Mealie trouble?

[ZooKeeperKarin]

I have a 1.5 yr old female who has always eaten crickets. I'm trying to lean toward mealies more so I've been feeding them all more mealies than anything (for a couple months now). She seems to love them but has started to regurgitate them. She's also lost quite a bit of weight but I figured that was from egg laying. I've separated her out and fed her 3 adult crickets which she gobbled down. She regurgitated them. I called the vet and talked to the tech. He suggested trying smaller prey. She ate 9 baby crickets last night, and as of now (late afternoon the next day) she has held them down.
I'm wondering if this is caused by the exoskeletons of the mealies? Has anyone else been through this?

 

[shiftygecko]

Hi Karen,

I have never had a leo bring back up their dinner due to mealworms... I raise my own here and feed them to 3, mabey 4 out of my 6 geckos. I just got a baby today and i will have to see if he/she eats them. Hope all pans out for you
ShiftyGecko

 

[fl_orchidslave]

An adult shouldn't have a problem with 3 crickets. I would check the heat, make sure it's functioning, maybe bump it up to 95 if possible. Parasites are also possible. Your vet may let you drop off a fecal without an actual office visit.

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

An adult shouldn't have a problem with 3 crickets. I would check the heat, make sure it's functioning, maybe bump it up to 95 if possible. Parasites are also possible. Your vet may let you drop off a fecal without an actual office visit.

I can do a fecal ($29) but if it's parasites they require being seen by the vet to treat (understandable, but $69!). I decided to wait and play it by ear. She held things down the first night and I fed her again 9 little crickets (a couple weeks old... not pinhead size) last night. It's been almost 24 hours and she's held them down so far. She is still active, comes out when she knows I'm near, etc. I think being quarantined has helped also.
Her temp is 88' on the hot spot. I'll raise that.
Hopefully we're on the mend!

 

[T-ReXx]

I can do a fecal ($29) but if it's parasites they require being seen by the vet to treat (understandable, but $69!). I decided to wait and play it by ear. She held things down the first night and I fed her again 9 little crickets (a couple weeks old... not pinhead size) last night. It's been almost 24 hours and she's held them down so far. She is still active, comes out when she knows I'm near, etc. I think being quarantined has helped also.
Her temp is 88' on the hot spot. I'll raise that.
Hopefully we're on the mend!

I would def consider doing the fecal and going from there. Crickets are a notorious vector for some internal parasites. Raising temps is a good idea as well. I've been feeding mealworms for years and have never had an issue with regurgitation from them. I don't use crickets personally, so I can't comment on that.

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Still good news. She ate about a dozen or so small crickets last night (I'm trying to put weight back on her, so feeding her daily). She held them all down and she had a perfectly normal poop soon after she ate.
I read another post somewhere last night and it got me thinking... could she have had vermiculite stuck in her and now it passed? They have vermiculite in their lay boxes and sometimes I find little pieces of it in their poop. Since I separated her, she's had paper towel in her moist hide.
WEIRD!!!