Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi,
my leo is acting weird and i'm not sure what to do, all day yesterday he was sitting outside of his hide "which is not normal for him" and before i went to bed i checked on him and he was holding his head straight up in the air and acting like his stomach is hurting and this morning hes still out with his head up,

i don't know what to think at this point any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki

Mine did that the other day but I think his problem was to much cricket, lol. After he swallowed a few times he was ok but it took a good 30 minutes.

Well, acting weird can be normal, but some more information would be nice:

1.) Approximate age
2.) Temperatures on warm end and cold end, day and night
3.) Substrate
4.) Usual diet? Gutloaded with what? Dusted with what? CA dish in enclosure?
5.) Is water always available?
6.) Size of enclosure? Number of hides? Moist hide always around?
7.) Last shed?

These will greatly help.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Hi this is Mom of annaisagecko responding...
To answer your questions:
-the Leo is on a reptile sand substrate,
-temps are around 80 F day a bit cooler at home
-He/she is about 8 yrs old as far as we know... the people we got him from said he was 5yrs to their knowledge and we have had him 3 yrs perhaps a bit longer
-His tank is about 30 gallons (it's one of those Lizard lounge things so meant for it's use rather than a converted aquarium) -there is a water dish,
-a CA dish,
-she added a moist hide a few days ago on advice obtained here because of some shed issues.
-He has a dual climate so he can thermo regulate with a hide on both sides ....he spends most of his time on the cooler side. -The tank is kept in our basement which tends to be a bit cooler than the upper floors of our home.
-We feed crickets gut loaded with cricket feed(from pet store made for this purpose unsure of the name brand) and dusted with CA.
-His last shed was this weekend... he didn't seem to eat the shed as he normally does and had a bit of difficulty with shedding...not sure if that is an issue or clue etc.
-He appears healthy in skin condition, color etc.

He has been in his hide as normal since late morning (earlier he was out and exhibiting some of the symptoms anna reported earlier.
Needless to say we are concerned and will continue to watch him closely throughout the day. He does not have any crickets in his tank currently... I had considered putting a few in to see how he behaves...whether he eats and then we see a poop or is uninterested.
I really appreciate any information you can share. I have located a Herp Vet to have him checked out if necessary. I haven't observed the unusual behavior but Anna is a keen observer and is always the first to notice any of our pets' health issues.

Thanks again!
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki

that should read "80 or a bit above in the day and perhaps a bit below 80 at night" !

Thanks!
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki

Hmm... The fact that he didn't seem interested in eating the shed and had a hard time with it is of some concern. First thing to consider, the temperature on the warm side should be raised to be closer to 90F in the day, dropping to mid 80s at night. That would help with digestion.

The no shed and odd behavior... (though, admittedly the behavior itself isn't troublesome, but I'll go with your daughter's gut feeling that something is wrong, geckos are easy to bond with that way.) I think the best thing right now is to monitor the gecko and make sure it poos on his regular schedule. The only thing I can think of off hand that could cause all the symptoms might be an impaction from the sand, too much food at once (as the other poster suggested, I haven't seen this personally), or low temps... all of these can lead to higher chances of impaction in an otherwise healthy gecko because their gastrointestinal track isn't moving correctly. If the gecko refuses food for two consecutive feedings on his normal schedule and you don't see any new "deposits" take him to the vet. Sometimes all that is needed is a visual inspection under a bright light and they will see the backup.

If you notice anything else or have any concerns at all, please post more. We'll do our best, your daughter caught this very early, there is chance it will pass on its own, so honestly it is a wait and see. Good job for not posting our normal sights of "my gecko hasn't eaten in 4 weeks and lost all the tail fat, is something wrong?" Take care. Keep watching him. Warm him up and maybe everything will take its course, but keep the vet number handy. We'll be pulling for you.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Based on anna's earlier posts regarding the setup, and I just replied to this below as well, there is high risk of impaction if the leo is eating loose crix on a sand substrate. I agree he does not yet need to rushed to the ER, but watch very carefully, if caught early enough impactions are not always fatal.
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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)
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 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

you see we though we were doing better because we have him on extra-fine calcium carbonate which we read is less pron to causing impaction,

but it obviously didn't work that way, so i think when we can we'll find something else that he/she Cannot eat as substrate,

thank you for the info.
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki

To be fair, yes, extra fine calcium carbonate sand is less likely to cause impaction than most of the other similar products out there. And fyi- I also use sand in my collection, but I also do not recommend it, esp. for fairly new owners. It is possible to keep a healthy adult gecko on a sand-like substrate indefinately. You do always run a risk of impaction if kept on any substance they are capable of swallowing, and there are stories of geckoes getting impacted from normal prey items. If you are interested in the precautions to take to reduce (not eliminate) impaction risk, shoot me an email-
to eliminate the risk, at least so far as substrate goes, ditch the sand
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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)
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 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

he hasn't eaten anything yet sense he's been like this nor has he pooped but it "like you said" hasn't been very long so we'll wait until we know we have to...but yeah its just one of those waiting games ugh....., we've been soaking his belly in harm water every now and then, but not for to long because we don't what to stress him,

we'll keep ya posted!
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki

u can try to give him a very small half a drop of mineral oil. If he is only mildly impacted that can help the sand to work its way along faster. If he's not impacted at all, it will encourage a stool so you can get a fecal done.
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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)
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 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

ok so i did what you said And i got a little water in him because i wasn't sure if he was doing much of that either so far noting but hopefully in the morning their will be something.
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1. Leopard Gecko: Larry
3. Cats: Midnight, Tiger & Fluffy
rip. Crestie: Tuki