Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I am new to taking care of a leopard gecko. I had one that quit eating. The pet store exchanged him after I took him to the vet and no one could tell me what to do for him. A local breeder thought that the under tank heater and the lamp was too much heat....I have a 10 gal tank and a heat lamp for day time. I keep the hot side between 85 and 90 degrees daytime, and not lower than 70 at night. I have hiding places on each end and a water dish. Reptile carpet for the susbstrate.

My new Leo has been doing great for a week and a half. He is a good eater and very energetic. Until tonight...at feeding time, he did not come out of his cave. I took out his hiding place and he was walking very gingerly and slowly. He had thrown up parts of a cricket. He did not eat any dinner. I soaked him in warm water for 10 minutes (breeder told me to do this ocassionally to avoid dehydration) and he drank some. So here are my questions...

What could be wrong tonight?
Is it normal for young geckos to skip meals?
How often does a gecko shed?
I was told by the pet store worker that shedding makes the gecko tender (Like a sunburn). Is this true? For how long?
I have heard geckos don't eat during a shed. For how long don't they eat?

Did you get the new gecko from the same place as the old? Then I would guess they may have the same thing, either illness or parasites. If the vet couldn't find anything (which happened to me) find another vet. Call a herp store and ask where they take there animals. Also, realize if you didn't sanitize the enclosure between animals, you could have infected the second from the first.

If you say you are using the lamp for the day time and the UTH for the night time, sounds find for a 10 gallon. The UTH should be 1/4 of the area on the bottom, the packages are good at telling you what size to get. so I'm guessing that is right. Temps sound fine.

Soaking in water for dehydration? Never heard of it... seriously, they are desert animals, they aren't going to soak up any water through their skin. Now, if they are having a bad shed and have loose skin attached, some people place them on warmed and soaked papertowels to help the process along.

Geckos don't throw up, some have said they can from too much stress, personally I haven't seen this. I have however seen geckos throw up from illness and more likely parasites. Simple put, the parasites block the system and the gecko can't get food down. This can also happen with sand impaction, are you using a proper substrate for him like paper towels or tiles? Young geckos fill their systems with sand and back everything up that way. Pet stores are notorious for selling calcium sand and saying it is perfectly safe for young ones, it isn't and it is sad.

OK, to your specific questions and off my soapbox. It is not normal for geckos to skip meals until they get older and stop growing. Maybe an occasional missed cricket, but definitely not throwing one up. However, since geckos do eat their skin after a shed you may notice a reduction in appetite or a skipped meal if he shed during the day or in the evening. (Are you sure?) I'd say appetite for our girl returns in about 12 hours after a shed when she was a wee one. So, if she shed early enough, she'd eat the same night... but she was also a little piggy too, your milage may vary.

Gecko shed rates are based on age because of growth rate. Young ones are usually in the range of 2 weeks or sometimes less and adults around a month or so give or take a week.

I haven't heard the sunburn thought before. I have handled my gecko immediately after shed to inspect toes and such and she has never given any indication of pain or not wanting to be messed with.

Good to hear he is drinking, that is a good sign at least.

What I am worried about is that you said he is walking tenderly... Now, just woken up geckos have that "just woken up where is my coffee" walk sometimes, but are you meaning his walk now is always slow and careful and wobbly. I ask this because this can be an early sign of another scary thing, Metabolic Bone Disease. It is a lack of calcium. At this point it wouldn't be at all your fault, you haven't had him long enough, it would be a lack of care from who you got it from. Are you currently gut loading and dusting your crickets everytime with a supplement like Leopard Gecko Cricket Dust by TRex?

I don't want to scare you, but your gecko is exhibiting some strange signs. I hate to tell you another vet bill is in order, but it would be good to have him tested for MBD and parasites. Like I said, find a reptile store and ask where they go, that is how we found good vets that knew what to do. All of what I mentioned can be totally treated and fixed if caught early.

