Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, i was amazingly happy my leo had eaten 3 crickets today, and expcted them to "push" something out the other end. im off to bed very soon and checked on my leo. he's passed something, but no food. just his urate, and a bit of mucus, no fecal matter what so ever. i saw him lying funny an hour or two ago, with his butt sorta twisted up, so i thought maybe he'd been eating his poop. but considering it got me 10-14 days for him to eat these 3 crickets, i thought it was maybe because he didnt have much to pass. im going to wait until he next pass's before deciding what to do. his feaces have been off sometimes when he's not eaten for a while and then eats.

i also have a question about waxworms. i for one know that they are really unhealthy for a leo as a staple diet, but HOW unhealthy are they...it's not something that i want to try, but would rather know incase he stops eating like before. he eats about 5 crickets every 14days. today's been the first time he's shown a real interest in them. to test if he was addicted to waxies, i put 1 waxworm in with about 100mealworms, and he picked it out without touching the mealworms. i know people will say "the mealworms will have just eaten the waxworm" but i know they didnt. i've seen them eat other bugs and there's always something left. i'm trying to ween him off them atm, which is why im not pushing food on him, im letting him be "food-free" for 5-7 days, and put a few little crickets in, and i seems to be getting him back on a staple diet, but progress has been really slow. i havent really noticed his skin greying to shed, apart from once but it went back to the normal colour an hour or so later, not vibrant as though it had shed...

sorry for my ranting, i like to tell every detail... ^^

if someone could help me out with the waxie question and my other problem at the top, i'd be very grateful

I have a couple questions: what kind of substrate is he on and does his stomach look/feel hard or swollen? If he isn't on a substrate that can be ingested and his tummy looks and feels fine, I'd wait to see if he poops out the crickets in the next few days. Like you said, he may not have much to poop out since he hasn't been eating.

As far as waxies go, they aren't bad for him as long as you don't feed them in large amounts (eating a diet of waxies is like us living on a diet of cheeseburgers...you can get by, but you won't be healthy). If he's being a finicky eater, try some waxies and mealies in a dish. I've found that waxies stimulate my leos' appetites and after all the waxies are gone, they continue to munch on the mealies. Waxworms are also soft bodied and may pass easier than other hard bodied insects.

good luck!

have you gotton fecal samples done on your leo? if it's poop is discolored it could have parasites. if they are whitish he could have something called skinny tail or pencil tail. i would google it and see if his symptoms match up.

as far as the waxworms, they are bad long term, but as opposed to your gecko starving i would say def. feed them to him. try superworms too, they are more like wax worms than mealworms.

good luck! and if you have any more questions about skinny tail you can e-mail me cause i have a leo book that has like a page of info. on it.

kool thanks man.

as far as his fecal's are looking, they've been normal for most of the time i've had them. with 2-3 rather odd looking, but they had cleared up after the vet had given him some medicine for a suspected parasite.

as for silkworms, there very very rare around here. you can get giant silkworm, but not superworms. if his fecals dont start improving, then he's gonna go back to the vets.

as for the skinny tail thing, i looked it up on google but didnt see much apart from stuff to do with crypto. my vet said she's 95% positive it isnt crypto. it has a skinny tail, and always has done, and he doesnt seem to have gone into any decline. if i open the lid on the tank, he's alert, he was lunging at the crickets soon as they were put infront of him, and he still wanders about everynight. im hoping he's gonna get back onto crickets, and im gonna try and refrain from feeding him waxworms, although i do think i want to stuff his face with them just to fatten him up.

would it be harmful to his health is i did make him uber-fat with waxworms, then take them from him outta the blue?

if you like, send me emails on Jamietink@hotmail.com for info on skinny tail syndrome

if your vet suspected a parasite you should make sure thats cleared up. they can take over really quickly when the animal is stressed. you could do a diet of half and half and long term that wouldn't be nearly as bad. good luck!

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>>would it be harmful to his health is i did make him uber-fat with waxworms, then take them from him outta the blue?
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The problem with this idea is that they can become addicted to waxworms and start refusing other food.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

not sure how old your leo is, but you may want to try offering a small pinkie. Some of mine are, um, esp. carnivorous, and grab the pinks even when they're turning up noses at mealies. And I would think the silks are better than waxies.
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1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
1.0 SHCT hatched by me! (Sunny)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 Normal from 2001 (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 Stripe poss. het RW hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
RIP Peaches, Ghost, Bill
Adopted out: Goldie, Leucy, "Q"
Hatched: ~50