Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so I dont know whether or not I'm freakin' out or anything but I own 2 leopard geckos and one of them is going hay-wire in it's aquarium. She's up in the middle of the day trying to (or at least what looks like) escape and climb out. I have a humid hide, plenty of water and extra hides and both geckos in the cage are female. There are no wounds or anything on either of them and I'm not entirely certain whether or not they're eating. I've had them for 3 months and haven't had any issues yet. Is there anyway to tell that they have a parasite or that they're impacted just by looking at fecal matter (without vet tests?)? Or is this something that some lg's do? That they run around in the middle of the day trying to escape? I feed them med-lg crickets on a daily basis and have help back for the past day because I dont know if they're back up or not. There's a bunch of mealies in the tank in a dish and i haven't seen them eat any yet....
PLEASE HELP!

>Ok, so I don't know whether or not I'm freakin' out or anything >but I own 2 leopard geckos and one of them is going hay-wire in >it's aquarium. She's up in the middle of the day trying to (or >at least what looks like) escape and climb out.

Well, mine does that when it wants out... Do you ever take it out? Mine calms down as soon as I remove it fro the tank. It seems like it just wants to look around and get exercise.

>I have a humid hide, plenty of water and extra hides and both >geckos in the cage are female.

Good so far, but you don't mention tank size or what type of heat you are using.How about substrate? Nothing loose, I hope...

>There are no wounds or anything on either of them and I'm not >entirely certain whether or not they're eating. I've had them >for 3 months and haven't had any issues yet.

OK, now I hope I'm reading this wrong... you've had them 3 months and don't know if they are eating? I feed mine once a day and watch while they eat, if I want to be sure of what they consume, I take them out and feed them in a separate container.

>Is there anyway to tell that they have a parasite or that >they're impacted just by looking at fecal matter (without vet >tests?)?

No, though you won't see much poop if they are severely impacted.

>Or is this something that some lg's do? That they run around in >the middle of the day trying to escape? I feed them med-lg >crickets on a daily basis and have help back for the past day >because I dont know if they're back up or not.

Aha! Are the crickets left in all the time? They could be annoying the hell out of your guys while they are trying to sleep. Only leave them in for 30 minutes past a feeding, if you can't fish them out, be sure to leave something in for the crickets to munch on besides your leos. Your guys may be trying to escape the cricket bites!

>There's a bunch of mealies in the tank in a dish and i haven't >seen them eat any yet....
>PLEASE HELP!

count your mealies... as long as they are in a dish they can't escape from, that should help you determine if they are being eaten.
Keep track of their weight - that's another easy way to tell if they are thriving.

Good luck!
Sue

you can leave crickets in all night but yes you should have someting in there for the crickets to eat so they dont eat the geckos. some geckos are slower eaters then others. you should be using paper towels or natural slate for your substrate, something that the crickets cant hide in. count the crickets when you put them in and then count again the next morning and remove any remaining crickets. throw the left over crickets away and feed fresh ones b4 you go to bed. everything that geckohappy said is pretty much right on, answere those questions and we may be ablle to help you a little more. healthy geckos should be eating at least 5 crickets a night per each gecko. they really should actually be eating 6-7 depending on the geckos size. this all based of of my healthy geckos, i have 28 to figure this from.

Would feeding them "too large" an item be a huge problem? I've got large crickets and it seemed to me as though the medium sized ones were way to small. Then again to me, it kinda seems like the large ones might almost be a little big. They've never regurgitated or vomited back up the crickets and on the larger ones, they both used to eat 2-3 of them until just a few days ago. I've got carpet for the substrate and i scoop out poop daily.

I try and handle both of them until i can tell that they're getting jumpy. The thats been walking around the cage all day has a tendency to run up onto my shoulder, run down and then try and jump (and i dont know why, must just be her personality.

Tank size is a 15/20 gallon tall. It's old but it's got plenty of space and all that jazz.
Heating: IR heat lamp and a UTH. Hot end gets up about 90 and cold end is 80 and this is rather consistent.

About the 3 month issue: This is the first time in the 3 months that I've had them that when i put crickets in, they ignore them. This is, like i said, the first time it's happend in the 3 months i've had them.

Crickets in the cage: right now there is only one in the cage and earlier it looked like Piggy (the one running around) was about to eat it, and backed off at the last second.

Poop Tests: Should i have them done or should i not worry about it? How much do they cost?

Mealies: I'll start counting them now. I don't have any scales around to weigh them on, but i'll try and invest in one here pretty soon so i can keep track of their weights.

I can attempt to get pics of the geckos up, but i know they're not loosing weight because of what the petstore people told me to look for. They said the fat in the hind legs goes first followed by the tail. They don't really look any smaller since they've gotten as big as they are now.

Random Question: How long does it take for them to reach "adult" size. I bought them and they were 3" long and now they're about double that.

Anything else I can do?

Well, some of the details here you've added help. I did misunderstand about the 3 months and the eating issue... As they get older, they don't est as voraciously as they do when they are little. Some will slow down and only eat every other day, and some will even stop for a bit when they start to reach sexual maturity or even sometimes when they shed.

I don't weigh mine, but you can probably see a change in weight in them fairly easily as long as you see pay attention. The fecal test doesn't sound like it's vital just yet... most of the behavior might be normal. the fecal test price ranges depending on your vet, but they are about $30 in my area. The tank should be no smaller than 20 gal for two,leos. 15 gal is not big enough for two, so check the size. (I can give you a chart if you need to measure it)

I know this is going to sound totally retarded, but when i was younger, my cousin and myself kept 2 fully grown female leos in a 10 gallon for about a year until a terrible decision on my mothers part to put them outside for some "fresh air" in the middle of the summer.
I know the tank is large enough to house them, so i doubt that it's a concern.
the chart to tell what size it is would help tons. I remember when i bought the lid for it it said for a 20 gal. or 15 gal.Tall But i dont know what size it is for sure.

Well, even if they can "survive" in a ten together, it's just not optimal.

Here is the link, if it doesn't work, just post the dimensions and I'll check for you:

http://www.repticzone.com/php/findcagesize.php

Regarding the food size, Should i cut the size back and go with smaller items in higher quantities or should i stick with the smaller amount of bigger food????

I went out and thru away all the large crickets that i had and purchased some medium ones. I put about 8-10 of them in the cage tonight after dusting them and Piggy went crazy and started doing her thing and eating everything in sight. Also, mealies started to dissappear so that means that both of them are eating

All is back to normal!
YAY! thanks for all your help!