Leopard Gecko Help

[dolphingirl0602]

Hey, so I use to have two leopard geckos. They both unfortunately died I got them both at Petsmart which I now realize was probably a mistake. They each died of the same thing. The first one, I was a little late in getting him to the vet. And the second one, after several trips to the vet, still died. They both died with very thin tails and they were very lethargic. I also had the temperatures in the hot side around 90 degrees and on the cool side around 70. I had a shedbox that had the fake moss in it and I misted it everyday. I had a water dish in there and two hides, one on the hot side and one on the cool side. I also eventually put a small dish of calcium dust in the tank for my second leopard gecko because I was getting worried because his tail was getting thin. And I did dust the mealworms with calcium dust. And I switched from crickets to mealworms because my second leopard gecko wasn't fast enough to catch the crickets and they would end up just hoping around the tank or bugging him. And both leopard geckos were on reptile carpet. Oh and another weird thing, my first leopard gecko, about a week before he died would just sit in his water dish. So now to my main question, would it be better to buy a leopard gecko at a reptile expo? There is one coming up in about 2 months. I would like to get another one but I am really scared that it was something I did that killed my past two leopard geckos

EDIT: Sorry- I'm new to this and I dont know really know how to reply to messages...

 

[Owens]

everything you listed seems fine, how often did you feed them? and everyone on here will tell you to buy from a breeder instead of a petstore.

 

[squirtle]

did your leopard geckos head start sinking in? and begin to start stop eating as i had one from this shop called "cardiff reptile centre" it was our first one but we gave him everything.. it was my worst mistake getting him from there he began to stop eating and began to get very thin also his tail was thin..if this is the case then i may know what happend to yours if its the same sypmtoms..x

 

[alicecrypt]

Hi there Squirtle,

I'm new to this forum and my boyfriend and I recently joined as we bought a gecko from a specialist shop last Tuesday and we wanted to make sure we could learn as much as possible about looking after her ^.^ However we are both worried because since we got her she hasn't eaten anything, and we're worried that we're doing something wrong :s

Like you we got her from a shop that sounded like they knew what they were doing, but I'm worried something is wrong :s We currently have a 12 by 12 by 12 tank, filled with "thin" sand as substrate, a moist box, a feeding bowl, a water bowl, a heat mat and we have been *trying* to feed her crickets and mealworms coated in Nutrobal powder stuff. We've bought a new home for her, an 18 by 18 by 18 one because she's 3 years old and the one supplied by the shop is a little too small for we think and we plan to use tile as a better substrate, as we've read that sand can be bad for geckos

What happened with your Gecko?

 

[contracteryin]

When it comes to petstore geckos, I personally have had no problems, nor have my friends. Though, I do agree that buying from a breeder is wiser. What I say when you buy from a petshop is that do not buy from there unless all the leos (or any reptile, even fish) in the cage looks healthy.

 

[dolphingirl0602]

ah..Didnt mean to post that here.... -_-

 

[dolphingirl0602]

everything you listed seems fine, how often did you feed them? and everyone on here will tell you to buy from a breeder instead of a petstore.

I fed my first leopard gecko everyday, I fed him everyday, about 5 to 6 crickets. And I did the same with my second one, but then after I switched my second one to eating mealworms, he ate around 3 mealworms. And they were both babies.

 

[dolphingirl0602]

did your leopard geckos head start sinking in? and begin to start stop eating as i had one from this shop called "cardiff reptile centre" it was our first one but we gave him everything.. it was my worst mistake getting him from there he began to stop eating and began to get very thin also his tail was thin..if this is the case then i may know what happend to yours if its the same sypmtoms..x

I dont think think so, but maybe I wasnt looking hard enough. I can post some pictures of how they looked.

 

[dolphingirl0602]

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/img1060v.jpg/

Here is a picture of my leopard gecko. This is right before he died

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7766/img1657nn.jpg
Here is a picture of my first leopard gecko. This is when he was starting to get sick.

 

[30secondstobob]

It seems like you did everything fine. The only problem I see is you should never have bought a leo that looked like that. Look around this forum and see what healthy looking geckos look like - both adults and juveniles. My babies, after six weeks of life already began to have the characteristic thickness to the tails. Check the eyes, ears, vent and look inside the mouth. It should be clean and pink. Even when woken up during the day, they should be full of life. I've seen healthy and sickly looking leos both at reptile expos and pet shops. Matter of fact, I've been watching some beautiful tangs grow up at my local Petco. If I were in the market for one, i wouldn't hesitate to grab one. Bob

 

[dolphingirl0602]

It seems like you did everything fine. The only problem I see is you should never have bought a leo that looked like that. Look around this forum and see what healthy looking geckos look like - both adults and juveniles. My babies, after six weeks of life already began to have the characteristic thickness to the tails. Check the eyes, ears, vent and look inside the mouth. It should be clean and pink. Even when woken up during the day, they should be full of life. I've seen healthy and sickly looking leos both at reptile expos and pet shops. Matter of fact, I've been watching some beautiful tangs grow up at my local Petco. If I were in the market for one, i wouldn't hesitate to grab one. Bob

Thank you, and I will look carefully at the next leopard gecko I get.
And here's a picture of my second leopard gecko when he came home. He had a semi fatish tail, it was bigger than my first one though when he came home.
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5756/img1905u.jpg

 

[euan]

Thats just sheer bad luck on your part. Petshop's generally dont know how to care properly for reptiles, i mean when i bought mines it was from a chain pet store which i think i'm lucky as he seems to be fine. But the information given to me by the store assistant and reptile "specialist" was completely conficting with everything else i had read on here and from other sources.

They also dont know how to deal with a parasitic infection and put sick geckos in with healthy ones and it just multiplies and people like yourself buy them and they die. Its a sad state of affairs but they dont care as long as they make their money.