.

I changed the floor to papertowels for now. I'd prefer something more permanent, so I'm going to go look around for tiles, but for now, she's enjoying the papertowels.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Kristi23]

I"m so glad you removed the sand & that she's going better.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I'm glad you got her off the sand! The dark area you see through her tummy is her liver.