Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my juvenile sikorae for a few weeks now. Hes been fine since I had him until the past few days. I haven't noticed him eating in at least 4 days. I'm feeding him smaller crickets, and the same 2 have been in there for days. Setup: I'm giving him 12hrs of UVB, and turn on a nocturnal black light at night. I have a humidifier setup to him and my henkeli's, plus I mist them as needed, usually at least 2 or more times a day. Temp between 75-80....I'm new to keeping uroplatus, so I'm just looking to see first off if I should be worried, secondly what I can do to hopefully get him eating right again. Thanks for the help....

I should have added, he also seems to spend more time on the ground than usual....

with your gecko on the ground i am very concered. what is the humidity? how bright are the lights? Henkels leaftails are known for their ease in captivity. what i do with my sikore is they get a fan 2 times a day for air flow. once in the morning and one in the evening, it helps prevent air stagnation. this is very helpful. was it a captive bred animal? if it was not then there could be a possible worm infection. how heavily planted is the tank. they more live plants the better they seem to do. when they are on the floor of their cage there is something seriusly wrong with them. also try to get the crickets out of the tank they might eat your lizard. and try to get a diffrent food item in there for variety sake.

I noticed last night that he was starting to shed. I know sometimes they don't eat much when they are shedding, but this started days before he shed. I do have plants in the set up. I'm using a coco fiber substrate and I mist at least 3x a day. I haven't tried a fan on him, but I do have one I use on my Henkeli's. I got the remaining crickets out today, and I dropper fed him watered down chicken/calcium and he seemed to be taking to it. I think he is a WC. I bought him through the classifieds about a month ago. I'll get a small fan to use on his set up for now, wait until he finishes shedding, and keep dropper feeding, unless you guys can tell me anything else I should try....Thanks for the help. I'll let you know the outcome...

the chicken calcium stuff is a good idea but i would not use it long term. if you can try to find wild grasshoppers from a good clean source(mine love them when their around).Also try smaller cochroaches. you should also try and weigh him. at least weekly until you notice that this seems to pass.i would also try and get him dewormed. where i live there are no good herp vets so i treat my animals when i first got them with a dose of flagyril.don't dose until you know what you are doing and then only with correct amounts and supervision. i did two doses a week or two apart and the animals are all fine now. you might also want to try a nuaturalistic setup. i mean gravel, potting soil and then plants and then some fir bark like repti bark or zoo med bark. now i know that not everybody uses this but i have found this the best for maintaning humidity in my setups.also try not to overdo it with the calcium. males have no place to store it but the females do. also try and rehdrating them when and during the shedding process when they are shedding skin is a good idea.

Where can I get and learn how to use the flagyril? There aren't any vets around that have any herp specialists. I have to ask you, is mold a problem with the uroplatus? I mean, the humidity is pretty high in they're enclosures, and sometimes mold can grow pretty fast on whatever branches or sticks I am using at the time. I always maintain they're cages and get the mold out if I see it, but will it hurt them? I eventually went with an open screen top for them as to get more fresh air in. Thanks alot for your help!

that's what the fan is for. when you have a screen top you put the fan on top nad it evaporates the humidity in the tank. i'm not to worried about constant 70% humidity or higher at times so i put the fan on. if you have it on for about as half an hour to 45 minutes you should be ok. the flaygril is a little tougher because you have to know what you are doing with it. i think you might be able to order some off of LLL reptile but i am not sure. depending on where you live you might have a reptile vet in your area or at least one that specializes in herps. don't give medicine unless you know what you are doing. keep me posted.