Reptile & Amphibian Forums

please please HELP!! in december i entered the facinating world of leo gecko keeper. Barely a sub adult, she has proved to be an amazing pet with a multi facited character. Given everything she wants and needs she has flurished and readily allows us to handle her, even scratching at her tank to come out during the day. Which is surprising because she is quite idle at times!! Having been recommended a reptile store to visit i decided i would like to keep another in a seperate tank....perhaps introducing them to each other later. Here I bought a male sub adult. This is 4 days ago. Returning home with him, I administered electrolyte drops to his water to aid any stress recovery. Particularly as the chap had just finished shedding and we had removed a little left on his toes.Immediatly he sought shelter in his cave. He has moved very little since, and when he does it is very very slowly, with clearly visible shaking. He refuses to eat. drinking very limited amounts, and if you try to handle makes every effort to avoid you, to the point of it becomming dangerous to try for fear of hurting him. In 4 days he has eaten nothing. His stools are very loose like water. I can see no mouth sores or other obvious signs of ill health other than a skinny tail. After calling the store for advice, he asked us to take him on for him to look at.A 40 mile round trip! He said he was fine, just settling slowly and to give it a few more days. I dont think he'll last that long. I cant believe the store owner was prepared to cause such a stressfull journey given our concerns.I'm at my wits end and ive tried everything i can think of and found in books and on web sites.

Your Gecko won't starve for a while they can live on the fat stored in their tail for weeks in necessary, the Pet store could be right that he's just slow at settling in, I've had gecko's not eat for 10 days after a stressfull move, best not to try and handle him while he's settling in, don't do anything to stress him out. Check the temapatures on the warm side and cool side of the tank are ok, make sure the ground temature on the warm side is warm enough, they won't eat unless the ground tempature is high enough as they can't digest food otherwise.

Also what are you feeding him? Gecko's can get very used to specific foods, ie: Neither of my gecko's will eat mealworms, they'd rather starve, but they love their crickets, it's what they were raised on. Find out what your new gecko was being fed before. If you are feeding him crickets try mealworms or vice versa.

Watery stools suggest he may have a parasite of some kind, if there's no improvment after another few days, ring your local vet and ask him to recomend a Reptile vet in the area if he's not into reptiles himself.

Thanks for your reply. Unforunately his tail is painfully thin now.He had been fed on medium browns. He was given a wax as a very occasional treat. He has refused eveything and ran terrified from meal worms! Not surprised though....my young lady does and any crickets bigger than your finger nail! I fear she has forgot she's a Gecko! More upsetting still is his refusal to drink water now. Thanks again and i'll certainly follow your advice.

If the tempatures and food are ok then you definately need to talk to a vet, it's probably a parasite, alot of gecko's pick up parasites when they are just purchased as most petstores buy their gecko's to order they aren't prepared to care for them long term and tend to stick them all in one tank when they get them insuring if one has parasites they others will too before long.

Good news! He has started to take food and water. Huge relief! Tail begining to plump up and he is much more alert. Not too convinced of him being a true/full leo tho! His markings and form are more like the banded Gecko. His limbs are much more slender, slightly longer(rear legs sloping back more)and stiffer than our female 'stacie'! But who cares....he's on the mend. Thanx again for your advice....i'll post his progress on the forum.