I wish you the best of luck. I'm pulling for the little guy, let's hope it is just stress or something I didn't think of because I know my message is a real downer. I apologize, but I desperately want you to know the worst of what it could be so action is taken as quickly as possible. Good luck, please ask any more questions you have, we are here to help and I will try not to be so doom and gloom next time. But my story is similar to yours, first gecko wouldn't eat, we sucked down a $100 vet bill took him back to the store, got another, had a wonderful 9 months with him until we moved 8 miles and the stress upset the balance between him and his parasites. He had been living completely symptom free for 9 wonderful months. Better vet, hand feeding, but eventually we had him put to sleep, I will do anything to keep anyone else from going through that.

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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Thanks for your quick response, sleepygecko. Good news...he ate 3 crickets this morning. He still seeemed to be walking funny. I'll answer your questions in order...

I did get him from the same place...they exchanged him for the 1st one. I did not use any chemicals to clean the cage because the breeder told me he really thought the prob with the 1st gecko was dehydration.

The Breeder told me not to use the UTH because they are dangerous. He said they can have a surge of power and overheat and burn the animal before they know to move. So I have not been using it. He gave the arguement that temperatures in the desert drop pretty low at night and geckos will be fine down to 65 degrees.

substrate: reptile carpet

I can't imagine that he has been stressed. I have limited holding him because he was very jumpy. My house has been very quiet this week.

It is possible that he has or is about to shed since I have had him for going on 2 weeks. (He is a little guy, maybe 10-12 weeks old)

The walk is slow and careful...I would not say wobbly. I have some "ReptoCal" nutritioanal suppliment. I have not used it because I was wanting to make sure he was acclimated and eating first. I just didn't want too many variables in case he started getting sick right away. I will start using that immediately.

I took my first gecko to the vet in the pet store and she had no idea what to do with him...she called in the breeder to talk with me. I hope there is a reptile vet near by. I think I can take him to the University vet hospital if he gets worse.

Thanks and feel free to give me any other hints you might have!

We are here to help. Glad to hear he ate.

Did you mean ReptiCal? I haven't personally used it, it is only calcium and D3, which is a good start, but something more complete with additional vitamins is better. Some people even buy pure calcium (No D in this one) and leave it in a dish in the enclosure, that's how important calcium is. Definitely start dusting your crickets ASAP with what you have and look into vitamin stuff once you get going.

At least in my experience they will eat right up until they actually start eating their shed. Does your gecko look "ghosted" out? When a gecko is about to shed the skin layers separate and the gecko looks like it is wearing a white sheet, this can last anywhere from a few hours or even a day or to if they are feeling stubborn. I wish I had a picture handy to show the difference, maybe someone else has a handy shed picture they can post?

I hate to say it, but your breeder is whacked. That makes me really nervous about your gecko. I think most people here would argue setup as per the instructions on the package UTH are safer than any other heat source. There are people here (mostly breeders) who use UTH or heat strips ONLY and no real light sources. The use of a UTH is called "belly heat" basically it simulates a gecko finding a rock at night that has been warmed in the sun and they sit on it. It aids in their digestion. The breeder's logic is a bit flawed in that, yes the desert drops to that, but these are captive bred spoiled little guys and in the wild they'd dig a hole in the nice warm sand when they get cold

--- Truly, I would venture to guess 99% of us here use UTHs, the other 1% probably have ceramic night heat bulbs, old school style.

OK, so I'm going to make a snap judgement here, but I really don't trust your pet store's breeder at all given what you have mentioned. (That and I've been a heat transfer engineer by trade and know why UTH have replaced ceramic bulbs, because the UTH are much safer. But use the little risers that come with; that is pretty much the safest thing you can use.)

What did I miss? carpet, great choice, good job there, bonus points even.

Just bringing them home can stress them, but yeah, two weeks seems like a long time, he should have bounced back in three days or so. Handle him weekly at first.

Our University supposedly has a good vet school, but they were kinda stumped with us too, but it is a good thought too if you can't find anything else.

