Reptile & Amphibian Forums

one of my crested geckos started twitching this morning. mostly just its toes but sometimes her whole body will for a second or two. does anyone know whats causing this?? or what i need to do to stop it?? thanks.
-josh

She probably has low calicum. Has she laid eggs recently?

You need to supplement her calcium and quickly.
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1.1 Ghost corns, 1.1 Butter het. stripe corns, 0.1 normal corn
1.1 Tremper Albino Leopard Geckos
1.0 Super dalmation crested, 1.1 Pinstripe crested, 2.1.1 Misc crested
1.0 Ghost Bull, 0.1 Snow bull

I think she is about to actualy. she has gotten almost double in size over the last week or two, and shes kinda bulging. thank you so much for your help. I appriciate your advice.
-josh

Place a shadow bowl (small lid with low sides, like a baby food jar lid work great) of calcium powder into her cage. This way she can take in some calcium as she needs. Also, what are you feeding her? Increasing the calcium in her diet can help prevent a calcium crash in the future as well. Feeding complete foods like T-Rex's crested gecko diet can help prevent egg laying females from running low on calcium.

I've tried switching them over to the t-rex food. they just wont take it. Ill try putting a bowl of calcuim dust in the cage. shes just supposed to come and eat it plain??
thanks for your help.
-josh

hey i cant seem to get her to eat anything now. she wont eat crickets, meal worms, roaches, baby food, or the t-rex stuff. im trying to get calcium in her. she just spits it out. i was wondering if i put calcium in with a little bit of water and spray it on her, would that help it enter the system at all?? im running out of ideas.... appreciate any help. thanks
-josh

The calcium can't be absorbed through the skin. You need to feed it to her. You should mix a tiny amount into baby food blended fruit. Weren't you feeding with calcium before the twitching started?

Craigo

yea i feed them both calcium. and the male is perfectly healthy. the sick one is a female and i know she has eggs. i think thats why shes low on calcium. ive never bred them before so i didnt realize she would need extra calcium. unfortunatly i cannot get her to eat anymore. what can I do about that? thanks.
-josh

T-Rex sells liquid calcium called bone-aid. It's wicked expensive, but my geckos love it. According to the bottle, it's cricket flavored. I use the eyedropper and drop a lit bit on their nose until they lick it up, than squeeze it right onto their tongue.
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1.1 Ghost corns, 1.1 Butter het. stripe corns, 0.1 normal corn
1.1 Tremper Albino Leopard Geckos
1.0 Super dalmation crested, 1.1 Pinstripe crested, 2.1.1 Misc crested
1.0 Ghost Bull, 0.1 Snow bull

#1 - The twitching is most likely lack of calcium as mentioned.Calcium supplimentation is needed . The taste of the calcium may be making the gecko reluctant to eat it as your changing the diet it is used too.(same as when you tried to feed it crested gecko diet) Continue to offer it calcium enhanced food .

#2 - doubling in size is not normal - she could be egg bound ,which is a very bad thing. And can be fatal.
does she have a proper place to lay her eggs, plenty of places to hide , and in a reasonably quiet location in the house?

#3 Geckos are actually very private feeders ,with the exception of live food which the movement causes hunting instincts to kick in they almost never eat in front of you if they can avoid it.So not eating may be in theory .

#4 On the assumption that she lays her eggs, and begins eating again .Just keep putting Crested gecko diet in her cage and dont give in .No animal starves itself with food available. When you give in your gecko has trained you to feed it goodies instead of what you know has everything it needs. If you feel badly for the blandness of the diet make it with fruit juices. I have appox 40 geckos in my collection and raise several hundred babies a year and they all eat Crested gecko diet.

www.slizards.com

Take her to a reptile vet.

well, shes actually doing quite well now. what happened was she had two eggs, and i think that took all her calcium. and since i was new to crested geckos, i didnt realize i needed to up her calcium intake just a bit while she had them, but once i did that she got healthy again. both the eggs look great too!
-josh