New Gecko just threw up.

[Lindz]

UPDATE!!::New Gecko just threw up.

I got my new gecko yesterday and I just watched her throw up her food. The pet store owner told me she fed her a pinky the day before yesterday. Well that's what she threw up today. I read it might be intestinal parasites so I looked for a dark spot and I saw a really light gray spot on her stomach which I don't know if it's parasites or her internal organs. If it's not that I'm wondering if the pinky was to big for her to handle. I'm just not sure. When should I try feeding her again? Thanks for all your help in advance.

EDIT: I forgot to mention she's a little skinny because the two males she was with kept her from eating so that's why the pinky was fed to her.

 

[prettyinpink]

They don't need pinkies The pinkie was probably too big for her to handle, get her on a good diet stright away! You can give her a couple days rest and to settle in then give her some normal food.

Please take a look at these care sheets which will help you research leos, and will also let you in on what to feed, ect.
http://geckoforums.net/articles.php?c=115

Welcome to GF!

 

[gothra]

Since you just got your gecko yesterday, its most likely the travel and stress that made her regurgitate her last meal. I wouldn't worry just yet. The greyish/dark spot on her belly is most likely her liver. How old is your girl? I personally wouldn't feed pinky, there's no need for it; unless the female has laid tonnes of eggs and seriously needs replenishing. Keep her warm and hydrated, you can try feeding her tonight, but not too many at first; crickets preferred as they are easier to digest.

 

[Lindz]

Thank you for the quick feedback. I actually work at the pet store I got her from and I have never heard of feeding them pinkies so it kinda threw me off. I'll def. take a look at that sheet to see my other feeder options. Thanks again for your feedback!

I'm not really sure how old she is but she's 7.5 inches long. She's still very active which is good. Like I said I didn't really see the need for a pinky.

 

[Dog Shrink]

She was being housed with 2 males? That is insane. Hope she isnt gravid. This pet shop sounds like a real earl scheib kinda joint. You don't keep males together and you don't keep more than 1 in an enclosure esp. if they are bullying another outta the food. Yeah you generally don't want to feed pinkies. Leos are designed to digest invertibrates. they can't digest the bone from what I understand. Does this pet shop also keep their leos on sand?

 

[Lindz]

She was being housed with 2 males? That is insane. Hope she isnt gravid. This pet shop sounds like a real earl scheib kinda joint. You don't keep males together and you don't keep more than 1 in an enclosure esp. if they are bullying another outta the food. Yeah you generally don't want to feed pinkies. Leos are designed to digest invertibrates. they can't digest the bone from what I understand. Does this pet shop also keep their leos on sand?

Yes she does keep them on sad. It's the really fine calcium sand. The trio was actually brought to us that way so it was the previous owner who kept them that way. Now they could have been sexed wrong for all I know. She doesn't look pregnant as of right now but we shall see. She's not in bad shape by any means. Just a tad skinny in the tail. I called her and told her what happened about her throwing up the pinky and she suggested I come in and feed another one on Thurs. I don't THINK so!

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Do your gecko a favor and do NOT take any more advice from that store! And you'll be doing yourself a favor if you don't let them talk you into buying a bunch of stuff that simply isn't needed.

 

[Dog Shrink]

I think you need to educate your boss on the PROPER care of leopard geckos. Keeping a leo on calcium sand is worse imo than regular sand because that actually encourages them to eat it which could lead to a whole different set of issues altogether from impaction to calcium overload to possibly psudogout (calcium deposits but generally caused by too much D3 intake) to god knows what. Maybe print a couple care sheets off this site and give them to your boss before she mis-educates a WHOLE lotta people on how to care for their leo. Does she also recommend UV lighting?

