Oue first Gecko, Bella

[Munkeesmama]

My daughter's ( age 8 and 9) have been wanting a lizard and we tried discouraging them. We told them to do their research and price everything out. Our main concern is that they would grow uninterested in it. To our surprise they read and read and researched for hours. The learned about all kinds of geckos and which one would best suit our lifestyles. We finally decided to go for it. We ended up finding a 2 1/2 year old female that needed a new home on craiglist so we brought her home last night. She came with a 20 galloon tank, some hides, and some supplies. She was on orange sand though and we've read that is bad (and she is stained from it!). Anyways, today we spent a lot of time at a local reptile store to buy her some new hides, a new mealworm bowl, some decorations, etc. She seems to like her new digs. For a gecko, I have to say she's pretty cute! First picture is her in her home she came in. Second is her habitat. How big should she be at 2 1/2. She seems a skinny/small to me. I haven't weighed her yet though.

 

[geckos9]

Congrats on your new gecko! She is adorable And welcome to GeckoForums!!

She does look like she wasn't cared for properly, but it looks like you'll take great care of her! Good job for removing the sand :main_thumbsup:

Just making sure, so your gecko is happy: Do you have a heat pad? And, just a friendly suggestion: I wouldn't use that thermometer. It's inaccurate. I recommend buying a temperature gun to measure the floor temperatures If you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Munkeesmama]

She has an under tank heater and from measuring on the ground the temp is perfect. That thermometer thing came with her and the tank already. We just switched out the inside. What should she way at 2 1/2?

 

[geckos9]

What are the surface temperatures (I know you said they're perfect, but I need to make sure they really are)? And what do you mean you switched out the inside?

As for what she should weigh, it's hard to tell you. Each gecko is different, but it's usually anywhere from 30 to 60 grams. I can tell you right now she is WAY below what she should weigh. A healthy, good weight gecko has a tail in proportion with its body and its body doesn't appear skinny or fat, just "filled out". She is pretty skinny and needs somewhat serious care. How often are you feeding her and which insect are you feeding? Are you checking the cage temperatures daily? Do you have a dish filled with calcium without D3 in the enclosure at all times? Are you dusting her food with calcium with D3 and a multivitamin at least twice a week?

Sorry for so many questions, I just want to make sure your gecko is being cared for correctly

 

[Munkeesmama]

What are the surface temperatures (I know you said they're perfect, but I need to make sure they really are)? And what do you mean you switched out the inside?

As for what she should weigh, it's hard to tell you. Each gecko is different, but it's usually anywhere from 30 to 60 grams. I can tell you right now she is WAY below what she should weigh. A healthy, good weight gecko has a tail in proportion with its body and its body doesn't appear skinny or fat, just "filled out". She is pretty skinny and needs somewhat serious care. How often are you feeding her and which insect are you feeding? Are you checking the cage temperatures daily? Do you have a dish filled with calcium without D3 in the enclosure at all times? Are you dusting her food with calcium with D3 and a multivitamin at least twice a week?

Sorry for so many questions, I just want to make sure your gecko is being cared for correctly

We just got her a few days ago. She is refusing to eat since coming to our home. But it's only been a few days. She does have calcium without d3 in her enclosure and we put some gut loaded mealworms dusted with vitamins/calcium with d3 in there for her. She hasn't eaten them though. As for the tank she's in. She came to us on sand with 2 dry hides and no humid hide, and a very dirty water bowl, with dead mealworms in the sand . She now has a warm hide and a humid hide, and she seems to really like hiding behind the plant in the enclosure. The UTH covers 1/3 of the tank. It is right around 90-92 degrees when I've checked it on the warm side. and between 76-78 degrees on the cool side. I usually check in the morning and evening, but didn't check today since the temps have been pretty stable. We plan on getting a digital thermometer to keep in there all the time. She does seem very "small" to me and not filled out. That's why I was asking what she should weigh. I will weigh her in the morning and see what she weighs. I hope she starts eating soon so she can poop. We want to get a fecal done on her but she hasn't pooped for us yet.

 

[indyana]

Good luck getting her recuperated! As everyone else has said, she definitely looks like she could use a few good meals!

I rehabilitated a gecko who was kept in similar bad care. Some things you can try:
- Get some long feeding tongs and try showing her the live food (mine was too tired/thin to hunt properly for a while).
- Soak in a small amount of warm water (not so much that the gecko has to swim) to hydrate. If there's any old shed skin stuck to her feet or tail, you can try to pick it off or rub it off with a cotton swab.

I'm glad you plan to get her checked for parasites once she starts eating and pooping. After you've ruled out any issues that require medical treatment, all she'll need is a continued healthy diet to start filling out.

 

[Munkeesmama]

I was able to get the remaining skin off her toes. I'll try the tongs. I tried hand feeding her. She licked at it, but wouldn't eat.

 

[Munkeesmama]

Just weighed her and she is exactly 30g. I was also able to "force feed", by getting her to open her mouth and putting a mealworm part way in, then she did the rest of the work. I got 2 mealworms into her before she seemed stressed out. I'll try again tonight. I would really like to get her on a varied diet of roaches, mealworms, and crickets. For those that vary their leos diets do you only do one type of insect at a feeding, or multiple, or some other system. She is our first gecko, actually first reptile ever. We want to get this right.

 

[indyana]

I rotate the feeders by feeding so that my gecko can't just pick out his favorites. I find it helps to keep track in a little notebook of what my gecko has eaten each feeding so I can make sure he's actually eating a variety and not just holding out until I offer something he wants to eat (no more dubia until you eat your crickets!). It's also good to write down how much he's pooped or when he sheds. It gives you a baseline to work from so you can detect any odd behavior or have records for your vet visits.

 

[Munkeesmama]

That sounds awesome. Didn't even think to do that for Bella. We breed golden retrievers and we keep lengthy detailed logs of weight, vet checks, heat cycles, etc. Should be easy peasy.

 

[Munkeesmama]

A little update on Bella. She is now up to 35 grams, from the initial 30 grams she was. She went through another shed 2 days ago (I'm assuming from the growth). She shed on her own without issues. Yay, humid hide! Unfortunately, I am still having to force feed her. She would keep spitting out the mealworms after just 1 or 2 of them, so I went and got her some crickets. I'm gut loading the crickets with Wheat Bran, Baby rice Cereal, Zucchini, Carrots, and them the reptile vitamins and calcium. She had her first crickets 2 night ago. Although, I still had to force feed her she at 3 crickets (without spitting them out), and 1 mealworm. She also ate more readily without putting up as much of a fight. She seems to be a bit more feisty and have a bit more energy, so I think we're on the mend and she just needs to do some growing and weight gain. Or as they say in the medical field. She's a grower-feeder. Oh, She's also pooping now, and fecal was negative. Any ideas on getting her to "hunt" her own food without having to be force fed? I was hoping crickets would do the trick, but no such luck...yet.

 

[indyana]

Part of it may be stress resulting from all the new things, in addition to her poor health. Just keep giving her the opportunity to hunt a bit before you decide to push food on her. Geckos also need time to digest between meals, so make sure you aren't trying to feed too much, too often. She may be skinny, but her stomach's only so big. I would hope that as she regains her strength and her stress levels drop she will be more interested in eating of her own volition.

Very glad to here that she's negative for parasites! One less thing to worry about.