Please help.

[NYFinest86]

About your leo:
- Sex - 2 Females
- Age & Weight - 8-10 months / weight unknown
- How long have you owned your leo - 3 weeks
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) - Breeder at the Hamburg Reptile Show

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - Every few days to inspect
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. - No
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. - Just got them
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal) - Super Snow is normal. Tangerine won't eat and is pooping what looks like for lack of a better word snot.
- When was the last time he/she went - A couple of hours ago
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on - I Just bought these two females from a breeder at a reptile show. For the first two weeks both would not eat. Now one is eating a pooping daily and the other has not eaten. The tangerine is defecating an off white slime. She ate for me when I first got her and regurged. She then shed perfectly and regurged that also. It has been three weeks since I picked her up and she won't eat and continues to poop this off white slime.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - 24x18 Exo Terra Medium Low
- Type (ex. glass tank) - Glass
- Type of substrate - Vinyl flooring laid in cage
- Hides, how many, what kind - 4 Hides. 1 hot, 1 warm, 1 cool, 1 moist
B) Heating
- Heat source - Ultratherm heat pad and heat bulb.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) - hot side 92-94 in hot hide during the day drops to 88 at night. cool side 80-82 during the day and 75 at night.
- Method of regulating heat source - Herp stat for heat pad. 50 watt heat bulb above cage.
- What are you using to measure your temps - Herp stat, VE digital therm, and a temp gun.
- Do you have any lights (describe) - red heat bulb during the day. goes off at night.
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - The 2 females are housed together
- Describe health, or previous problems - Ate the 3rd day I had her. Then went off food. After two weeks the Super Snow has been eating well, pooping, and gaining mass. The tangerine has regurged food, shed skin, and won't eat. Seems to be losing some tail mass.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) - I've tried crickets, meal worms, and wax worms. Also crushed worms place on her snout. Every night at lights out I leave a bowl of 20 meal worms and a couple of wax worms dusted in a bowl. I randomly check throughout the night and see the Super Snow eating but no the Tangerine.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) - Left in dish. I've tried isolating her in a 10 gallon for a week with no results. I've tried to hand feed also with no results.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) - Rep-Cal. with D3, without D3, and their vitamin powder
- What are you gut loading food with - Flukers orange and cricket quencher for crickets. Meal worms munch on oats and carrots.


Hello all. New member here. I'm having a rough time with one of my geckos. I bought them 3 weeks ago at the Hamburg reptile show. I housed them together in a 15 gallon for the first week with belly heat on a herp stat and both refused to eat. I figured they were stressed. I then separated them into two 10 gallons on belly heat on a herp stat and both refused to eat.

I then became worried and took both geckos to a reptile vet at the local zoo who inspected both geckos. I brought both their feces. He told me they both looked healthy and the poop was good. He advised to bump up the heat and not to worry. He stated leopard geckos can often go months without eating. He advised it would be ok to keep both the females housed together in a slightly larger cage. He them brought me to show me the zoo's leopard gecko set up.

I then purchased an exo terra cage, larger ultratherm heat mat, and herp stat. I've included a picture of me enclosure.

The Super Snow is eating and pooping fine. The Tangerine is not. I've included a picture of her feces. I've observed my Super Snow eating at night and walking away from a fresh good poop. She is putting on weight. The Tangerine has not been seen to eat and I know foul feces is hers because she pooped the same way when separated. She seems to be losing a little tail mass. Ironically when I first got them she seemed to be the healthier and more active of the two and now they have switched roles.

Can someone please give me some advice? I feel like I've tried everything and my temps are on point. Thank you so very much!

Vinny
NYFinest86

 

[NYFinest86]

 

[TigressSnow]

I believe there may be some bullying going on if one is eating and healthy and the other is not and is unwell. Housing 2 Leo's rarely goes well as they're solitary only coming together to mate in the wild. Best of luck, give seperation them a try an let the unwell one settle in first. Try a pedialite solution dropped on her snout to keep her hydrated. Best of luck

 

[TigressSnow]

I'm just closely looking at the poop and that looks like egg insides from an egg bound burst. Is your reptile vet experienced with Leo's? That is no way possible a normal poop! Get her some pedialite stat and seperate her! Even if you just have a tub! Hopefully Tracy comes on to give more expert advice! But seperate and hydrate first! Best of luck, sorry for the urgency!

 

[NYFinest86]

Thank you for the reply! I haven't noticed any bullying. I've been physically inspecting them every couple of days for bites. I'm also so worried that I check at night to observe them exploring and have not seen any aggression. I had them separate for a week with no success. I will definitely take your advice though and separate them again! Off to set up another enclosure right after I post. She's been pooping like this for 3 weeks. Although this one was larger. The Super Snow did lay an egg the second week I had her. It was not fertile. Could this trigger the other to produce an egg? I can not find one other picture of leopard gecko feces that is similar to this. So many your theory is correct. I hope your friend Tracy could offer some advice. Thanks again! I'm just praying it's not a deadly illness.

 

[NYFinest86]

I've placed her in this tank by herself. It's a 10 gallon with a zoo-med heat pad and thermostat. I've placed some meal worms and a couple of wax worms in a bowl for her.

 

[indyana]

Good start! I'd recommend trying to minimize stress for her for a few weeks and see if she straightens out. Be sure to keep her hydrated and don't bother/handle too much.

GeckoBoa Reptiles has a great page about how to do this, so I'd suggest reading through and seeing what you can do to try to keep things quiet for her:
Gecko Not Eating Page - GeckoBoa Reptiles

If she does not improve over time, you may want to get her tested for parasites to make sure she doesn't have an underlying problem. You can ask local vets if they are able to test a fecal sample without putting her through the stress of the exam.

In the meantime, giving the Super Snow's tank a good scrubbing is probably a good precaution. Just in case the Tangerine does have something going on, you don't want the Super Snow to pick it up.

 

[NYFinest86]

Thank you indyana. I've gone ahead and cleaned the entire cage for the Super Snow. I've also followed some of the tips from your link. I've covered the sides of the 10 gallon tank with paper so the only way to see in is from above. I've checked my temperatures and it is 92 degrees in the hot hide. No poop today for her though. I did put 10 meal worms and 2 wax worms in a food bowl and noticed 1 wax worm is gone. So she at least ate one worm. I did not observe this though. Also soon after I covered the cage I did observe her exploring the cage. She seemed to move well. Next time I see her out I will snap and picture and post it.

Has anyone ever seen feces like that before?

 

[Christywoowoo]

I had a female reabsorb some eggs recently. She went off food for a long time (losing a considerable amount of weight) I got really worried. One night her poop looked exactly like that.

I think the poop looking that way may have something to do with the fact that she's not really eating anything to poop out. I think the lack of eating and the clear poops could definitely be related.
Or it may have something to do with an unfertilized egg?

 

[NYFinest86]

Well it seems she ate 1 wax worm over the past couple of days. She won't eat meal worms or crickets. She also has not pooped since I uploaded that photo. The other gecko is flourishing. She eats about 20+ meal worms a night and poops daily. She looks awesome with a fat tail. I'm assuming if the one who is not eating was sick with crypto or parasites the other gecko would have caught it from when they were housed together for over a week and not be doing well either but that's not the case. She has not eaten since a couple of days after I got her on June 12th.

Considering you're the only other person who has seen feces like that maybe it was a reabsorbed egg. Here are some pictures from when i first got them and now.

I can clearly see the Super Snow's tail has gotten much fatter, while the Tangerine's has gotten smaller.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Your tangerine gal looks a bit thinner than when she came home but definitely not thin in the least. Poo often looks like what they've last eaten so if she hasn't been eating and ate her last shed a poo like you pictured could be normal. I always recommend keeping leos separated for at least 60 days after bringing them home to make sure they are eating well and acting normally. I've had geckos not eat for several months after brining them home and lose a bit of weight but not enough to where they started looking thin. I would just leave the gal you're having issues with alone. Make sure she has mwalworms in an escape proof bowl in her cage 24/7 ans count them to see if she's eaten any (I usually count 10 into a bowl and check to see if any are gone every day or two). I would suspect that she is ovulating or just stressed from the change in environment. They both look like gorgeous healthy gals to me. Fingers crossed there's nothing bad going on with them!

 

[NYFinest86]

I figured I'd give an update just in case anyone else has a gecko and observes the same type of symptoms and feces as I've described. I still don't know what actually caused it, but she started eating about 5 days ago and has been eating well. Her tail is already beginning to plump up. After a few more poops they now look completely normal. She went without food for about 5 weeks. She is now in shed and seems more active. Thank you everyone for the tips and advice.

 

[indyana]

Great news! I hope she continues to recover her weight.