 

[Lindz]

No, she doesn't. She told me to use the sand which I noticed instantly my gecko started eating when I put her in her new home. She didn't eat much but I noticed her doing it. I'm going to take out the sand first thing in the morning and put some paper towels down until I can find some tile or something else. My mom picked up the brochure from Petco and it suggests to use alpha pellets or the sand. Someone should mention that to Petco I hate that place. I always get sick animals from there. What a joke.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Honestly hon it doesn't sound like your pet shop is much better. Sorry. Leos are rock dwellers they don't reside on the desert floor, they are animals living in the rocky formations and crevaces so using sand isn't their natural environment. I'd love to meet the person that started that bunk and kick them. They see that they come from Afghan and all of a sudden they need sand... research people. Never trust what a pet shop tells you. After all their main interest is their bottom line. paper towels are a great alternative until you can find a suitable substrait.

 

[Lindz]

I like natural looking substrate so what would you recommend?

 

[prettyinpink]

I suggest you read some care sheets. There's a few good ones posted on the site.

http://geckoforums.net/articles.php?c=115

They talk about food, supplementing and substrate

 

[Dog Shrink]

Personally I love the ease of vinyl simulated slate tiles. They have texture, are thicker than the cheap vinyl tiles, yet not so thick as to disrupt heat dispersment like porcelain, ceramic and natural stone can given the nature of thermodynamics and those more natural products. It makes your hot spot just that, a hot spot insted of an entire area being heated (again the nature of thermodynamics and natural stone, ceramic etc is to disperse heat thru the entire suface of the tile rather than to permeate). it is super easy to clean, can stick directly to the bottom of your tank so feeders can't get under it, is waterproof so you don't have to worry about bacteria growth, you don't have to use any type of grout like porcelain, slate or ceramic tiles (even if you just grout with fine sand it makes clean up a bear when you have to take it all out and re-do it all just to clean). Most of all I love how natural it looks, and the variety of colors/designs you can get it in, plus it's so easy to cut to shape.

So I love my tile... but if you do go with vinyl tile please make sure it is HIGH end stuff. The stuff that will crack when you bend it, not the kind that will bend and flex.

 

[UnicornSpirit]

I'll have to agree with DogShrink. I recently installed vinyl tiles into my 20 gal. long. These tiles actually look like they're real stone (very beautiful- the colors even pick up the colors in the Mopani wood I have), but when you feel it you can tell it's vinyl. They are odorless. They seem to hold the heat well as I use overhead heat lamps. It's a cinch to clean and I'm wasting less paper towels this way

 

[prettyinpink]

I use slate tiles, I'm also a tile fan.

 

[UnicornSpirit]

*Side note: you can cute Vinyl tiles yourself by scoring the back just using a ruler and exacto (or box-cutter) then fold and snap! So Vinyl is perfect for custom tank sizes as well... I could even adjust mine by 1cm!

If your gecko needs a little extra fat I would supplement her normal healthy diet with a few waxworms.

 

[Lindz]

Thanks for the tile advice everyone! I was looking into that but wasn't sure if there was anything that looked nice. (I'm picky about what my tank looks like ) I'll keep everyone posted on how she's doing. I put two medium crickets into her tank last night and they were gone this morning so I know she's eating. I put a couple more in there this morning and hopefully she'll eat them and I'll know she's feeling better. I read those care sheets and they answered a lot of questions I was unsure of. Thanks again!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Just be careful leaving crickets in the tank overnight with your leo. They can nibble and bite on her and cause her stress. Always make sure you leave a food source in teh tank for the crickes, even better, don't leave them alone with her just to be safe,but if you absolutely have to make sure the crickets are fed. Don't worry the leo shouldn't eat anything you put in there for the crickets, just make sure it's bigger than what the leo can fit in it's mouth.

Home Deopt has a great selection of vinyl time. The pix don't do them justice but this should give you an idea: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=vinyl+floor+tile&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

There's more pix in my uer profile photo album but just to give you an idea of how it looks, here's an ariel shot of my set up:

 

[Lindz]

She ate 6 Giant Mealworms tonight. She's not that great at striking at them but she's getting the hang of it. It might just be from the fact that she was bullied. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she keeps them down.

 

[prettyinpink]

She should, good that she's eating though! Most new leos won't eat for a bit until they've settled in.