Someone Please Help! ;(

[**SEXYRACER**]

Hi there my name is Stephanie, I have a baby Leopard Gecko and I'm having problems with him...I've had him since the beginning of January and he hasn't grown since....It is a very long story but to sum it up he used to eat really good and now he doesn't....(he does have an undertank heater on one side of his tank) We had him on a slury diet for a few weeks and we thought we were bringing him back but I think he is still sick...He finally started showing interest in live food again but now almost every time he eats he throws up what ever we feed him...I don't know what's going on but it's VERY frustrating and it's making me very sad because I love this little guy and I don't want him to die...;( Heres a few pics of him...If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[JordanAng420]

Well, the circumstances aren't wonderful, but anyhow, welcome to GeckoForums! This place is a great resource.

His tail is pretty thin, and if he is regurgitating his food, he needs to see an herp vet. There could be a lot of things wrong with him, and it sounds like his case is pretty serious. Keep him warm, and if you are able to make an appt. with a vet, make sure to bring a fresh stool sample. He might need some XRays too...I don't know enough about him to tell you any more, i'm sorry. I CAN help you find a vet if you decide to go that route, though.

 

[OhioGecko]

OMG, he looks really skinny. Get him to the vet! Continue the slurry until then. It could be one of several different diagnosis but the important matter at hand is to get a diagnosis from the vet and treat accordingly.

Some questions that might help:
What is the floor temp on the hot side of your enclosure?
How are you heating the enclosure? Just UTH or combo'd with lights?
What are you gutloading his food with?
Can you post a pic of the enclosure?

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

Well, the circumstances aren't wonderful, but anyhow, welcome to GeckoForums! This place is a great resource.

His tail is pretty thin, and if he is regurgitating his food, he needs to see an herp vet. There could be a lot of things wrong with him, and it sounds like his case is pretty serious. Keep him warm, and if you are able to make an appt. with a vet, make sure to bring a fresh stool sample. He might need some XRays too...I don't know enough about him to tell you any more, i'm sorry. I CAN help you find a vet if you decide to go that route, though.

Thx, but I have already taken him to the vet about a month and a half ago...She tested his stool and she said it was clean...She gave us some Baytril to give him for like a week and it seemed to help perk him up a little but he is still not back to normal....I don't think we are feeding him food that is too large...Were feeding him small crickets and small roaches and were not feeding him too fast either...I'm soo puzzled...

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

OMG, he looks really skinny. Get him to the vet! Continue the slurry until then. It could be one of several different diagnosis but the important matter at hand is to get a diagnosis from the vet and treat accordingly.

Some questions that might help:
What is the floor temp on the hot side of your enclosure?
How are you heating the enclosure? Just UTH or combo'd with lights?
What are you gutloading his food with?
Can you post a pic of the enclosure?

I did exactly as the vet said...He did get a little better for like a month, he was keeping down food and his tail finally started to get a little fatter again but now for some reason all of a sudden he cant keep his food down or he passes undigested food...

Were heating the enclosure with the uth and a 60 watt blue bulb...The floor temp is on the warm side is 98...We give the crickets cricket the same food that the cricket breeders give them and the roaches little pieces of carrots(thats what they have in with them when we get them from the pet store)...I'll post a pic of the enclosur ein just a min...

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

Heres his enclosure....

 

[OhioGecko]

Your enclosure looks good!

I would drop your floor temp to 95 on the hot side, 3 degrees can make a big difference. I don't see where your overhead bulb is but make sure the cool side is room temp or slightly higher.

I see the stick on thermo in the back of the cage, is this what reads 95? If not how are you getting the temp? I would suggest a probe thermometer taped over the UTH on the floor for an accurate reading.

Is it possible to not use the overhead bulb to reach the 95? Leo's are nocturnal and do not like light. Some people have been successful at using lights on their Leos but this is not the general consensus. If you need to raise your ambient temp to get your floor temp to 95 I would suggest a ceramic wafer that uses a light socket or a red light from the pet store. Leo's cannot see the red light so they will not be stressed out by it.

Wax worms would be an alternative food to try to get the Leos appetite back, but the regurgitation is not a good sign.

 

[JordanAng420]

Thx, but I have already taken him to the vet about a month and a half ago...She tested his stool and she said it was clean...

Remember that the sample that she tested was just a small "sample"...there are lots of parasites that only shed eggs in certain stages of life...I am suprised she didn't explain this to you...I would have another sample analyzed.

Where did you get him?

 

[RampantReptiles]

Make sure everything stays super clean. Dont leave uneaten food items in the enclosure.
Put the thermometer on the floor of the hot side of the tank. You want to be reading the temps down where the gecko is, to make sure its warm enough on his belly for digestion.
Try more slurry. Go back to the vet with another stool sample. Something is seriously wrong with your gecko and if the vet doesnt do anything new this time then find another vet.

 

[DarthGekko]

My advice is similair to Thad's. I would turn off the light. Use the UTH to heat the floor temp to 90-92. Also make sure the UTH covers no more than a 1/3 of the bottom of the tank and you should place it on one end and not in the middle. Use a lamp dimmer from Home Depot or Lowes to get the temp right. Put a thermometer on the floor to test the Floor Temp. That temp gage on the wall of the glass cage will tell you nothing about the floor temp. Also I would place a few more hides over the hot spot and cool side. He may be stressed by the size of the cage and the heat if he doesn't have some parasite thing going on. Put some wax worms in front of the hide he is using to fatten him up. Hope this helps.

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

The uth is only on the left side of the tank...I've put the thero over it and it got to like 95, I'm double checking to see exactly what it is right now...I just had the light on him because I wanted to make sure he didn't get too cold, but I'll turn it off...I doubt he is stressed about the size of the cage because at one point he was thriving, he was doing very well, he would eat like 7 crickets in one night and even maybe a worm or two....Now were lucky if he will eat 3 crickets...I don't understand why he hasn't grown at all...I know if he is sick that he will be skinny and I'll have problems but I mean he has stayed the same size for like 4 months...Does anyone know what reasons cause them to pass undigested food?...Also what other reasons make them throw up their food besides feeding them too fast?...Unfortunately I don't have a lot of money to keep taking him to the vet, the last time cost me 100 bucks...I don't even know where else I would take him since that one was recommended to me from the pet store....I know that place is somewhat good because when i had a red tail boa I took it there...It ended up having respiratory problems and I saved her...anyways, this is an every day battle, it's very frustrating...His enclosure has been the same since I got him, so I don't see why all of a sudden he just stopped eating and almost died.........

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

The air thero on the warm side says that its 80 but it doesn't feel like its 80 in there...also the thero on the floor for the warm side barely gets to 90, Thats without the light on it....It got warmer with the light...Wouldn't it be better with the light so he is warm enough?...

 

[**SEXYRACER**]

122 views...I know someone can help me....

 

[ariana]

belly heat is the important thing, not air heat. so check the floor temp and if its warm enough the you dont need the light if not go ahead and use the light

 

[DarthGekko]

Go by the floor temp. 90 is fine for your guy

 

[sleepyjones]

A lot of people say lighting is not necessary for Leo's, and it could even possibly 'cause them stress.
I don't really buy this, I know they're nocturnal animals but having a day and night light will help the geckos "body clock", so they know it's daytime and when it's night time, especially in darker rooms if your out at work all day.

UV bulbs also simulate the effects of natural sunlight which helps the body absorb calcium, so light is essential for any geckos that are suffering from MDB, and will probably help prevent MDB from forming in healthy Leos

 

[OhioGecko]

A lot of people say lighting is not necessary for Leo's, and it could even possibly 'cause them stress.
I don't really buy this, I know they're nocturnal animals but having a day and night light will help the geckos "body clock", so they know it's daytime and when it's night time, especially in darker rooms if your out at work all day.

UV bulbs also simulate the effects of natural sunlight which helps the body absorb calcium, so light is essential for any geckos that are suffering from MDB, and will probably help prevent MDB from forming in healthy Leos

All I know is that I have had talked to customers or people at shows and when they tell me their leo will not eat almost all of them have lights on them. I know of 4 cases in the past 6 months that when they removed the light the leos started eating. Is this a coinincidance????

 

[2bacop]

Has anyone considered impaction? With the sand and the fact that it is not digesting food, that is something i would consider. Is it passing stools, and do they have sand in them?

 

[OhioGecko]

Has anyone considered impaction? With the sand and the fact that it is not digesting food, that is something i would consider. Is it passing stools, and do they have sand in them?

The substrate of the tank is paper towels. I don't believe there is any sand involved.

 

[sleepyjones]

I know of 4 cases in the past 6 months that when they removed the light the leos started eating. Is this a coinincidance????

Well, it could be that they have the light on at night, which will obviously distress the gecko. It could be that they have the light too close to the gecko. It could be that the light is too hot. It could be that they have the light on the cool side of the tank. It could be any number of things, or any number of combinations. I'm certainly not saying your wrong, but it is a fact that natural sunlight and UV helps any animals body in the absorption of calcium.

As with anything though, it has to be closely monitored and if you do that I do think lights can be beneficial to the health of your gecko, a normal household bulb is probably worthless in this sense, it's a decent range UV bulb im talking about.