Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two young leos, ones more out going and more curious then the other, and the other one is reclusive and almost timid. i have had them since last friday and as far as i can tell the reclusive one hasn't eaten yet. the out going one just ate a cricket and i fed it a meal worm using these tong things (i want to get them to mainly eat meal worms so i am letting them finish off the last few crickets in there and then going with meal worms only). though i was able to feed the out going leo the other one is hard up and not eating. is this cause for concern or is it just taking him longer to get acclimated and he will hopefully start eating soon?

out going one

reclusive one

sorry about the quality i zoomed to much and i only have those two for the time being.

If you can I would seperate them. It is very easy for leo's...let alone most lizards, to feel threatend and bullied. Your little leo's...atleast that one, will feel more safe and secure in it's own cage. Plus that way you can monitor it's feeding fully. Good Luck!
Sam

well i held the meal worm next to his mouth with the tongs i used to feed the other one and he walked away from it. i just want to see him eat so i will know that he at least ate something.

If in fact it's stressed from being bullied simply trying to feed it singly likely won't work. It's still in the same enclosure with what is stressing it. If you have an extra tank, set it up and move him in there. Let him settle in for a few days and try feeding crickets at first. They are a bit more active than mealies and will get and keep his attention longer. If they're to quick for him pop off their lil back legs . Just my thoughts.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Those of us that have raised geckos before, look closely. The second picture's gecko has a bloated belly? If that is the one that hasn't been eating there is a good chance something is wrong/ parasites. It has been a bit since I had one that young, can someone else confirm?
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

it might be the angle, if you want i will take more pics at other angles?

Agree sleepy....yeah please take more pics. But from that angle it does.
Sam

>>Agree sleepy....yeah please take more pics. But from that angle it does.
>>Sam

Given that they're on sand, I worry that the one that looks a bit bloated might well be impacted. That would cause it to both be bloated like that and to stop eating. I tend to agree with the other posters - remove the sand, go to paper towels, and separate them. If the one with the problems doesn't rapidly improve, I'd head for the vet with at the least that one and probably both just to verify that it's not parasites. If it is parasites, they've likely both got them and the healthy looking one isn't showing the signs yet. If it's impaction, you'll be saving at least the one that hasn't got problems yet (and hopefully both of them) by removing the sand, but a vet will be needed to help with the impaction if that's what it is. If it's just that one is dominating the other, then separating them should do the trick within a few days.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Shoot... I didn't notice that was sand, it was blurry. Off the sand right away, then I edit my original motion to say impacted for sure and possibly more and get it to a vet ASAP. The damage has already been done and you have to move quickly to reverse it before its entire GI track backs up into its stomach or ruptures. Having seen a gecko throw up before, trust me, you don't want to experience it. The little guy needs help and soon.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

man this sucks, i'll see what i can do about getting them to the vet but first off i will try to get a piece of slate (my step dads a stone mason so i will just talk to him) and i will probably get my hands on a piece soon. but if it is impacting how long do i have before he dies? and how sure are you that it is impaction?

sorry about the double post, but if i use slate will the heat pad i have work or will it become useless?

please respond to my other post to?

Just what Nightflight said. I used slate because it looked nicer. It is thick, however, and I did lose some heat, but it's nothing that a 50watt red light hasn't fixed. I just keep the windows closed, and his cage temperature is a cosy 85 degrees, which I read was fine for winter.

in all the cases i've sen of impaction you have until his tail withers to nothing and he starves. of course if you wait to long he could starve during recovery.

Thick slate can reduce the heat conducted from the UTH. Not a problem if you've got a big enough one or a ceramic heater from above. I've used both slate and ceramic tile. Ceramic tile tends to conduct heat a little better but by the same measure doesn't spread the heat quite as evenly.

I find that tile works better in my application and is easier to clean but you should be fine with slate so long as temps can be maintained.

I think you are implying that you are waiting to get the tile until you take them off the sand? That is very very very very very irresponsible, you are risking the other's health and possibly making the already sick one worse.

Papertowels are perfectly acceptable, and IMHO the best substrate. Don't wait, I don't know why I'm the only one saying this. If you want to go with slate later, fine, but right now you have a near emergency. Do you understand? Pets = Responsibility = do something, now. But for the sake of the geckos, replace the sand as soon as you read this.

