# Sick Leopard Gecko



## GOMER113 (Dec 7, 2007)

I've had a leopard gecko for about a week now and I'm not sure what's going on with him health-wise.

The first few days that I had him, he would eat mealworms that I would place outside of his hide without hesitation and his droppings looked normal, I guess. They would basically be one mostly black pellet and one black and white pellet that looked like compressed cigarette ashes. This is what they looked like at the pet store, so I'm assuming that's normal.

Anyway, he had been defecating in pretty much the same spot every day and his droppings would always look the same until one day, there was a single black pellet. The next day, there was a very wet, brown pellet. Yesterday and the day before, he would just look at any mealworms I would drop in front of his hide and he would then close his eyes and go to sleep. He hasn't done much but sleep for about 4 days now -- day and night.

Yesterday, I lifted up his hide and there was a feces pellet in there. It looked like 4 mealworms glued together with feces. Basically, he didn't digest them properly and they were mostly intact, kind of like when you eat corn and don't digest it properly.

So, what could be wrong with him? He's in a 15 gallon tank with a heat pad on one side and his main hide above the heat pad. The other side of the tank has a shed box and water dish. Around the middle of the tank are his food dish and another hide that he uses as his toilet. I'm using paper towels as substrate since he's still pretty small, about 6". Also, his tail is pretty fat, so he's probably not underfed.

He hasn't shed yet while in my care and while he was in his shed box yesterday, probably just exploring, his colors looked kind of dull. He was about as bright orange for a leopard gecko when I bought him.

Any help would be great. Thanks!


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## Brad Ramsey (Dec 7, 2007)

Are you only feeding mealworms?
I don't know much about geckos (I'm a chameleon guy).
With chameleons too many mealworms can cause impaction and even renal prolapse due to the high percentage of chitin (hard skin...or exoskeleton).
He doesn't sound well if he's keeping his eyes closed.
It may be time for the vet and a larger variety of feeders.
Again, I'm no gecko expert....hopefully someone else can help you further.

-Brad


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## xchondrox (Dec 7, 2007)

*Gecko*

Try soaking it in 1/2-3/4 its height of warm water for afew hours, that might help him poop and will get it rehydrated. When i had a small breeding colony afew years ago I fed mine about 75% dusted crickets and 25% mealworms & wax worms and the occasional pinky mouse. I'd try to feed him a diet similar to that. Maybe you should call the vet and ask if they have Gecko Exlax in stock, , But if it doesnt snap out of it in afew days take it to the vet, dont wait until its tail starts getting skinny.


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## ErinKelley (Dec 7, 2007)

*I also would not consider myself an expert, but...*

I DO know that too many mealworms can cause issues, especially with animals that are small and do not chew thoroughly before swallowing.  Also make sure he is well hydrated, I think that sometimes, especially in a new tank or environment, lizards may not find the water dish.  I've seen this happen to baby snakes too.

One way to find out if he has not had any water is to offer it right in front of his nose.  If he has not drank in a week he will more than likely lap up a good amount right then.  I have found that leopard geckos respond very well to hand feeding too.  So try not to disturb him too much, lift his hide and offer some water in a spoon.  Touch his lips with the water to let him know what it is.

Another thing that is often not mentioned in caresheets is the addition of a hide with some moist substrate placed in the warmer end of the terrarium.  This has also helped problem geckos I have encountered.  I have used hides with moist peat moss and hides with moist green moss.  This way they can choose when they want some humidity.  I was always surprised by how often I would find them in there.

My best friend has always been an assortment of forceps or tweezers.  Get some crickets, grasp them by the back legs with the tweezers and hold an inch or two from your gecko.  You can also feed him waxworms but I have read that these are high in fat and it actually seems like L. geckos get kinda sick of these.

One more thing that I found to be important was taking care of your feeders.  Whatever they may be, feeding them a healthy balance and variety of foods is in my opinion the best and healthiest way to get all the vitamins a leopard gecko needs.  I would feed our crickets any vegetable or fruits, oatmeal, fish flake food, things like that.  I supplemented pure calcium (with no phosphorus, look at the label) about every third feeding.  Flukers and Rep-Cal make a pure calcium.  Dusted on hand fed crickets of course.

OF COURSE all this may not help if he is truely sick!  Finding a good herp vet is hard to do IMO.

Good Luck
Erin


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## ErinKelley (Dec 7, 2007)

Forgot to say that the reason I hand fed so much was because the crickets would learn to avoid the geckos and just live and poop and be a bother in the terrariums.  And I fed mostly crickets...


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## GOMER113 (Dec 7, 2007)

Thanks for the replies.  They're very informative!

I'm not feeding him only mealworms.  I've thrown in a few crickets here and there, but I've only seen him eat one, which landed right in front of his hide, upside-down and twitching.  Other times that he's gone after crickets, he would just sneak up behind them and as soon as the cricket would wander away, he would just go back into his hide.

I've filled his food dish a few times with mealworms, but I've never seen him go to it.  The dish is usually about half empty the next day, but I usually find a bunch of worms hiding in the corners and along the edges while cleaning up.  I think he's too small for a pinky mouse, but I may try that once he's an adult.

The shed box was placed in the cool end of the tank because that's what I've read in care sheets.  It's lined with coconut fiber on the bottom.  I'll move it over to the warm side when I get home and I'll also try the water/spoon thing.

Thanks again! :worship:


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## ragnew (Dec 8, 2007)

Mealworms are actually a pretty good staple diet for Leopard Geckos, many of the top breeders keep them on mealworms almost exclusively (Bill Brant and Ron Tremper are a few known breeders that do this). Mealworms cause the Leopards to grow faster, and they're not as likely to have parasites. Crickets are vector carriers for worms and a slew of other internal parasites and bacteria. 

Sometimes your gecko will over do it when it comes to the mealworms, and when they eat more then they can digest they'll usually pass the mealworms (or waxworms for that matter) whole. It could also be a temperature issue. If it's too cold for the animal it's metabolism wouldn't be that high, therefore it wouldn't have much of an appetite anyways. Vice versa, if the the animals not warm enough to digest its grub it can pass them out whole as well.

Keep an eye on the feces (like you've been doing) if they change color, start emitting a strong sour or vinagery odor, or start to become puddles more than pellets that'd be a pretty sure sign of an internal parasite, or even a bacterial issue.

I'd get a fecal sample checked out by a trusted vet if you're concerned about the Leopard.


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## GOMER113 (Dec 8, 2007)

Well, it looks like it's a temperature issue.  Not long before I got the gecko, the temperature was at 88 degrees on the warm side.  Yesterday, it was at 62!    

I put a heat lamp aiming at the hide and it's at 84 degrees right now.  I'm going to move the tank to a warmer spot... I had no idea it got as cold as it did at its current location.


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## ilovebugs (Dec 17, 2007)

hey, so how's your gecko doing?

I just got my first leopard gecko on the 14th.  my gecko's first stool looks like you described (about 3 meal worm exoskeletons glued together) 
but since then she's had some white/darkish stools 

my temps have been staying around 85F on the warm side and 72F on the cooler side during the day.

there are a couple mealworms crawling around that she hasn't eaten yet they've been in there for a couple days. but she's pretty small, maybe she's not hungry yet? she's about 4 inches.

I just added a second smaller heat pad to the side of the tank on the warm side to keep it closer to what it should be.


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