Need Help with two Skinny Babies

[w0554096]

Hello everyone,
I am new to the gecko world, though I'm familiar with other reptiles.
Today when I was at the petstore picking up some worms I saw a little emaciated leo in the corner of the tank. I actually thought that he had already passed, but when I got an assosiate to open the enclosure I found out that he was indeed still alive, though not by much. After talking to the manager, he agreed to let me have him and another one that he didn't think would make it.

I put them into a spare 40 gallon that I had. I have absolutely no history on them, other that one of them got fed 5 or 6 waxworms before I got there and took them home.

Here's what they've got so far;
100w Infrared bulb
2 humid hides that are almost directly under the heat lamp, and one large hide that's currently places in the middle.
Their temperature is at 89, and has been holding steady there for about an hour.
They're on newspaper and slate tile.
I gave both of them a short soak in warm water, and one of them was lively enough to try to jump out.

Neither was interested in eating any waxworms.

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice on helping these guys pull through. The store manager did not seem hopeful that they would pull through, but I've seen beardies in similar conditions that make full recoveries, so I'm hoping with the proper care they will make it.

On hand I've got waxworms, medium silkworms, and I'm going to pick up some mealworms tomorrow.

What size mealworms should I get?

Should I try to get their temperature up a bit higher?

Should I be trying to syringe feed them something, since they didn't seem interested in food?

I've also got a bottle of Reptaid XL in the fridge. I'm not sure about the dosage on that, so I've emailed the guys at Reptaid to find out if I can dilute the XL enough to give them some.

How often should I be soaking/misting/offering them water?

Also, is there anyway to guess an approximate age on these guys? The petstore associate couldn't tell me an age, as some of the leos in the habitat have been there for around 2 months, and some are new. I guess they just put the new ones in with the ones who haven't sold yet, and they don't know who's who.

I've attached some pictures of the little guys and their current tank set up, though I have since removed that water dish. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Try to see if you can find an under tank heating pad. Leopard geckos require belly heat, and while you have a thermometer that tells you the temp is at 89 degrees, that's just the air temperature. The correct temperature reading should be on the floor where they are laying on, and the hot spot should be between 90-95. A ceramic heat emitter can be used to supplementing heating if the under tank heating pad isn't good enough. But you should have an UTH for proper belly heat.

Try getting some mealworms, small to medium, and see if they will take to them by themselves. It's possible you may have to hand feed. One way to get them interested is slicing the mealworm's gut open, with their guts spilled out a bit, dangle it in front of them and see if they'll become interested. Sometimes once they taste it, they'll become more interested. Make sure the feeders are dusted with a good multivitamin with D3.

If you can't get them to eat, you may have to force feed. They are in really really bad conditions, a slurry may be needed. Check out golden gate gecko's slurry recipe: Golden Gate Geckos Information

 

[Lyn]

I'd fill this out: http://geckoforums.net/f130-health-medications/70912.htm

 

[w0554096]

So they made it through the night. I've given them some temporary names to make identification easier. Tom is the one with the shorter tail, and Jerry has a full length tail.

Tom is still very lethargic this morning. I found him in the furthest corner away from the heat lamp this morning. I'm not sure if he was regulating his temperature, or if he wandered away and got lost, or tired, etc. I put him back under the heat.

Jerry was in one of the humid hides, and seems to be the slightly better of the two. I will get some mealworms today and see if they will take any, and if not I'll make the slurry and pray that they'll take some.

Two questions on the slurry- Where can I find the Milk Thistle?
If I cannot find any, is there anything that can be supplemented?
Also, should I add any waxworms into the slurry as well, or just the mealworms?

I can get a UTH, but how do I regulater the temperature with that?
I assumed that having the digital probe right under the light on the floor would give me a fairly accurate reading of the floor basking temp instead of air temp, but if that's not the case, how will I know how warm the floor once I put the UTH on?

I did see that questionnair, however I really have no extra information on them. I put everything that I know, and everything that I've done thus far in the original thread.
If there's any specific questions that I haven't answered, I may be able to contact the petstore and hope that someone there may know.
They did not have thermometers in their enclosures at the petstore, so I have no clue what temps they were kept at.
All I know is that they were fed crickets for their diet, they had an infrared bulb and a UVB coil bulb in their enclosure.

 

[sausage]

i couldnt get half the stuff for the slurry in england so i just wizzed up loads of diffrent bugs with som calcium and vits and used that. you can put it into ice cube trays and freeze it to last longer, just get a cube out when needed

 

[w0554096]

Hello everyone,
So unfortunately Tom did not make it.
I have made up a batch of the slurry, and we're syringe feeding Jerry. He has also taken about .1ml of padialite.
He did eat 5 waxworms on his own this morning, but unfortunately he pooped out two undigested waxworms this evening.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lyn]

It's obvious he can't digest his food. Did you replace the heat lamp with a heat pad controlled by a thermostat? Leopard geckos can't digest their food without belly heat. By the way, I would only feed Jerry the silkworms and the slurry. Waxworms are very unhealthy. Plus, I wouldn't house him in a 40 gallon tank. Instead, I would house him in a 10 gallon tank.