Well, its great that your leos are eating. Have you run fecals yet? If you havent i would bring samples to the vet asap to check them for parasites, lizard that undergo a stressfull period (such as not being properly cared for) tend to get parasites.



How underweight are the little guys?



And now..for your questions:



Now for alot of questions.

1. (Is there a reason anyone might think of that they do not want to use the clear moist hide? Do you think it is difficult for them to see it or the entrance? I got this one because it had more ground space for them, I was afraid the butter bowl was going to be too small. What should I do?)



They may not want to use the hide because they feel too exposed, try darkening the sides with paper or at least covering the top.



2. Should I be concerned that they are both stacking in this one hide?



I wouldn't be too worried about it, its not exactly a sign of disease. Watch their general behavior, they should start to spread out and use a variety of hides.



3. I am buying a digital thermometer today to test the temps in the cage, I hadn't been able to find one yet. If I am using an UTH, do I set the probe on the floor to test the heat, or am I testing the ambient temperture on both sides of the cage?



You can use it for both! Its very important to temp the substrate, as that is where your leos hang out, but its good to know ambient temps to.



4. Someone mentioned removing the female from the cage for now. They have been in the same cage most of their lives, and I'm not sure if this is necessary or not... They both appear to be lively and eating... what do you think?



Generally speaking it is inadvisable to house leos together, esepecially one male to one female. This is mainly because the male (when in good health) will constantly breed with the female. This presents you with several issues, the first and most apparent being that the female will not have a chance to re-coup after each breeding. Constant breeding without time alone to restrengthen will cause her to lose weight and stamina, and eventaully fall ill to a stress related disease. The other issue is that you do not know the lineage of these animals, which means its likely they are brother and sister. In this case they should not be bred under any circumstances. Other issues that come into play with housing multiple leos is that the stress of having competition for food does not produce optimum conditions for growth. Also, its harder to care for and treat the animals. Say you come home one day and there is a nasty pile of vomit or runy stool in the cage. Which leo is feeling ill? If the leos were seperate you could begin therapy immediately. Not knowing which leo left yout he present will mean you are wasting valuable time that could be spent helping him/her.



Having said this, i think these guys have been through enough for right now. When they are back on their feet and eating regularly i would seperate them.



5. I got these guys friday morning. Is it too early to start handling them to get them use to being picked up and what not. The previous owner said that they had been handled before and were very friendly, but the male seems to be startled easily and I don't want to add any extra stress to his life.



I would give them a few more days, or until they are eating on a regular basis and have had a clean fecal.



6. When I got them I removed the sand, but did not have anything on hand, including time, to disinfect the cage yet. I am picking up some chlorhexidine 2% today to clean their cage with, and am wondering if I shouldn't wait a few days to clean it so that they are not completely stressed out?



I probably would wait a couple days...again the most important thing here is they start eating regularly.



7. They were previously on green calci-sand, and I immediately noticed that some of the tips of their toes were green. My guess is that this might be unshed skin that has been turned green from the sand. I know several sites mention removed this with a wet Q-tip to avoid further infections. But as I have never before handled these guys or had leopard geckos, I have no idea how to get them to sit still and let me clean their toes! LOL Advice?



Calci-sand will die regular skin, not just dead shed skin green, so it may just be dyed skin. This will go away after the next shed. However, if its dry skin, you can help by first giving your leos humid hides (like you already have). You can also warm water soak them in shallow 100degree water and then gently roll their toes through your fingers to loosen the skin.





Hope this helps!



-----
0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)

0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)

2.1 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo,Jeffrey Nothing, Louise)

0.0.1 Tokay Gecko

1.0 Blue Tongue Skink

0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)

1.0 Blood Red Corn (Virus)

0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)

4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

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