possible problems!?!?!?

[laughing dog]

I recently got two new geckos that were alert, active and seemingly social(though seemed really bad compared to the pic i saw of them before going way out to get them). anyway the aside the looks and smell of the tank, which looked like it hadnt had anything done with in years(the sand was concreted and wet with urine feces and piled inches high with dead crix and supers, as well as crawling with tiny rice/grain beetles). the geckos looked burned on there skin and tongues, and at least one was sneezing, though the guy assured me the pair was eating good, and had just been hand fed(which i believed cause they ran right to me when i opened the cage, and licked me like little puppies). well i was a sucker to get them out of there cause he said some other herps had died off, and i payed maybe to much, just cause i wanted them and didnt have the time to try to haggle further(got the full twenty set up for$100). since I've had them there doing a lot better, but seem shy compared to what they were, and not eating or going hardly(force fed the female some crix), but the supposed male ate six out of my hand, one after another once , and has caught at least a couple in the cage. the smaller female is what im worried about cause it could just be stress(she has struck at at least a couple crix maybe, but hasnt eaten any). she, or both, are attacking the calcium, cricket food and drink gel(is that ok?), and i was finding little bits of sand around, so they may have been pooing it out, but look to have such big bellies, with easily found ribs, though the male has a big fat tail. the female looks to have huge eggs in her, that are red to pink, but of two of the owners i know of in the at least maybe three year old couples life, their has been no notice of eggs, mating, or fighting(the sand/gravel was like wet glass), but there twenty gallon had no water, minerals, or humid hide. they both look like maybe girls to me by the vent areas, but the one has more of a male shape(and im not sure if they were mateing right after being in the new cage), by what ive seen on here. Im hoping the female is not impacted, or eggbound, or infected(their skin both still smells a little, but the female's breath is horrid). if she is eggbound, infected with something like pneumonia, or pin worms, or impacted, what would i do for them, aside from a vet which isnt an option right now, sadly???

 

[acpart]

If you can't take them to the vet (which, I think you know, is essential if they have parasites or an infection) these are probably the best things you can do:
--make sure the hot side is pretty warm to help with digestion
--if you have any other herps, keep as strict a quarantine as possible which would include keeping them in a separate room if possible, using a different set of supplies, washing hands thoroughly after handling them, caring for them after you've already cared for your other herps
--if at all possible, separate them from each other in case only 1 is sick. If you think the female has eggs, be sure to provide a lay box
--feed them as much as they'll eat (if one is having trouble catching the crickets, either take the legs off the crickets or hold the gecko gently in one hand and press a cricket against its mouth with the other hand)
--save your pennies for the vet.

Good luck,

Aliza

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

If I might add...
Use paper towel for substrate, and change it with every poop. Parasites will just be re-introduced if their poop is left in there.
Good luck!

 

[laughing dog]

the one acts interested in food(or what ever im doing, but not so much the bugs), is more active, and drinking, eating everthing else but bugs, will chew them ,then spit them out. im wonderiong if there is something wrong with this batch of crix though, cause my other ones arnt to fond of them either for some reason, where the last batch the wouldnt stop eating. i have more than an ideal set up for them, and they seem to do better with the warm soaks. they also have mostly only pooped(who ever is doing it) in there hide with them. though the one im most worried about is the most active out of most of my leos(i have five, with one gravid supposedly with two eggs, when i got her), and they both look bigger and healthier than the young gravid female i have, except for the tail on the one, and the not eating bugs. the bigger brighter(supposed male) one of the pair doesnt do much, despite being mellower but more alert. being on here she just looks like a plain out of shape gecko. is it ok for her to eat the cricket food and water? she may have eaten some big dry dog food pieces(the female crix eat them over attacking the geckos, even with the top of the line cricket supplies), which may have been regurgrd or ppoed out, and smelled awful. i took everything out, though she seemed better when eating the green water gel crystals for crix. it almos seems like she doesnt want to swallow the crix, cause i found one chewed up, after she was out, by were she was. i dangled a crix in front of her, and when the bigger one went to come get it, she got in its way, but just licked it after she ran up some, then closed one eye, then slowly closed the other eye, then slowly moved away in indifferance, distain, or illness. they seem a lot like the iguanas i used to rescue(they thanked me b breeding nonstop), but some people say they are totally differant. im thinking of tring some more fruit or something to that effect, as the last big bit when i first got them, and put it in disapeared suddenly. can i try an egg, or would it be bad for them, cooked or raw?

 

[laughing dog]

their all on paper towels, cause im not sure if clay, play sand, moss, or gravel, is something i want to try right now if there is a chance of impaction already(unless it might make them more comfortable, as they were on aquirum sand). i have tile too, but they seem to like to be closer to the uth. they have a huge hide, on one side, and a huge humid hide almost on the other with another heater under it off to the side(i had planned on having my other one with them, when they seemed ready). if the one is a male, and he mates with an already mated female, would his genes dominate(being a non closely related more normal, compared to a possible really high morgh? i was told she could produce viable eggs from that male without remating for more than the one clutch, and possibly throughout the year. ???

 

[laughing dog]

soaked them again, and got the rest of the gunk off the giant female''s feet. both pooed, the normal that i was worried about made to big a poop like a champagne popping and flowing. seems good now. the giant made little poop, which seemed to perk it up alot too. ive got them seperated in the setups, to see whoes doing what, but forgot not to swap out any drickets so the quarinine is pretty much a bust right?

 

[laughing dog]

the little one appears to have eaten two out of three crix, or the one ate the others instead of the dog food. the big one seperated now hasnt eaten over night though.

 

[laughing dog]

i think tey are both eating now that ive put another one i had, in with them, after the qurintine was up, even though she was a bully at first, they are all sheding, and pooping in there own spots alot, and running around a lot more, as well as sleep in a compresed heap, dispite various places , and heat sources provided. my only prob now is that the former bully always poops in the humid hide since being in this tank, and one of the two rescues always poops in the house they stay in.

 

[KiratheGecko]

Did you say they are eating the sand and their bellies are looking big?
Not good.That might mean that the sand is getting suck up in them,but if you think you see sand in their poop i guess that means it's digesting.

 

[KiratheGecko]

I've got a book on leos that's really good too (thanks Easter bunny!).It's in the series "Guide to a healthy,happy,pet".Might answer some of you're questions.
I'm not sure if you're library has it so check a bookstore too.
:main_robin: