urgently need help with skinny leo

[Zoey]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I am the owner of two Leopard Geckos, one Bearded Dragon and a rabbit. I desperately need advice in regards to one of my Leos. Her name is Leela.

I obtained her from a co-worker about 7 months ago and since then she has not eaten a bite. By that I mean she will not eat any insect I try to feed her. She will eat a little chicken baby food as well as the Carnivore Care her vet recommended.

When I first brought her home she had a big fat tail, and now she looks really bad! Right now, her tail is very much diminished, and I can even see her spine through her skin. I feel terrible if I am doing something wrong, but I don't know what that could be. I have another Leo, Nico, whom I've had for 4 years now, and he is a healthy fat pig that eats everything that moves. And no, they are definitely not housed together. They are not even in she same room.

I took her to the vet a couple months ago... a very reputable herp vet in my area. He examined her and couldn't find anything wrong with her. No masses in her stomach, no teeth or gum problems.... very frustrating. I left his office with a vial of Carnivore Care and some Baytril just to cover our bases. Neither has done much good as far as stimulating her appetite.

I'm not sure what else to do. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. See below for the standard info form. Sorry about the purple text....


About your leo:
- Sex-female
- Age & Weight-unknown
- How long have you owned your leo-7 months
- Where was he/she-obtained from co-worker

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo-every day
- Is your leo acting any different today-no, not any different than normal (if you can call that normal)
Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.-none that I know of

B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal)-yellow and chalky (probably from the Carnivore care)
- When was the last time he/she went-not sure

C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on.-She will not eat. She hasn’t eaten a bite (other than her Carivore care which I syringe feed her every day and the occasional bite of chicken baby food) I’ve had her 7 months and she came to me active, healthy (or so it seemed) with a big fat tail.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size-20 gal
- Type (ex. glass tank)-glass
- Type of substrate-reptile carpet
- Hides, how many, what kind-two cool dry hides, One warm dry hide and one warm moist hide

B) Heating
- Heat source-heat pad under bottom
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side)- hot side approx 84 degrees give or take, cool side unknown
- Method of regulating heat source-i'm not
- What are you using to measure your temps-temp probe
- Do you have any lights (describe)-no
C) Cage mates-no
- How many (males, females)
- Describe health, or previous problems-none that i know of

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much)-I've tried crickets, meal worms, small supers, baby dubias, repti worms, butter worms…. She won't have any of it!
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) -tried both
B) Supplements (describe how often) none
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) I have a dish of calcium powder left out for her at all times-Jurassic Cal
- What are you gut loading food with-n/a

 

[Pinky81]

Only thing on your list I see off would be the temp. 84 is probably too low...I keep my hot side at 92-95. during the cold months here in WI i use a infared bulb to get my temps stable..but now with the warmer weather (middle 40s...yes thats warms for us LOL) I come home and my hot side is 94 without red light. So maybe you should get a thermoSTAT like a rheostat to see if you can't get the temp to regulate better. Also try getting rid of the carpet and changing to papertowel which will transfer heat a little better..making sure your probe is directly on the cage floor on the hot side.

Also check out the Gecko Soup recipe in the sticky section if you really are desperate to get weight on her.

Sorry your girl is not well!!

 

[Theinfidel]

Now there's your problem...it's the HEAT! geckos will not eat at all if they don't have the heat they need. I keep my hot side at around 92 or so and cool side at around 77 and im sure that goes for everyone else here that have leopard geckos although some go a bit higher but personally i think 84 is to low and i think it's good to know whats the temps in the cool side as well. Instead of using carpet try using just a sheet of paper towel to give off more heat for your geckos belly.

 

[Zoey]

Thank you for the replies. I will change out the reptile carpet for paper towels tonight and see how much that raises the temps.

I guess I am just confused because my other Leo (that has pretty much the same set-up) is thriving while Leela seems to be dying. :anxious:

 

[Zoey]

Ok well, stupid me, I realize now as I started pulling her furniture out of her cage to change the substrate that her temp probe was pushed off of the heating pad area. I had just glanced over at the temps when I was typing my initial post. It gets moved sometimes when I take her out to feed her. I repositioned the probe and now it reads 96 degrees. Too hot??? I checked my other Leo's temps and they read 94. I really do appreciate the help but I think her temps my be fine.

 

[Pinky81]

every Leo is different some like it toasty some like it cooler 90..but Im going with 84 being way to low. IMO having her be so weakened I would even say she should be at atleast 95 deg. the extra heat will help her. keep us updated!

what kind of temp probe do you have?? brand/type

 

[Dog Shrink]

For an ill leo 96 is not too hot. They are like juvies and need the extra heat to help metabolize their food, little tho it may be right now. something you might want to try is wax worms. I don't believe I saw those on your list. You could try the slurry or at least something similar to the slurry, mashed up blended bugs insted of bug substitute. She needs the smell and taste of bugs I think to help her recognise food after going so long with out bugs as her diet. As much as force feeding stresses leos out maybe the next time your feeding her you can try slipping a wax worm in her mouth as you have it opened with the syringe. You also didn't mention if the vet did a fecal exam to rule out parasites. That would be first in my book of things to have done.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I would stop syringe feeding and just dot the slurry (recipe sticky above) around her lips to induce licking. The can't help but to lick it off. Syringe feeding is very stressful, stress causes them not to want to eat. The slurry/soup was designed to give non-eating gex a proper nutritional balance, I would urge you to acquire all the ingredients and get her on that right away. The pet food in the recipe is available at your vet's office for around 2 bucks.

 

[Zoey]

Dog Shrink: The vet did check for parasites...she's clean on that count.

I found the recipe for the gecko slurry....I will give it a try! I'll let you all know how it goes.

thanks again!

 

[Zoey]

Thanks for the help everyone, but unfortunately Leela passed away last night. I guess I will never know what the problem was. I whipped up a batch of the gecko slurry yesterday and I was encouraged that she seemed to actually like it. Apparently it was too late!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Aw so sorry to hear that she didn't make it. I'm sure you tried all you could to help her. RIP lil one.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I'm sorry she didn't make it