got the mealies and a few waxworms to see if that will stimulate her appetite. made a slurry of a waxworm, water and vitas and she licked it off the syringe...not a lot but something. keep your fingers crossed. i also posted pics in the breeding forum cuz something i read on here made me think she might be gravid. she may have been that way when we bought her.
weight loss question
- Thread starter mjr_my
- Start date
UPDATE: OK so you people were not kidding when you said waxworms were the way to go to stimulate appetite. She had three waxies last night but left the mealies...now what should I do? She needs to eat, but I don't want her to get addicted to the waxies. Just not worry until she is consistently eating again?
SDCowboy
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Mine will do the same thing. As long as she is eating the waxworms let her eat them for a couple of days. Take her off them though after that and still keep the mealies in the dish. It's a good sign that she is eating and keeping it down. Also only give her like one or two.
Weight loss update HELP!!!!!
UPDATE AGAIN:
OK, I spoke to soon. After taking everything out of her tank this morning, the buggers were under the paper towels. I was so excited and now I am totally bummed.
The vet appointment went great, vet said that she didn't think that there was anything too wrong with her. Her suscpicion is that the big cricket she ate Saturday when some of it was basically pooped out (for lack of a better term) upset her GI tract, then the big superworm she regurgitated didn't help. She feels like her gut has probably slowed down a bit. Of course, this was before I knew that she actually didn't eat the two waxworms. No fecal as there is no feces but Lizzy was really fiesty at the appointment, threatening to bite and jumping, so the vet felt that with that amount of activity there were probably no infection issues but would do a fecal when there was actually something to do it on. She is not impacted belly was nice and soft and her bones were not rubbery or anything so no sign on MBD.
Her weight is 26g. She is about 1 yo, any idea if that is skinny for a female leo about 1 yo?
BTW she did tell me that even leos need UVB. But when would they be exposed? They are hiding all day.
Now what, waxworm slurry? Force feed to try to get her gut going again. It will be a week Saturday since she has eaten anything. HELP!!! Oh and how do you keep the boogers in the feeding dish?
UPDATE AGAIN:
OK, I spoke to soon. After taking everything out of her tank this morning, the buggers were under the paper towels. I was so excited and now I am totally bummed.
The vet appointment went great, vet said that she didn't think that there was anything too wrong with her. Her suscpicion is that the big cricket she ate Saturday when some of it was basically pooped out (for lack of a better term) upset her GI tract, then the big superworm she regurgitated didn't help. She feels like her gut has probably slowed down a bit. Of course, this was before I knew that she actually didn't eat the two waxworms. No fecal as there is no feces but Lizzy was really fiesty at the appointment, threatening to bite and jumping, so the vet felt that with that amount of activity there were probably no infection issues but would do a fecal when there was actually something to do it on. She is not impacted belly was nice and soft and her bones were not rubbery or anything so no sign on MBD.
Her weight is 26g. She is about 1 yo, any idea if that is skinny for a female leo about 1 yo?
BTW she did tell me that even leos need UVB. But when would they be exposed? They are hiding all day.
Now what, waxworm slurry? Force feed to try to get her gut going again. It will be a week Saturday since she has eaten anything. HELP!!! Oh and how do you keep the boogers in the feeding dish?
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SDCowboy
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Have you tried giving her a warm soak? They are good for getting/keeping their GI track moving properly and it also seems to give them relief. For the dish, make sire the sides go straight up so the worms can't get out.
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Yes we did warm soaks when we were afraid of impaction. The vet said it sounded like we were doing everything right...but obviously not.
I did post another thread asking about light cycles. We moved her from on top of a dresser that got a lot of natural light during the day to a shelf on a bookcase that would mean that she was in the dark most of the time. Could this be making her think it is winter? She has only been there about 10 days. About a week before she stopped eating and is just hanging out in the warm hide all the time.
I did post another thread asking about light cycles. We moved her from on top of a dresser that got a lot of natural light during the day to a shelf on a bookcase that would mean that she was in the dark most of the time. Could this be making her think it is winter? She has only been there about 10 days. About a week before she stopped eating and is just hanging out in the warm hide all the time.
SDCowboy
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This may sound harsh, but have you considered just taking it back to the store and exchanging it? Pet stores usually have a pet exchange policy for a reason.
yes, but we are past that date. And i am not sure that it isn't something we are doing wrong and don't really want to keep repeating the same problem over and over. if this one doesn't work out, i think we should just do the gecko world a favor and stick with furry pets. this is our second gecko and to go on and on would be irresponsible.
you don't think the ambient light (or lack of) could be an issue?
besides, it sounds like there are geckos way worse off than ours that recover on this forum...not sure why we can't get it together.
you don't think the ambient light (or lack of) could be an issue?
besides, it sounds like there are geckos way worse off than ours that recover on this forum...not sure why we can't get it together.
