Unexplained loss of weight....

[Landen]

I have an A+ Raining Red Stripe that has lost about 15 grams after getting her as an adult April of 09. She came from a small local breeder, and all of her animals are in exceptional quality, as are mine. So I don't fear any parasite, she was quarentined and has been kept in an individual tub. When she came to me she was about 1 1/2 yrs old and weighed 64 grams, prime body and tail condition. She never really started eating well for me though. I feed a variety of food items. I offer my base diet of mealworms to all, she'll eat a few but not much. I feed crickets occasionally to mix it up. She will eat a couple. Superworms and waxworms are treats only on occasion. She'll again only eat a few. While feeding a round of pinkies to my breeder females before mating I offered her one and after some coaxing she took one small pinkie. She has gotten down to 45 grams and is still in good condition just not near as prolific as she was. Her tail is still fat. To anyone else she would look fine, but looking at her records on paper it would look like something is wrong (I keep records on weight, feeding, breeding, food preferences and anything else that I need to reference later) . Temps are on target, calcium is always available, and multivitamins as needed, she's got plenty of room to thermo regulate her temp.
Anyone else have any similar problems. Any second opinions are welcomed


Landen Smith
Unique Breeds
Dallas Tx

 

[GeckoTrouble]

Fecals may not be a bad thing to do.
This breeder may not know she has parasites... all it takes is one animal coming in and one cross contamination and you have them.
On top of that if you treat for parasites, you may not get them all and they can come back.
Mine are on the tail end of a panacur round as the pin worms I treated for last time (and retested fecal sample afterwards) snuck back. Luckily I do yearly fecals and picked it up again...

 

[Landen]

I have absolutely no problems with the rest of my colony and she had been in a community tank for awhile before she started losing weight. The other females that were housed with her are all just fine. I seriously doubt there are any parasites. Her stools look just fine. she just doesn't have an appetite. I mean if fecal samples are the only option I'll go that route but I'm just trying to figure out any other problems first.

 

[Whitey]

Well, put it this way, I am in the EXACT same boat as you. I only have 1 female that refuses to eat. I brought her to the vets, they did an xray, fecal, and gave me A and D dog food to feed her (over $300), and negative on the fecal. I later learned that A and D gives geckos the poo poos, so I turned to yogurt to fix her system. I am now doing the slurry diet (minus the A and D dog food portion of it) and she is still losing weight but her poo poos are back to "normal".

She doesn't seem phased by the weight loss though, she's acting normal and very attentive. I am onto two theories: 1) overbread this past year or 2) change in season hit her hard

 

[Landen]

I think she's just a very picky eater, I've gotten her to gain about 7 or 8 grams since I first posted this. I just don't get it. On top of that I got another girl at a recent show that's real picky too. Just needs more atttention than the others. My wife says I'm going "fishing" when I feed those two.

 

[Angel]

could just be a picky eater , is she getting calcium? have youtried adding drops to her water? And just so ya know =) parasites cant always be seen in there poop with the naked eye sometimes you can see worms if they have it but you usually have to use a microscope , so yearly fecals arent a bad idea anyways better safe than sorry when they are so easily treated. And just the fecal doesnt cost alot of $$$ i get mine done and my bill is never over $60 sometimes alot less depending on what is needed, however im ini canada and have a GREAT vet so I know vet prices do vary.

 

[Landen]

I think she just likes me to tong feed her. Everything else is a ok. just odd i guess

 

[Angel]

lol i thought it said tongue feed her, had to reread, been a long day lol. yes they can get used to hand/tong feeding and that can make it harder to get her to eat on her own, hopefully she comes outta it, just leave food for her available. She may just like being spoiled lol.

 

[Stomlin35]

My rescue from craigslist flat out refused to eat unless she was fed with tongs, to the point her previous owners pawned her off because they thought she was going to die. :main_rolleyes:

 

[Landen]

Oh she has both calcium and mealworms available at all times. I'll only tong (not tongue) feed superworms and crickets so I know what has been eaten by each gecko. I'm a record junkie....

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

She could be stressed from the move from her old tank/bin to the community tank. Maybe house her alone and see how she does?

 

[Landen]

Oh she's been by herself for several months. I just weighed her last night and we're back to 56 grams, up from 48 when I posted. Her fullest was 64 before, so things seems to be working. She's filling out good recently

 

[Misstasha]

sorry to hear this .. hope she gets better