I'm just kinda thinking this breeder is in it for the money and your going to go through the heartache we did. Even without the UTH, the gecko really shouldn't be walking funny and his eating patterns should be more consistent and no throwing up... it is a stumper, I think I've said all I can. Right now it is your call. If you've got the finances, I would highly suggest a vet visit just to rule out parasites and MBD, but that comes from my experiences to make me sleep better at night. Everything just sounds fishy to me. Good luck, I'm pulling for both of you. Ask more questions if you think of any or need additional advice. We'll try our best.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

The weird thing is that he seemed fine for a week and a half when I brought him home...no stress at all. The breeder was angry at the pet store for the advice they gave me. He said that the lamp and the UTH was too much. He was afraid that the gecko was burned or dehydrated. But you would think that he would move to the cool side if too hot! Ugh.

So, you think I should use the UTH again? I will dust the crickets...about time to feed him now anyway. I will see how he is acting once he wakes up.

Thanks!

Sorry, we have all felt the frustration of people's lack of knowledge. Hang in there.

I would go lamp in the daytime only and UTH in the night only. I think you mentioned you had a thermometer or some way to check temps, try that way for a day and then see what you get. Aim for the mid-high 80sF in the daytime on the hot side and you can go as high as mid 80s at night on the hot side so long as your cool side is room temp, low 70sF.

And yes, you are perfectly correct. The gecko will go where it wants to when it needs a certain temp. In fact, ours even tells us when we get it too hot. I'll even admit it: our heat went out so we actually did need to use both the UTH and the light to get her temps high enough in the daytime. (By the way, this voids the warranty on the UTH, using it on with the light on.) Well, the heat came back on and we forgot the UTH was set to constant on, until we heard some scrabbling as our girl tried to climb the cool side wall that morning when the light came on. We immediately knew the problem and shut off the UTH, apologized to her and vented her enclosure to let out some heat. The gecko knows.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I found another half digested cricket under Leo's cave. He did not want to eat. But he ate 3 this morning, so hopefully some of it stayed down. I will try to find a vet in the morning. I'll fire up the UTH too. Should I have his cave that he likes over the UTH? Do I put the temperature prob on the floor above the UTH? I am very concerned because this is how it began with our first Leo. How do you find a vet? None advertise specialties in Reptiles in the phone book. The petstore was of no help there.

Put the probe about an inch from the edge of the UTH (on top of the UTH) inside the enclosure, you should get an ok reading that way.

He should have a hide on both ends ideally, but if the room he is in is dark and quiet (I think you mentioned that already) and he really needs the heat, he'll sit out in the open too. Just for further reference, a deli cup or those throw away lunch containers from glad and ziploc make great hides, cut a hole or two and throw some papertowel over for cover.

Finding a vet... that can be really hard, I'm sorry I'm not much help, we went to one that supposedly dealt with exotics but really didn't have a clue. Like I said before check the phone book online and see if you have any reptile only stores in the area or even a bit out of the area. Call them and ask for a referral. That is how we found the best vet. (Do not call that "breeder" he doesn't seem to have a clue.) Otherwise, really, it is a matter of calling and asking. Avoid asking if they take reptiles, but ask if they have a specialist or some one who deals ONLY in reptiles. Your chances are better that way. If you feel comfortable posting where you are from, you could start a new thread here and on the main gecko board asking for referrals, you never know, one of us could live near you and know or even call our vets that we trust and ask if they know any in your area. There might even be one of our trusted breeders in your area and you could ask them too. We'll do what we can.

I'm sorry, there is no good way to tell if the vet really is experienced until you meet them. We got lucky with our second try the moment she said, "Ooo, I love albinos, you never need xrays," then immediately held our gecko, one foot per finger tip up to the room's light. Meanwhile, the humans are freaking out thinking the gecko is scared to death and he's just hanging out thinking it is a game. That's when you know you've got the right one. Good luck and I'm pulling for you and your little one.

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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock