Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a leopard gecko juvie for my birthday..not sure of sex but had him now for several weeks. He is eating great and n o probs as of yet...Sunday(3 days ago)afternoon i went to a different pet store and bought another gecko juvie also not sure of sex and pet store employees are not educated on there reptiles at all it seems for they knew nothing of this gecko.

She (I have called her a she since i got her) was the most alert of the two in the tank at the store as well as a fatter tail then the other so i figured i got the healthier of the two. I have placed her in a ten gallon tank for now til i am sure she is feeling ok then introduce her to my other gecko. her eyes apear alert and semi active tho no where near as active as my other..she sleeps a lot and hasn't eaten...seems sluggish compared to my other but eyes are still bright. no diarreah or anything ..am i simply over reacting and she is still not used to her tank or should i be worried..she sleeps almost all the time. I can be a bit of a worry wart but i want happy healthy geckos. temps are right in both tanks, plenty of hidey holes and have damp moss for shedding. should i just be more patient and see if she eats? maybe she is stressed? and advice would be great.

I would give her more time to aclimate this ussually take about a week. Offer her food daily. Pet stores generally feed them small mealworms so I would put a dish of them in and just keep count of how many there are and see if she eats them. You may want to try crickets and see if she goes after them. gl

ty i will try to be more patient oh while im thinking about it i have a 20 gal high rise tank for the healthier gecko..a small UTH on one side underneath takes about 1/4 the tank space on bottom maybe a 1/3..was wondering how many I could house in a high rise tank and if heating should be modified for this type of tank...most info is on a long tank so just wondering

I would recommend you waiting until the geckos are about 30 grams before even thinking about placing them together......this way, you will be able to accurately sex them...................and even then, you shouldn't put a female with a male at that weight.

Females should only be housed with males if they are at proper breeding weights......50 grams

and two males should NEVER be housed together.

Again, I would keep them separated for now until you know their sexes.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

yes i def will wait til i can sex them was just wondering how many could be housed in a high rise 20 gal..now have a more horrible problem the gecko im concerned about is now regurgitating its food..two days ago it ate a cricket and i think it passed it today undigested..then today she /he ate a small cricket and she regurgitated it back up..no herp vets in my area and now am very worried about her..any suggestions?

I've kept 2 adult females in a 20 gallon tall before and they did fine.

As far as right now.......regurge is a bad sign....keep everything separate and under quarantine.....that means wash your hands between dealing with each cage/gecko.....don't cricket swap either...don't accidentally switch their water bowls.......keep everything as clean as possible for the one that is regurgitating.

Without a vet to confirm or dismiss the possibility of bacteria in the stomach lining....like coccidia or cryptosporidia, and without the ability to attain meds...there is not much you can do other than maintain a strict quarantine in a stress free environment.

Try going to a farmer's market or Co-op and ask for a substance called Flagyll.....this is somewhat effective at flushing out the gecko's system of some parasites.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

Thank you so much for ur advice..i certainly will look for that at my local co-op and see what i can do. I very angry with the pet store for number one selling sick animals number two for not knowing how to obviously take care of them. I hate to see em sick and will do everything i can to nurse her back to health.

oh btw babies are suppose to be striped right? well the new one is spotted and my healthy one is striped but the striped is bigger. does that mean i have an older gecko thats sick or just that her spots are normal? thanks again for all info u have given me

gonna try to include a pic for u to see it hopefully u can see what i mean. this was when i first got her/him. tail was fatter then.

Hi I'm not sure how that happened but somhow your post came to me as an email. Anyway I only use email for family and friends so I will respond in here. I believe it has cryptosporidia. This is very serious and I'm not sure but there is this stuff called Flagyll that I've heard can help. cryptosporidia is a parasite that is very evasive I would research it more if I was you. Whatever you do do not let there be any contact between this one and the other. Clean its cage daily (pickup all the poop) and fresh water after dealing with the others cage and wash your hands between.
Your cage size is fine for two adults.
As for uploading pictures in here if you go to the top of the post page you will see a tab that says photos click on it, you will go to a page where you can upload pictures, just curser down slowly on the left hand side you will see Home>reptiles, straight to the right of that on the other side of the page you will see Home, profile, upload photos,your photos, manage folders, click on the upload photos and it will take you to a page where you can upload pictures for this site. It does have limitations. gl