Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband bought a normal leopard gecko about six months ago, as a baby. It was doing good, eating like crazy. I (please don't stone me, lol) am not a big fan of leopard geckos, have just never gotten into them. Anyway, about a month or so ago, he got these two leopard geckos, babies, and they are some kind of albino, but not regular albino. I personally think they are kinda creepy looking, which is why I haven't looked at them in a while, I leave them to my husband. To get to the point of this post, I looked in on them last night, and they look awful. One of them is very thin, and my husband has separated it from the other one thinking that it is hogging all the food. But I don't think this is the problem, as the other one is relatively thin, also. The first one, I'm not sure if it will make it or not. He is not chasing down the crickets, so I thought I would hand feed him. He will come up to the prey (I tried crickets and meal worms), nose it, lick it, and not eat it. I dripped some water on it's nose (like I do my bearides), and he licked it off a couple of times. Is there a way I can "force feed" him, or is there a "bug juice" I could make for it, to get it eating again? I'm not sure what their temps are. He has them on a dirt mixture, with a shallow bowl of water, and a couple of hides, and some rocks. They have under tank heating. The "normal" leopard gecko is doing good, fat and sassy, so I was wondering if it is becasue they are getting too much light? They are in our reptile room, and there are a lot of lights in there for the other animals, but not on them. Anyway, if someone could help me out to get these poor babies eatine, I am taking them over from my husband, and getting their housing right, cuz obviously something is WRONG!!

Thanks,
Marcy

I saw a new product I had not seen before the other day. Its called reptiaid I think. Made by the fluckers company I believe. Its kind of like a meal replacement for herps. I read the back of this product and its got alot more nutrional value than the jumpstart stuff that many use. Not sure if it will work but its work a try. Also look closely at your husbandry. Make sure temps,hides,substrate,lighting are all corect. Hope this helps!

At least until you get them very well started and on their way!

Could be one of the problems!

First off, thanks for taking an interest in the leos condition, even though your not into them, that says a lot about you. There is a good chance that this leo hasn’t eaten right from day one, and its starting to become very apparent now. The temps need to be 90 degree, constant belly heat, on one side of the cage; the other side should be fine at room temp. Only use Paper towels or newspaper as a substrate for sick geckos. I’d try to provide at least 7 hours of dark at night, It helps trigger them to come out and hunt for food. Albinos are especially sensitive to light, and should have plenty of dark hiding places on both the warm and cool sides of the cage.
From the situation you explained, I’d guess that this gecko needs hand feeding or possibly the gecko stew mix above. Try offering freshly molted insects (all white) with I light calcium coating, it should be very mild on there stomach. Offer food/feed your leo in the evening and morning, this is when my leos normally hunt.
If the little guy doesn’t respond to a little tlc within a few days, he should be taken to a vet. There is always the chance that your leo could have an infection or parasite of some type.
Maybe if you help this little one out, creepiness and all, you may come to love leos as much as the rest us around here do. Anyhow, best of luck, and please let us know if you have any more questions.

DaveCable

Starling had a great recipe for gecko stew. She posted it yesterday:

Thanks for all the good tips. The little guy seems to be doing somewhat better. He actually ate two crickets on his own tonight. I will give him a day or two to see if he plumps up before calling my vet. He seems happier now that he ate even that little.
Marcy

Marcy,

I'm really glad you made this post. All of the suggestions made so far are very good, but I would like to add that baby albinos do not see very well in the light, and sometimes cannot see their prey. It is not umcommon for these little guys to grow a little more slowly at first. Many times they try to strike at their prey, only to get frustrated and discouranged and give up when their "eye-strike" coordination is underdeveloped.

May I suggest that you put them in a plastic shoe-box type enclosure on paper towel substrate, and make sure they are warm. (You can use a human heating pad set on low.) Pull the back legs off of a few crickets, and put them into the enclosure. Make sure it it very dark! If the crix are not eaten by the next morning, remove them since this can also stress the geckos. Try this for a couple of days.

If this does not help, you can offer some baby food squash with a dropper on the end of their nose until they lap it. This is a good complex carbohydrate that tends to bind in the GI system, and should produce a stool that can be taken to a Vet for a culture.
-----
Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com

Your suggestions have been great. I think that his (and the other one, but to a lesser degree) problem has been a culmination of things. I think that part of the problem was maybe that his sibling WAS being a hog, and I really think that the whole darkness thing had a lot to do with it. I made sure that we fed him in complete darkness, last night, and he ate pretty well, then. I did have my husband squeeze the guts out of a meal worm, and put it on his nose, though, and I think that gave him the energy to "hunt". I hope that his problems are over, now, lol. I have been reading everything that I can about leopard geckos, now. Ugh. It's almost too much information. And just like everything else, the info often contadicts each other. Time to sort through the BS. Thank you guys so much for responding.
Marcy