Newbie in need of help.

[sochellysays]

I'm pretty new to the gecko world. I also have a bearded dragon, but he is doing very well. On the other hand I am extremely worried about my new baby geckos.
I bought 2 last friday at *****. They did poop (at least one did) both friday and saturday. I haven't seen them eat since I bought them. Actually, there have been no disappearance of crickets at all. I offer them pin head crickets and smaller wax worms (mainly because they are kinda skinny.. especially one of them). The skinny one I am especially worried about.
I have given them a bit of turkey baby food on their nose. The fatter one (he isn't fat, just is no where as skinny) takes it without a struggle and seems to enjoy licking it off. It is the only that I have gotten them to eat so far. The skinner one would fling it off and try to run away.. At least it licked some of it.
They are both active and travel back and forth from the warm side to the cooler side and vise versa.
I use paper towels for the bottom. I did buy calci-sand but it was only used for one night. Once I realized the dangers I quickly removed it and replaced it with something much cheaper.. plain 'ole paper towels. They have two hiding spots (one in the cool and one in the warm area). I have a small calcium bowl in there as well as a water bowl.

Now at first I thought they had impaction because of a little blue dot on their stomach...turns out after more research that is their liver? At least that is what others have said. This was after I had them sit in warm water.
I feel like I have stressed them out to the extreme (especially the really skinny one).
I regret handling them as much and just trying all these things. I decided to remove the crickets since they aren't going after them and the crickets just stress them out more. I have wax worms in a bowl. I'm thinking about maybe trying to get some small meal worms for them to try?
please give me suggestions!

The temperature in the warm side is currently about 90 degrees and the cooler side is about 75ish degrees.

I'm scared I may be the cause of the geckos death. I'm going to refrain from handling for a few days and see if any of the worms disappear.
I even tried to get them to lick the insides of the worm.. not much success at all.

Also to add the night before the skinnier gecko did puke out two full crickets.
I've seen them both drink since I have had them.. the fatter one drinks much more though.

 

[leonewbie]

Firstly, don't worry too much, they are still probably stressed from the new environment, some leos will wait a week before eating after stress of moving. Secondly, wax worms are good as an occasional treat, but they can be addicting, so try to limit them, mealies are a good idea if you want to leave something in the bowl. Thirdly, they should be able to eat larger crickets than pinheads...those are really teeny. Make sure there are adequate hides, the temp is right (you didnt mention what heat source you were using) and try to let them adjust for a few days

 

[sochellysays]

These geckos are very small. They are only about 3 inches if not a bit less. A few of the crickets are larger while some are very small. The small ones at the pet store by me are bigger than the largest ones I have right now. There is no way they can eat the larger ones. I mean it is possible, but it is definitely bigger than the space between their eyes.
They may not be "pin head" crickets but they are pretty small.
As a heat source I have a small zoo med pad on the side of the tank (which does practically nothing.. maybe only increases about a degree or two) and I also have 75W moonlight night glo bulb from Exo Terra.

I bought wax worms yesterday in hope to get them to eat and fatten them up. I read they are good for the skinner ones somewhere. Even with those delicious treats they haven't eaten.

The skinny one isn't looking very good. Should I wait a few more days or call a vet ASAP?

 

[Khrysty]

I have a feeling you need to up the heat. Do you have a thermometer? Do you know the floor temp of the warmest place in the tank? Maybe you'll need to either get another (better) heat pad...or get an infrared light. Or invest in heat tape.

As has been mentioned, the move/change of environment could very well be the problem here. Just wait it out a couple more days. Aside from possibly the heat, you're doing nothing wrong that I can see.

 

[leonewbie]

I agree with Khrysty, you do need to up the heat-get a thermometer with a probe and put the probe on the floor of the hot side. It should be at about 90. The belly heat is extremely important for digestion, the light doesn't do much. I know they seem very small, but they are very tough and they need time to adjust...try some mealies in a bowl and limit the interaction as much as possible.

 

[sochellysays]

I said in the first post the warm side was already about 90. Sometimes it will be a bit more. Generally I would say it is between 90-95. Yes, I do have a thermometer. The digital ones. The light does A LOT. Instantly when i turned it on it nearly burnt me. My room will be about 70 and it raises the tank temperature over 20 degrees.
I picked up some small meal worms today. I'm going to leave them in the bowl tonight to try to see if anything changes.

 

[sochellysays]

I'm starting to suspect parasites. If they did have parasites wouldn't of the symptoms shown when I first got them? Their poop was normal the first couple days.

Here is what has happened:
They have regurgitated food
They have liquid poop, nearly clear with a bit of yellow
They have NO interest in food what so ever
The yellow one constantly drinks.
They are losing weight fast, especially the skinner one.

I just used a weight watchers scale (i'm not sure how accurate they are). It was pointing to oz?
The larger one is .1 oz and the smaller one is only .05 oz. Now, I think that is dramatically underweight.. I called numerous vets near by and all are closed.
How much do you expect me to spend on getting tests done?
Also, how can tests be done when there is no poop?

 

[ariana]

well one thing i noticed is, the heat mat on the side of the tank? it needs to be on the bottom. try slurry, gatorade soaks, or repta aid (insectivore kind). it can help get weight on them and might get them more active.

 

[sochellysays]

The heat mat is on the side of the cage to avoid fires. It being there is practically moot. The majority of the heat comes from the bulb. The warm side floor is now 93.3 degrees. I tried putting bug juices and baby food on their nose. The skinny one just shakes it off or rubs it off. It shows no effort at all. The .1 oz one will at least lick the food off.

The fatter one is pretty active like I originally said. The other one is as well.. well, at least it used to be. It seems to be slowing down a lot quickly.

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Well we picked up a very healthy looking female about a month ago, and there was no way she should have had parasites because she was a healthy weight...but she didn't eat right for about 3 weeks. She had runny poo also. It took her a while to settle in, but now that she has she's eating just find and poo is regular. I would try gatorade or pedialite soaks just like ariana said. The electrolytes in it should give the little guy some energy and hopefully stimulate his appetite. I've heard there's also an appetite stimulant at some pet stores. Mostly, I'd just let them settle in. A picture of them would help though I think, then it would be easier to tell how serious the problem is.

Good luck!

 

[sochellysays]

I did get them from P*tco. I called p*tco and they told me to drop them off so their vet can see them. I'm very nervous about this since it is P*tco.
They said they will reimburse me, have the vet look at them, and then call me when they are ready to go home.
I left a message for a reputable vet and she should call me back tomorrow. Hopefully she will give me more advice.
The skinny one is looking really weak right now. At this moment I don't have any gatorade but I will buy some tomorrow.
Here is a picture I took Saturday I think? The stripped one is definitely skinnier than that now. It looks like its head is too big for its body now and the tail is even thinner. The albino hasn't changed much. I don't want to disturb them too much. I already stressed them out a lot to begin with.
Edit: Looking at the albino now the tail is a bit thinner than in the picture.

 

[sochellysays]

I got repta- aid and the "healthier" one ate it just fine. It had a decent amount. It is already exploring about.. the other one I had a hard time feeding and I finally got it to open its mouth. It is getting really weak and bad.. I got it to have the tiniest amount, but I stressed it to the extreme. It can barely lift up its head and its eyes are constantly closed. When I was trying to feed it it "pooped" out a LONG strand of green. It was a small amount but i'm saving it to bring to the vet. It is probably going to be all I can get.
I feel like I'm going to lose it tonight. I don't know what else to do. I'm bringing them both to the vet to get checked out tomorrow. I hope it survives the night.

 

[Adinar]

I'm starting to suspect parasites. If they did have parasites wouldn't of the symptoms shown when I first got them? Their poop was normal the first couple days.

Here is what has happened:
They have regurgitated food
They have liquid poop, nearly clear with a bit of yellow
They have NO interest in food what so ever
The yellow one constantly drinks.
They are losing weight fast, especially the skinner one.

I just used a weight watchers scale (i'm not sure how accurate they are). It was pointing to oz?
The larger one is .1 oz and the smaller one is only .05 oz. Now, I think that is dramatically underweight.. I called numerous vets near by and all are closed.
How much do you expect me to spend on getting tests done?
Also, how can tests be done when there is no poop?

I have been having the same problems with 2 of mine and have since a few days after getting them. All save for the drinking constantly is exactally what went on with mine. They were finally diagnosed yesterday by a vet I was sent to by my usual vet. Shame of it is there still isn't a garuntee that they'll live. I'd say get them to a vet ASAP and take along fecal sample of both. Seperate them until you get the sample, you can refridgerate it for up to 3 days. Better to get it now rather than when it's too late. Tests from what I've gathered in my search for a vet can range from about 35-45, but is well worth it. Check out the slurry recipe stickied at the top of the health section of the forum, should help them provide a sample.

Good luck.

 

[sochellysays]

The skinny one died today. I'm devastated. What have I been doing wrong? The other one is slowly slowing down. Its licking anything I put on its nose, which is probably why it hasn't dropped as much weight.