Is Hatchling Healthy?

[TBHall]

His colors are darkening/ fading and his poop looks a lot like shed meal worm skeletons. Most of the time it looks normal but right now, that's what it looks like. Here's some accompanying pics.

 

[Art Geckos]

Unfortunatly this gecko is in pretty bad shape. Looks to be malnourished ---> how often do you feed and what supplement do you offer?

I would recommend offering a multivitamin like Vionate, mixed with a calcium supplement like Osteo-Form SA (4 parts vionate to 1 part osteoform)

My suggestion is to run down to the local petstore, get some waxworms or butterworms (something high in fat) and offer them along the supplement: He should be eating around 4-5 feeder insects every day. Also, do you have clean water readily available? This guy will bounce back with a little TLC, goodluck!

 

[Art Geckos]

It may have a gut impaction, if you keep on sand or coco-fiber, you may want to switch to papertowels for a substrate

 

[TBHall]

I've got him/her on repticarpet, there's a dish of purified water that I've seen him drink from, and he/she eats 2-3 regular meal worms every night. I don't have him/her on vitamins just a dish of regular calcium and I dust all the meal worms in calcium plus D3. I use a UTH and a 40 watt bulb because I live in the mountains and room temp up here is 50-60 degrees.

The local breeder I bought this hatchling from had the babies on a thin layer of repti-sand and said that with adequate heating they could digest the sand. He fed crickets only so I'm going to assume at least some sand was eaten.



Edit: He just ate two pretty good sized meal worms.

 

[KashMoneyExotics]

How big is his terrarium a hatchling that small should at be in a 10 gallon tank anything bigger can stress the gecko out, and he won’t be able to find his food.

 

[TBHall]

Hmmmm. It's a 20 gal. I'll move everything over to the warm side of the tank. Thank you for that tip! I've fed him another two meal worms since the last post. Poor little guy was hungry

 

[DrCarrotTail]

He looks pretty thin and dehydrated in the pictures. Poop that looks like mealworm skin may be regurgitation and not poop at all. A picture would help. If that's the case he may have an internal parasite. If he keeps eating and keeps food down it is more likely he was just hungry. Make sure he has a moist hide so he can rehydrate his skin and I would get rid of the over tank lights unless your house is under 65 degrees. They could stress him out and add to the dehydration if they are making his enclosure too hot and dry. He just needs an UTH that brings the floor temp to about 90 degrees.

 

[sausage]

I would also defo go and have a parasite dest done

 

[TBHall]

I do have a UTH and it keeps the tank at 85-93 degrees. The light is low wattage and non UV and it was meant for photo-realism (day-night cycle) but it seems like it's been doing more harm than good! And he seems to have kept down the 5 meal worms he ate last night. I'm buying a wet hide right now. I tried the tupperware thing but anything that allows light in seems to bug the crap out of him and he wouldn't go in it unless the hide he favors wasn't in there. I don't think he's pooped yet but I'll find out soon and post some photos.

 

[TBHall]

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Doesn't look like regurgitated worms but also doesn't look normal. I'd get him checked out.

 

[TBHall]

Do you have any theories on what might be wrong?

 

[TBHall]

I'm really afraid that my little hatchling has this :/ Leopard Gecko Cryptosporidium

 

[TBHall]

However, I don't have a humid hide in the gecko's tank. Could this be contributing to whatever is going on?

 

[Olympus]

No, not having a humid hide wouldn't have caused him to be so thin, there's something else going on. It could just be a bad case of parasites, an $18-22 fecal exam will determine if that's the case. But a professional needs to take a look at his droppings to see what's going on, and it's probably a good idea to have a vet check him out in general.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

My guess would be some sort of parasite. Pinworms are pretty common and they often come from eating crickets. If they're taken care of they don't really pose any long term threat. Crypto is a possibility but it usually results in poo that looks like puddles of brown water. Geckos with crypto also tend to regurgitate food and shed skin. I bet some sort of worm is your issue. A quick fecal at the vet should be able to diagnose which type of worm and give you meds to treat it

 

[TBHall]

Going to the vet this weekend but just as an update, normal behavior has resumed and the gecko is shedding for the first time since I've owned him/her as we speak!! The hatchling seems to prefer dusted mealworms over waxworms (strange since waxworms are supposed to be gecko crack) but yea. I bought some reptaid (seems to have pretty good reviews and success with ridding pinworms) today to boost his/her immune system and hopefully rid the body of any infectious parasites.

 

[TBHall]

It's too late for any replies :/ My hatchling was diagnosed with Leopard Gecko crypto and was euthanized today.

 

[Olympus]

I'm sorry to hear this, what a shame. My condolences!

 

[indyana]

So sorry for your loss.