Not eating/spitting out food/possible mouth rot?

[Sphinxe]

About your leo:
- Sex
Female
- Age & Weight
Age - not entirely sure, she is an adult however. Weight - 26g
- How long have you owned your leo
Approx 3 months
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend)
Pet store

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo
Every 2/3 days, I heard being handled isn't really a gecko's favourite past time, so I try not to bother them too much.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.
Not really.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
None as far as I know.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)
Look like normal to me.
- When was the last time he/she went
About a day ago.
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on:

My gecko stopped eating about 3weeks ago, and I noticed a significant drop in her weight, she looked skinny compared to her friend, who is much pudgier than her. Her tail is skinny and overall she didn't look well. We took her to the pet shop I bought her from, and the man told us she had a sore - possibly from something biting her as she has eaten it, and because she was skinny, said to force feed her.

We did for a while, and not long after this she shed her skin, so we saw this as a good sign. Because she is skinny, last night I fed her some waxworms and she munched them up. Today I find them all compacted and gooey, looks like she's eaten them and either thrown them back up or spat them out.

This set off new alarm bells, if she may be sick, so I decided to have another hunt round on google - couldn't find much but came across mouth rot, which looks much like what she has.

I live in the UK.

Here are some pictures:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/201/17757033401828334432417.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/210/46871933401749667773620.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/215/45699233401984667750121.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/45763433401910334424215.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/32323333401835667765037.jpg/

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size
3 feet by one foot. (With a glass panel going down the middle, this separates the male and female when they aren't active, I was worried about the male bullying the female.)
- Type
Glass
- Type of substrate
Wood chips
- Hides, how many, what kind
Hide made out of a tupperware box wrapped in newspaper.
B) Heating
- Heat source
Heat mat.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)
25 degrees Celsius
- Method of regulating heat source
N/A
- What are you using to measure your temps
A stick on thermometer.
- Do you have any lights (describe)
One UV light, not on constantly.
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)
One male, however we have split them in case of bullying.
- Describe health, or previous problems
Rather thin, tail thin.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)
Mealworms, wax worms (For fattening purposes) and dried zoomed flies.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect)
Force feeding/hand feeding to make sure she eats.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
N/A
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)
Calcium dust, left in a dish with the zoomed dried flies.
- What are you gut loading food with
Vegetables, potatoes for example or apple.

 

[katie_]

This gecko needs to see a vet asap.

 

[Sphinxe]

Right - I'll make an appointment on Monday.

 

[katie_]

I read through the information a little more, and noticed a few things that alarm me.
Geckos should never be kept on wood chips. I would change to paper towels asap, and think about purchasing some tile for long term.
Also, 25 degrees is MUCH too cold for leos. You want the warm area to be at least 33 degrees to properly digest their food. I would highly recommend you purchase a probe thermometre as stick on ones are not at all accurate by any means.
Force feeding is also a big no-no, as this stresses your gecko out and can do more harm. By force feeding your gecko you can turn them off food all together.

A vet visit is in order, and I'm glad you can take her on monday.

 

[Sphinxe]

Unfortunately I've simply taken most of my information from the pet store owner, who you would think would know about these kinds of things. Ha!

And I probably don't have an accurate temperature because of this stick-on thermometer, I managed to find an old probe and apparently the cold side is 26 and the warm side 34? Which I hope should sound better.

And for some reason she doesn't appear too stressed with feeding by mouth (I don't like the term force feeding, for we didn't shove food down her mouth, only in so she could chew it herself, - unlike the pet store owner who told us and demonstrated!)

Although I agree it's a bad idea we were worried and it seemed to be a last resort, she appears to be tamer and less wiggly now but I don't know if it's because she is ill; but she did eat wax worms that I put in front of her after the force feeding, but only to find a half digested lump later on, which is what I can't understand, because she didn't do it when we put the worms in her mouth purposefully.

 

[sausage]

aww poor thing
yes wood chips are a massive impaction risk.
temps are to low as already stated.
yes i would say shes not wriggly due to the lack of energy
it needs to see a vet ASAP! in the mean time try making slurry mix to syringe her rather then forcing whole foods, the slurry will also be easier to digest while its sick.

 

[Sphinxe]

I have done before, using a pestle and mortar to ground up some meal worms with calcium dust and put it on her mouth to lick off, but a syringe/pipette seems like a better idea as she won't try and wipe it on something!

I'll be getting her to the vets on Monday, so hopefully all will be clear then.

I'll get on top of the substrate problem, is there anything you personally recommend? I know apparently the ultimate one is newspaper, but is there anything you find to be the best?

 

[katie_]

Tiles nice.

 

[grboxa]

agree with katie on tiles. no issue of impaction, easy cleaning, and retains and distributes heat well. It is very inexpensive and if you get a nice looking slate, you can make it look more natural. good luck with your gecko!

 

[Sphinxe]

Following on from this (if anyone is still interested) I took her to the vet who prescribed her some antibiotic which I have been doing daily, and I made a UK version of the Golden Gate Gecko slurry which I feed her daily, and she appears to be happier. She put on 2 grams from the date of this post, so hopefully she should be on the up, I bought some tiles for her and put them in the tank, and all round she seems happier. I also bought some tamodine, which I will be using as of tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help guys, and fingers crossed for her recovery!

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

Seeing as how the pet store owner is feeding wrong info i would greatly advise going on any and multiple breeder websites advertised at the top and read as much info as you can on proper care. Good for you for taking him to the vet and good luck