Really need some help with my gecko!

[Reptilegirl342]

Hi my name is Brandi and my gecko hasn't been eating for two months and i really need some advice/help.
About your leo:
- Sex-Female
- Age & Weight- a little over two years old.
- How long have you owned your leo- since she was about 3 months old
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend)- I got her from a pet store

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo- about every day now to give her supplements.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.- she is acting normal, she sleeps alot.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.- She has had a few problem sheds and lost a toe but i was able to get the skin of the rest or her toes.
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)- It is clearish white and watery.
- When was the last time he/she went- Today
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on- She has not been eating for almost two months.-She doesnt even pay any attention to the crickets really, sometimes she will look at them but will just walk away. Before this happened she weighed around 55 grams now she weighs about 49 grams. And she hasnt had a solid stool like normal since this began.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size- 20 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank)- glass
- Type of substrate- reptile carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind - She has two hides one rock cave on the warm side and a wood cave on the cool side ( doesnt use it though)
B) Heating
- Heat source- 100 watt basking bulb and undertank heat pad.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)- 85 degrees on warm side, room temp on cool side which is about 68 degrees.
- Method of regulating heat source- Heat lamp and heat pad
- What are you using to measure your temps- Thermometer at bottom of tank
- Do you have any lights (describe)- no special lighting
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)-No cage mates.
- Describe health, or previous problems- Lost a toe recently, no sign of infection when that happened. it happened before she stopped eating.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet- Crickets and meal worms
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)- When she was eating she had a constant supply of crickets in her cage when she was eating crickets, I switched to meal worms right before summer ended. she would be fed those 4 times a week, she would get 3-4 giant meals worms. never had a problem eating them.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect)- I would put one down at a time and watch her eat it and i would put another one in until she didnt want to eat anymore.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)- About 5 days ago I went to ++++++++ and bought a caloric supplement and appitite stimulant by zilla. i also used to give her fluckers calcium with vitamin d3 but stopped when i found out that the added d3 could hurt her.

 

[Dinosaur!]

okay, so from reading this, i see a few problems that may or may not be the cause:

1- the heat. Your temperatures are pretty low right now. the warm side should be 87-94 ish degrees. geckos need enough heat to properly digest food, so if the temperatures are too low they may stop eating because they know they cant digest it properly.

2- this doesnt have anything to do with her eating, but i need to reccomend building a moist hide for her. this will help her shedding problems significantly. it just has to be a container, such as a zip-loc bowl with a hole in it, filled with moist paper towl moss, or coco fiber. the moisture will help loosen her skin during shedding, ruducing risk of toe loss

3- the supplements. you need three different supplements for your gecko. You need calcium WITH D3 for them to process nutrients. dust with this every other feeding. Then you need calcium WITHOUT D3 to keep in er tank in a bottle cap or small bowl. this way she can get any calcium that she needs without the risk of D3 overdose. and finally, you need a vitamin supplement containing vitamin A. you should dust with this once a week, or they could overdose on that also. you need vitamin A for healthy eyes, color, sheds, and overall health

well these are my suggestions that may help her. she still isnt super enderweight, but it would be best to get her to eat soon

 

[tb144050]

B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)- It is clearish white and watery.
- When was the last time he/she went- Today

Sounds like their is no "poop" in it. It is probably/possibly just urate, some digestive fluid, and maybe shed-skin on occasion (??). Without food in her stomach to digest, this might be normal. Based on her weight loss, that would support the idea that she is taking nutrients from her tail&body instead of food in her stomach.

C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on- She has not been eating for almost two months.-She doesnt even pay any attention to the crickets really, sometimes she will look at them but will just walk away. Before this happened she weighed around 55 grams now she weighs about 49 grams. And she hasnt had a solid stool like normal since this began.

Not eating can often be a sign of stress or improper supplements or environment.

- Heat source- 100 watt basking bulb and undertank heat pad.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)- 85 degrees on warm side, room temp on cool side which is about 68 degrees.
- Method of regulating heat source- Heat lamp and heat pad

Your ideal temps are 90F floortemp on hotside....declining to about 70'sF floor temp on coolside. Without 90F floortemp, digestion is not at its best condition.

Unless your ambient room temp drops below 70F, I would remove the 100w bulb completely or atleast lower the wattage to reduce the heat. Floor heat temp is alot more important than airtemp.

Describe Die

t:
A) Typical diet- Crickets and meal worms
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)- When she was eating she had a constant supply of crickets in her cage when she was eating crickets, I switched to meal worms right before summer ended. she would be fed those 4 times a week, she would get 3-4 giant meals worms. never had a problem eating them.

It is possible that she is being stubborn because you were spoiling her with mealworms delivered right to her...but 2 months is probably a bit long to go on "hunger strike." Did you switch to mealworms because: After removing D3 from her supplements, she stopped eating crickets? (if so, see below comment about D3)

B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)- About 5 days ago I went to ++++++++ and bought a caloric supplement and appitite stimulant by zilla. i also used to give her fluckers calcium with vitamin d3 but stopped when i found out that the added d3 could hurt her.

This is my biggest concern. You definitely do not want her to overdose on D3, but you CANNOT remove it completely. D3 is a MANDATORY vitamin that must be supplemented in regular doses. Without D3, she probably has temporary side effects but the worst situation is long-term: Metabolic Bone Disease (due to longterm D3 deficiency).

 

[tb144050]

Dino beat me to the response...I type too slow. Very good info from Dino also about the moist hide and the other supplements I didn't address. I just focused on what caught my attention first.

 

[sausage]

I agree with what the others have said.
with regards to the heat, thermometers are unreliable at gaining an accurate floor temp reading, i would buy an infrared thermometer from ebay or some where, they are cheap.
the heat lamp is not necessary, you should remove it and just use the UTH. the excess top heat can cause them to overheat and stress them out which will in turn cause the runny stools. She jst needs the correct belly heat, if you sandwich the UHT between some tiles it will keep the UHT at a good steady temp. works for all mine.
i would also take her to a vets and get a stool sample tested for parasites asap

 

[Olympus]

Gooey poop is usually a good indicator of parasites. A vet will usually let you bring in a fecal (collect what you can in a baggie, put in fridge NOT in freezer) without bringing in the animal for a visit and it'll usually run between $18-24. Once they figure out if she has anything then you can go in and treat. But I do think it's worth ruling out (or in!) as a possible cause.

 

[Reptilegirl342]

Thanks for the replies, she does have a moist hide but for some reason she couldnt get the skin of her toes. She never had a problem before with getting the skin off until the last couple times. She is always moving to the cool side of the cage too, im going to be getting a new thermometer because the one in there is kinda cheap. She was doing fine with the UTH since last winter, but got the heat lamp last week to just to make sure she was warm enough. Well I just stoped giving her the calcium with D3 like last week (should've included that sorry), but she hasnt been eating her food anyways. I was thinking it could be parasites but I wasn't sure because I never encountered it with my gecko. When she was eating she would get the calcium D3 dusted on her food ( meal worms and crickets).