Skinny, possibly stunted gecko

[nelo]

So I just adopted a gecko from owners that kept him without a heater and fed him crickets and pinkies. I noticed immediately that he was skinny, his tail simply wasn't fat enough, but it wasn't until I got him home that I noticed he was quite smaller than my two girls... and they're only about a year to year and a half old, and this gecko I adopted the person said she had for two years.

He doens't seem to have MBD, maybe those pinkies gave him calcium at least. And he wasn't kept on sand, just a bare bottomed 10gal that smelled bad. And he's not... impossibly skinny, just defiitely not fat enough. Sorry I can't give you grams though, I have no scale.

Right now I at least gave him a heated 20gal and I'm feeding him mealworms, but I wondered if there is anything else I can do? He ate the mealworms just fine. Should I buy some wax worms?

I'm hoping he doesn't have parasites, he's not really really skinny, but I'll look at his stools when he produces some... just got him yesterday, so yeah.

Just looking for general advice I guess for getting this guy back to full health. And I'm also wondering, since he's two years old, will he grow anymore if he gets healthy again, or just stay small?

 

[GeckoTrouble]

I would get a fecal done at the vet (you need to have their equipment to identify parasites), if any parasites are identified they will b e able to prescribe the right dose of wormer.

Quarantine from your current geckos.. This is hugely important. Make sure you practice good hygiene between animals.

I would also head out to walmart and pick up a digital kitchen scale. Should not set you back more than $20 and it is a very important part of gecko equipment. Drops in weight can be seen on the scale far before their tail starts to get skinny.

 

[nelo]

I would get a fecal done at the vet (you need to have their equipment to identify parasites), if any parasites are identified they will b e able to prescribe the right dose of wormer.

Quarantine from your current geckos.. This is hugely important. Make sure you practice good hygiene between animals.

I would also head out to walmart and pick up a digital kitchen scale. Should not set you back more than $20 and it is a very important part of gecko equipment. Drops in weight can be seen on the scale far before their tail starts to get skinny.

Do you have an idea about how much a fecal exam costs?

Will do, haven't cross contaminated anything so far, though I guess I should be extra careful not to accidently share anything.

And... will also do that.

Thanks!

 

[GeckoTrouble]

Depends on the vet.... Around $20

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

Hey hows it going!? How are Domino and Diamond doing? If you are coming back to Orlando at any point soon we have a vet here that does fecal exams for about $15. He's actually listed in the vet listing on the sticky in the Health and Medications section titled "Vet Listings". -Dr. Ivan Alfonso he attends some of the reptile shows from time to time.
About the stunted growth, I asked steve of geckos etc this question and he said that they should make a full recovery if given the right conditions. It's kinda hard to know what exactly the geckos growth potential was in the first place though. If it were me, I would tape up all four sides of the enclosure to reduce stress and give plenty of calcium. You might want to drop the food in front of him one by one because a singular moving worm seems to attract them more than a dish. You could also buy some really good gutloads for your feeder insects to up the nutrition in that sense. Hope this helps

 

[nelo]

Diamond and Domino are doing very well! Though Domino gave me quite a scare this morning... I accidently left the cage open last night and she escaped. Eventually found her on top of the new boy's visionarium, which is located under theirs. Diamond hadn't bothered excaping, good girl. But Domino though... I was so afraid! It's like, "oh no, what am I going to tell her previous owners if I lost her?! How can I be so stupid?!"

But she's found now, after my roommate said that if she was a female gecko she'd be trying to get to the male...


Right now I already gutload my mealworms with gutload from progecko, and dust them multivitamins once a week, calcium w/ D3 once a week, and calcium without D3 the rest of the week. And provide a cap of calcium in there as well. He's also eaten all his mealworms yesterday and the day before, and I gave him 10 each day... don't want to overwhelm him with too much food, or too much extra nutrients at once.

I'll be in Orlando this weekend, I'll check out that recommended vet. Thanks!

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

Cool well it sounds like your doing everything right. Spocket has been known to jump a foot and get out of her cage. How she does this I do not know. She is really feisty and smart lol! Kirkette on the other hand is an angel. I think Spocket must be boy crazy! lol
Spocket is also het tremper albino and Kirkette is a mack snow tremper albino in case you were thinking of breeding Spocket and Bones this coming season.

 

[nelo]

Well, she didn't have to jump because it's a sliding glass door, but it's good to know that she can... crazy gecko. Also explains more how she menuevered down a tank; it's not really a straight shot.

And it's good to know their colors, thanks, I forgot what they were. And I think Bones is an albino, it's hard to tell because he didn't look anything like Kirkette, but his spots are brown instead of black so... I think that means albino? Not sure.

And it's funny you mentioned breeding Spocket and Bones, that what my roomie thinks I should do too! Hah, maybe not anytime soon, but one day? Lots of work I'm sure, and I'd have to find the babies homes, that's what I'd be worried about the most.

I'm charging up my camera today for my friend to use... after that I should probably finally take some pictures of them all. I just have a hard time bothering to get the camera out, haha. But when I get pics, you'll be the first I send them to!

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

Cool I would love to see pictures! Ya I have a feeling Spocket would be a very prolific breeder considering how restless she gets around males.lol I remember one time we were pairing two of our geckos and she heard the tail shake and went straight to the side of the tank closest to the male. I almost felt bad for her because she kept looking at me then the top of the male's tank then back at me again! She keeps it interesting that's for sure!