Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been 11 days since she has pooped and 5 days since she has eaten...She wasn't eating much but enough it should have caused a bowel movement. I have been watching her stomach to see if I could see impaction...well, she has what looks to be a blockage.
I gave her a warm bath and rubbed her tummy this morning. Will try again tonight.
I put a dab of oil on her lip the other night and she licked it off. What should I use for oil and how much? The vet I talked to on Saturday said it's more of a watch and wait thing but the baths wouldn't hurt. I forgot to ask about the oil. She won't come out of her moist hide at all.
She looks good and she was pretty pale looking the other day (kind of like she was getting ready for a shed) but her color had perked up today. Maybe the blockage is moving.
Any suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated.
She is a 2-3 year old female. Got her 12 days ago and she is in a spair room in her own tank where it is nice and quit. Her heat is staying about 89-92 on the warm side and 76 on the cool. Her moist hide is on the warmer end but is not quit as hot as her hot spot..probably about 87 or so. I have not seen her even go over to the cooler side of her tank or get a drink...I am hoping she is drinking when I am asleep.
Oh yes..she is on papertowels and has been but her moist hide is vermiculite and peat moss.
Thank you all for any help or just listening.

there could be a lot of other things going on here...i am not convinced she is impacted by the evidence you have presented. have you had her x-rayed? impaction can be surgically removed if it is life threatening, if she truly is impacted, have the vet operate.
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Erik Williams
Contact me
Chicago Herpetological Society

I have yet to find me a rep vet in my area.
I live in a very small town in Alaska. We are rather remote so I am on my own unless my husband is willing to put a couple hundred dollars into my Leo..which he is not. This is why I didn't buy the designers. I am a pet owner not a major breeder.
I want her to be ok but I don't have the option of a vet. The one I called did what she could. I can call her on Monday and see about an X-ray but even then I think those run a couple hundred $ here. Or that is what I paid for my dogs anyways.

Please don't think I don't love my Leo's just because I don't have several hundred dollars to put into them.

Thanks again.

hi.

i am not going to be judgemental about treatment of your gecko; it would not prove to be productive.

warm baths and a bit of oil are both fairly standard treatments for impaction, so your course of treatment is fine IF she is impacted. What sets off flags in my head, is how you came to the conclusion that your leo is impacted. was she on sand before you got her? after you got her? ever? besides the not eating/pooping issue, what have you seen that would indicate impaction?

certainly, it is something to consider. i dont want to underestimate the severity of impaction, but i do think that other options are probably more likely, assuming i have enough of the story.

my experience is not great; five years of keeping, two years of eggs and a collection of 20 leos does not mean that i know everything about leo health problems, but less than two weeks of not pooping or eating is not something i would be concerned about unless drastic weight loss was also a symptom. sometimes they go off food for a week or two, which often corresponds to lack of poop. some poop more than others. some eat more than others.

surely moving to a new home less than three weeks ago is a stressful situation for her. i have found that, even if kept in the same cage and only moved across the street (literally), moving is stressful for them. many stop eating for a while. adults and sub-adults are MUCH more prone to this kind of behavior than juvis or hatchlings. some go on hunger strikes for months at a time, lose a little weight, and then one day eat like crazy again. i dont know what is going on in their little heads when they do that, but i do know that it happens. warm baths are pretty stressful too, even though they may help pass a potentialy fatal blockage.

heck, even in the height of feasting mode, i only feed non-breeding adults once or twice a week. this amounts to pooping once every 7-10 days anyway. they just dont need as much food as adults as they did as juvis.

i dont know what your level of experience is with leos, so i thought that a general rundown of adult behavior and stress-related behavior might help you relax a little. of course, you could still be right...in which case, given your means and situation, you are doing everything that is commonly done to help.

watch and wait, is my advice too. keep the cage the same...if you pick something up out of it, put it back EXACTLY as you found it..offer food every night, mine eat best around 11ish. remove it if they dont eat it. double check your husbadnry, but dont over-analyze...leos are tough as nails, it is VERY hard to kill a healthy one. let him adjust, leave him alone, and see what happens. dont change things, unless they are horribly wrong. are you using a digital thermometer, or one of those horribly inaccurate "reptile" ones? husbandry could be the key.
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Erik Williams
Contact me
Chicago Herpetological Society

. . . I also have geckos go on hunger strikes for no apparent reason, only to fire up and eat more later on. Who knows why.

Right now - I have a 13 month old Tremper Albino male - I've had him for about 6 weeks and I think he has eaten a total of 3 mealies. He weighed 56 grams when I got him from RT and he still weighs 56 grams now. Adults don't eat as much - esp. males - and I know he's probably adjusting. He's pooped 3 times since I got him - but I'm not worried. I know he will come through it - because my husbandry is dead on.

Just watch her - chill a little - and if she's not getting thin - don't worry. I'm sure it will get better.

They can perplex a person sometimes, huh?

take care
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos

If this doesn't stop moving, I think I might hack up a cricket!!!

. . . I also have geckos go on hunger strikes for no apparent reason, only to fire up and eat more later on. Who knows why.

Right now - I have a 13 month old Tremper Albino male - I've had him for about 6 weeks and I think he has eaten a total of 3 mealies. He weighed 56 grams when I got him from RT and he still weighs 56 grams now. Adults don't eat as much - esp. males - and I know he's probably adjusting. He's pooped 3 times since I got him - but I'm not worried. I know he will come through it - because my husbandry is dead on.

Just watch her - chill a little - and if she's not getting thin - don't worry. I'm sure it will get better.

They can perplex a person sometimes, huh?

take care
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos

If this doesn't stop moving, I think I might hack up a cricket!!!

. . . I also have geckos go on hunger strikes for no apparent reason, only to fire up and eat more later on. Who knows why.

Right now - I have a 13 month old Tremper Albino male - I've had him for about 6 weeks and I think he has eaten a total of 3 mealies. He weighed 56 grams when I got him from RT and he still weighs 56 grams now. Adults don't eat as much - esp. males - and I know he's probably adjusting. He's pooped 3 times since I got him - but I'm not worried. I know he will come through it - because my husbandry is dead on.

Just watch her - chill a little - and if she's not getting thin - don't worry. I'm sure it will get better.

They can perplex a person sometimes, huh?

take care
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos

If this doesn't stop moving, I think I might hack up a cricket!!!

. . . for the life of me - this new software is quirky. I did NOT post this three times. It is driving me a little batty!!!!!
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos

If this doesn't stop moving, I think I might hack up a cricket!!!

See that was my thoughts and I kept wondering about that. I have had my male for just over a year and I don't worry when he slows eating or quits. Someone posted that they could eat the moss or vermiculite and get impacted. I couldn't see why she would eat it but I figure lets not try and guess the habits of our pets..LOL..
anyway...I was sure that she was impacted when I seen a dark spot under her skin on her belly that I took as maybe a blockage. But reading what you have said...then I am not too worried.
She came from Garrick and I do believe he kept her on papertowels. I have sent an E-mail to ask but she pooped the day she arrived. I had her in a little more active room where we didn't really sit but we walked through quit a bit. She has been in the spare room all by herself now for the past 6 days and she even came out of her hide today.
I am taking your advice...leaving her alone and just going to make sure she has fresh food and water. By the way...The way you suggested feeding is the way I feed. Thanks!
I read posts in these forums and I think...oh my gosh..that is what my Leo is doing..and I get worried. I do have the Leopard book...picked it up today. Wasn't too helpful in this case but I am sure I will read it and use it for other instances...like breeding.
Thanks again Eric...I am relaxing.

the problem with getting leopard gecko behavior information from this forum is that the vast majority of the people who post here, came here because they were having a problem. while there are a few regulars left from when i first found this site(about 3 or 4 have been here as long as i), and new regulars pop up periodically (monte, for instance), most people pop on when they have a problem and leave when it is solved...this means that the forum is littered with questions about problems, rather than posts about business as usual. if someone was to beleive that this forum was a cross-section of standard leo life, they would get the idea that most leos get sick, get impacted, or have other health problems, when it is actualy the minority that have these issues.

keep us up to date on your progress!!
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Erik Williams
Contact me
Chicago Herpetological Society

I just need a good scale.

try laxatone from your vet
its about 5$

My little hypo tang. was impacted after i had her on sand. And i took her to the vet and got an x-ray (deffinatly recommend it, it can make you feel better just to know what is going on) and saw that she had 2 air bubbles 1 filled with sand. And slowely she passed sand for about a week! she is now happy and healthy

Maybe take her off the vermiculite in the humid hide? Could that have been what gave her the impaction??? As for the oil, give it sparingly....regular vegetable oil would be fine. Hope everything goes okay!!!

The other reason I thought she had eaten the vermiculite was she had it all dug up.
I am just gonna wait and see. I do not believe she is impacted now that I have heard what everyone else here had to say...thank you that is the adive I wanted to hear.

The only time my leos dig up their hides is to lay eggs. I just leave them alone for awhile then when I go back and check them there are usually a couple of presents.
As far as not eating, I have to refer back to tremperj's post. Something about gecko facts:
"New geckos don't eat for a couple weeks" or something to that effect.
Also, what are the light cycles where you live? I heard that Soldotna had 5 hours not long ago. Do you live anywhere near there? That would definitely effect his seeping habits!

same hours. We are about 8 hours of light now..in the summer it is 22-24 hours.

The only time my leos dig up their hides is to lay eggs. I just leave them alone for awhile then when I go back and check them there are usually a couple of presents.
As far as not eating, I have to refer back to tremperj's post. Something about gecko facts:
"New geckos don't eat for a couple weeks" or something to that effect.
Also, what are the light cycles where you live? I heard that Soldotna had 5 hours not long ago. Do you live anywhere near there? That would definitely effect his seeping habits!