To answer you question, you have very little time, there is very little tail fat on either one, there is a good chance with any delay they won't make it through the course of the treatment as mentioned before.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

first off i am not implying anything, i am trying to get the impaction taken care of, and as soon as i can i will switch to the paper towels. an as far as your statement "I think you are implying that you are waiting to get the tile until you take them off the sand?" i don't have access to tile or slate right now and i was on the phone with the pet store last night trying to get a idea for a temp substrate, but i might as well have been talking to a 3 year old because the only things they said were "maybe the flash from the two pics you took sent them into shock"(even know the one who was eating, was eating before and continued to eat after the picture and the one that wasn't continued not to). and the other line i heard 6 times was "the bright day bulb might be stressing them out, you have to buy a day bulb that emits no light" maybe it's just me but that sounded really stupid, because i have 2 hides in there that let no light in, in the pet store they have a bright day light, and silly me i thought the lamp was supposed to be their heat source, in the wild isn't their heat source that giant flaming ball of gas in the sky called the sun.

well if i am wrong and what the pet store worker said was actually correct then i am sorry for that rant. and if i am wrong and they were right can someone please tell me.

and to the person that called me "very very very very very irresponsible" ease up i am doing all i can, and no i am not waiting.

The person at the pet store could actually be somewhat right. The flash from the camera for sure startled them, we always use no flash. As for the light, there have been people that claim albinos, and some random geckos, are much more sensitive to light. That being said, IMHO, a properly sized, daylight & UVB bulb is ideal. We have a 40W for a 20 gallon long enclosure. As long as the wattage isn't too much heat and the like, the day bulbs are just fine.

As for the substrate, I was attempting to be firm, please understand that the regulars here get a lot of messages from a lot of people who probably shouldn't be keeping geckos. I'm not including you in that category at this time, however, something as simple as laying down a layer of papertowels over the sand so that geckos can't get to the sand doesn't seem like something that takes a week to get around to, maybe 5 mins. I didn't feel like you were understanding that the sand was doing real harm and you were risking the life of your geckos by waiting, even just a day. You had been told last week (you even said you listened to your brother, I believe, and you admitted to being wrong at the time) that the sand had to go ASAP. If you still haven't taken care of it, then it is irresponsible.

I noticed in your recent message that the other has stopped eating. It most likely has eaten some sand and is impacted as well or caught something from the first. Now you have two very ill geckos. Lay down some papertowel, ideally instead of the sand, but at least over the sand to get it down right now. Fine a herp vet, if you can't afford a herp vet, try back at the petshop and make them take the geckos back. I am sorry, but there is nothing more we can tell you to help. Our first gecko was sold to us with parasites and we lost him with the best of care and a month of liquid feeding, it is a hard lesson to learn that good and healthy geckos are sometimes very hard to come by. Good luck, I'm hoping for them.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

i'll get paper towels over the sand until i can clean the sand out completely. you probably misunderstood me. the second gecko is eating fine and regularly, the first one only seems to have the problem. and since i don't have access to a herp vet, i called the pet store and they said they would exchange it and take it to a vet.

Unfortunately, I had a friend who worked at a chain store, and when they 'took animals back to take them to the vet', all they saw was the inside of a freezer. Chain stores are pet stores, and for the most part, at least in my area, aren't ones to dole out money to get a 3 week old gecko looked at.

As for you using a light as the only source of heat, you should try getting a heat pad as well. Sure, the sun is their primary source of heat in the wild, but they're not in the wild. In the wild they would have the sun beating down on their surroundings all day and heating the rocks, rocks which take hours to cool back down. This is not the case with a common heat lamp. Heat pads aren't all too expensive, and they go through paper towels just fine.

i have a heat pad. but it seemed kinda ridiculous that a bright light during the day would make them not want to eat at night time(i have a night light that emits very little light) however maybe i am wrong in thinking that

A night light like the glow worm kinda thing for little kids, or a night light on the geckos.

Yeah, try to get more pictures.

Also, try to get them off that sand if possible. It looks nice, but it really isn't the best thing. You can get 12x12 squares of slate for like, a buck at Home Depot. It may suck some of the heat out (at least in my experience) but it's winter right now, and I put the slate in basically the day our temps shifted, so you can just buy a heat lamp for the day.