SDCowboy
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Since your gecko was just at the vet, remember that even healthy, she probably wouldn't eat for a couple of days. My advice is just leave mealies in a dish and let her eat if she's hungry and just leave her alone.
don't worry about getting her more light during the day? Sorry, I know I am being a pain in the a#$, I just want to give her the best chance. She ate like a pig the day we brought her home so I don't think she get's stressed out too much...but who knows right, we can't get in her head, that is for sure.
Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. If she gets better, I'll update.
Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. If she gets better, I'll update.
SDCowboy
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You can never ask too many questions. During the day, if she's getting sun light (as in the room isn't a cave), that should be enough. They don't like bright light.
OK I think we need to fix that because, it pretty much is a cave since it is back in the bookshelf and the one window is situated in such a way that it won't give much light to that part of the room..
I am goint to switch her back to the dresser. and see if that helps. it did start about a week after we moved her to that spot.
I am goint to switch her back to the dresser. and see if that helps. it did start about a week after we moved her to that spot.
Oh Happy Happy Day...after giving up hope that she would ever eat again....she, right in front of my eyes hunted down a waxworm in her bowl and gobbled it up. Just one, that was all she wanted but at least it is a start, and after not eating for a week I guess it is better for her to start small any way.
I made a bowl of legless crickets, waxworms and mealworms and little carrot slices for them to much, when I was checking the temps of her warm hide this morning she wanted to get back immediately so I decided to cover the opening with the bowl. It was sort of funny I think she was like "fine, I'll eat something, then will you leave me alone?" To which I replied "YES!!"
So she had a worm, licked her lips a few times and I said OK, you can go to your room now. I guess she is a typical teenager, haha.
At least I feel better knowing that she ate something on her own. I hopefully this one little worm will get her gut working again.
Thanks for sticking with me. I really hope this does the trick.
I made a bowl of legless crickets, waxworms and mealworms and little carrot slices for them to much, when I was checking the temps of her warm hide this morning she wanted to get back immediately so I decided to cover the opening with the bowl. It was sort of funny I think she was like "fine, I'll eat something, then will you leave me alone?" To which I replied "YES!!"
So she had a worm, licked her lips a few times and I said OK, you can go to your room now. I guess she is a typical teenager, haha.
At least I feel better knowing that she ate something on her own. I hopefully this one little worm will get her gut working again.
Thanks for sticking with me. I really hope this does the trick.
Brandyfrog
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My gecko onwership has been alot like yours.One thing they don't tell you is about all the gut illness,how leos are very likely to incur them and go down hill fast.That being said have vet do the tests.I notice that stress had alot to do with eating,i put paper on all sides of the cage even on the top,left a small 6in gap on front so daylight could be nocticed,Just open to feed counting worms or crickits, left he/she be,very hard if your worried.after two days she started eating on own.Worth the try while waitong on test comformations.
Thanks Brandyfrog, she has now eaten four more waxies, actually picked them out from the mealies and crixs. She also had a normal looking "poopy". It was runnier than usual but the reptile guy and vet said that would be normal at first because 1) gut is reajusting and 2) waxies are, well, waxy and gooey. So I think the gut is awake now, lol and all systems are go. Now to work on getting her fat again and getting that beautiful fat tail back.
Vet said that she was not worried about infection because even at her low weight she was one of the fiestiest leos she has seen.....but she did say if once she started eating normally again that she kept with loose or abnormal stool to bring it in.
Sounds reasonable to me. I will NOT be moving her tank ever again, lol. and I have set up "blinders" on the side of her hide (it is the kind that is a cross section so you can watch them. This way the kids can lift them up briefly when they wanna peek at her but for the most part she is in solitude.
Whew, this is such a relief!
Vet said that she was not worried about infection because even at her low weight she was one of the fiestiest leos she has seen.....but she did say if once she started eating normally again that she kept with loose or abnormal stool to bring it in.
Sounds reasonable to me. I will NOT be moving her tank ever again, lol. and I have set up "blinders" on the side of her hide (it is the kind that is a cross section so you can watch them. This way the kids can lift them up briefly when they wanna peek at her but for the most part she is in solitude.
Whew, this is such a relief!
SDCowboy
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Are you asking us or telling us? Good news on her though.
roger
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I would ease off on the wax worms
SDCowboy...I was telling, but was so excited I think I hit the ? instead of the !.
@Roger, thanks again. Yes, I have been giving her mostly mealies and two waxworms in her bowl just to keep her interested. She eats everything though so that is encouraging. I am going to eventually make the wax worms a once or twice a week treat for sure. But she lost most of her beautiful tail weight so I want to be sure to keep her going at least for a few more days. She was peeking out of the top of her hide this morning..just like she used to. What a relief.
Thanks again!
@Roger, thanks again. Yes, I have been giving her mostly mealies and two waxworms in her bowl just to keep her interested. She eats everything though so that is encouraging. I am going to eventually make the wax worms a once or twice a week treat for sure. But she lost most of her beautiful tail weight so I want to be sure to keep her going at least for a few more days. She was peeking out of the top of her hide this morning..just like she used to. What a relief.
Thanks again!
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