Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I have 2 babies that hatched on september 28th and 29th. They have lived together in the same container with all conditions the same. However, one of them has never eaten well. We have had to pinch off mealie heads, put some guts on her nose and wait til she would lick it an eat. Well she has gotten worse over the past month. She really won't eat much at all and is getting very skinny. Her sister outgrew her so much, we separated them. She has also had shedding problems on her nose. This seems to be a problem too. Her nose has what appears to be a layer or 2 of skin that is kind of hard. Also it appears that her sister bit her on the head, there is a couple of small scratches. I should have noticed sooner, but somehow missed it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know most will suggest a vet, but at this time I have very little money.

Thanks in advance.
Josh

Separating her is a big step in the right direction. I'd recommend getting the old skin off asap. I've noticed a much improved feeding response when I've removed shed skin from the face. Make sure to thoroughly moisten the area first and be gentle.

You can also try crickets. I've found that babies who aren't too enthusiastic about mealies will often feed much better on crickets. Once her weight's back up you can start switching her back to mealies.

-Alice

they should have been separated a long time ago. I personally don't house babies together but if you have to do it, then AS SOON AS you notice one eating better than the other, you must separate them. You can try hand feeding her if the crickets don't work.

The friend that got us started in geckos always kept her babies together. She never had any problems, so we didn't know any better. Once the one outgrew the other, we knew they needed separated. I will try crickets and hopefully she will do better. Thanks again for the suggestions.

Josh

The animal has to go to the vet, money or not. It's part of the responsibility of being a pet owner and it's the only way you can find out if it is sick. If it's not eating well, looks skinny, and isn't shedding right, it does seem like there's a problem and a vet has to check it out and tell you what to do about your situation.

I had bought a leo at the Daytona show with similar problems and took her to the vet when, after two weeks of having her she still wouldn't eat live food. She still has problems shedding, but that's as far as it goes now. Just a couple of days after seeing the vet and going on meds she was eating fine and started to gain weight. I now don't have to worry about whether or not she's going to make it, and I'm sure she wouldn't have even made it this far if it wasn't for having her see a vet.
-----
Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame