Leopard Gecko is not eating

[Hyphessobrycon]

Hello,

My leopard gecko has recently stopped eating. I have had him for about a month and a half now and he has never refused to eat before. This refusal to eat started two days ago. His tail appears to be skinnier than it used to be. My leo also shed last night, if that may have any affect. I have included some pictures to show his current weight.

If anyone can provide some insight as to why he is not eating, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is his info:

Sex
- Age & Weight?
4-6 Months male
- How long have you owned your leo?
1 and a half months
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend)
Petsmart

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo
Once every 3-4 days for around ten minutes
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.
He is not eating. He used to eat 3-4 crickets a day.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
No
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)
Solid black with liquidy white part
- When was the last time he/she went
1-2 days ago
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on
My leopard gecko has not eaten for two days.


Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size
Standard 10 gallon tank
- Type (ex. glass tank)
Glass
- Type of substrate
Paper Towel
- Hides, how many, what kind
Two, one warm and one moist. Moist one has sphagnum moss inside of it.

B) Heating
- Heat source
Undertank heater
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)
94.2 hot side, 71.2 cool side.

- Method of regulating heat source
Zoomed Repti Temp control
- What are you using to measure your temps
Marineland digital thermometer with probe
- Do you have any lights (describe)
Light comes from a lamp next to the tank.

C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)
Zero
- Describe health, or previous problems
None

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)
3-4 small crickets every morning
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect)
Usually placed in tank, sometimes hand fed
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)
Fluker's Calcium with Vitamin D3, used on every cricket each day.
- What are you gut loading food with
Fluker's High calcium cricket diet.

 

[reps4life]

Black stool? or do you mean dark brown?

 

[reps4life]

Make sure you are also measuring the air temp on the warm side. There body core temperatures should be at 85 during the day.
You should not be dusting calcium with D every day. High calcium cricket food has D3 in it already. Once a week is enough.
Buy plain calcium and put it in a small dish so that your leo can help itself.
Your leo also needs multivitamins.
Aim for 75 instead of 71 on the cool side.
Stop handling for a while to reduce stress.
I would suggest you remove the moss and use a cotton cloth instead so that there is no risk of ingestion.

 

[roger]

You said you feed your leo in the morning.Try feeding at night when they are super active.Mornings my leos are usually sleeping

 

[LZRDGRL]

The tail looks really skinny and gives reason for concern. I would wait until he poops (hopefully he does), and take that poop to a vet just for a fecal stain. You can put it in the fridge for a few hours until you have time to go to a vet. Your gecko might have parasites; especially since he's from a pet store. If the fecal sample is negative, just follow the other recommendations for good husbandry. Normally, tails don't get thinner when it's stress related; that doesn't last long enough to change a gecko's weight.

If he has parasites, the vet will give him Panacur or something like that, and your gecko is big enough to cope well with this (hatchlings sometimes don't). I had one gecko with pin worms and it was healed with Panacur in two weeks. The dosage is measured according to weight, so only a vet can tell you how to do it, but then you can do it at home. Some breeders even deworm their geckos regularly as precaution every year (I don't do that, though).

If you noticed black (or more liquid) stool, that's a sign that something isn't right. If he has parasites and you just let it go, the parasites will eat all his nutrition, and no matter how much he eats, he will get thinner.

Chrissy

P.S. From the mess on the paper towel it seems like he is eating moss! He might get impaction from that. I would take it out and replace it with moist paper towel, if that was his humid hide. Just to be on the safe side...

 

[Hyphessobrycon]

Thank you everyone, your help is greatly appreciated.

I have taken out the moss and replaced it with a damp paper towel in the moist hide. Tommorow I will be buying calcium without D3 and a bowl to put it in. I was out all night and when I came home there was a fresh pile of feces. I managed to grab a picture of it. Hopefully this will help :main_thumbsup:

 

[reps4life]

I was also concerned with her thin tail and the feces does not look completely normal for what I can see. I would definately get a fecal exam done and make the changes necessary.

 

[Hyphessobrycon]

My girlfriend took him to the vet today. Turns out he has some kind of bone disease, and there is a 50% chance he will make it. We have to force feed him liquid calcium and food for now. The vet also said to use a 10.0 UVB bulb for 12 hours a day, so I will be doing that. I placed a bowl full of vitamin enriched calcium (Vet recommended to give him more vitamins) in his enclosure. If anything else happens I will let you all know. Hope the little guy makes it