Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a baby leo, about 2 weeks old and she hasn't eaten yet (with the exception of her skin). She shed about 1 week ago and I have yet to see her eat crickets. I have a small supply of baby crickets in there for her so that when she wants to eat, they're in there, and tonight I noticed that one of her eyes won't open, and her upper lip (left side) looks chewed up. I'm thinking that the crickets may have gotten hungry and chewed on her. Any ideas of what I should do? I'm not too concerned about her lip because I know that can heal up better than her eye. I'm concerned that she may lose her eye, or worse, it can become infected and kill her. Please help.

>>Any ideas of what I should do?
1) REMOVE THE CRICKETS!!!
Try to add them a few at a time in a day or two... as recently discussed on this forum, sometimes leos become indifferent to crickets. Removing them for a day or two and feeding again should cause her to eat. Also, leaving the crickets in the cage without food will cause them to chew on your leo. Are you using anything to gut-load the crickets? Also leaving a small piece of food in the cage for the crickets would help keep them off your leo. If that still doesn't work, read a few of the posts similiar to yours (leo not eating), and numerous methods are discussed to get a leo eating again.

2) Sounds like a trip to the vet to take care of the eye. Not much you can do for eye injuries. A vet should be able to tell if it's infected before it's too late. If you need help finding one check the end of my care sheet for herp vet websites. You should also be concerned about the lip because that can become infected also, especially given that crickets are not the cleanest animals.
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

First take out all the free range crickets they'll just stress your gecko. Crickets left in the cage will also eat your geckos poop and this can lead to disease. Keep the crickets in a separate tank. The chewed appearence could be due to bits of stuck shed. See if you can gentley tease the eyelid open with a moist cue-tip (sp?) and check for stuck skin.

Make sure your gecko has a hot spot around 90-95, a moist hide and a shallow water bowl. Most of the bowls sold commercially for herps are too high for a baby gecko to reach easily. If a gecko is dehydrated, it won't eat. Closed eyes can also be symptoms of dehydration.

If you've done all of this and the gecko still hasn't eaten, behead a cricket, squeeze out some guts and offer it to your gecko on forceps. Gently touch the guts to your gecko's nose until it licks them. After a few good licks the gecko should attempt to grab the cricket.

-Alice

i agree, take the crickets out & take it to a vet.
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marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

I may get some heat for this but who cares...... There are about 50 threads below this one that are worded almost exactly like this one..... Is it me or is anyone else getting sick of seeing the same question over and over and over again...... Its either "my leo wont eat" or "I think my leo is impacted but I only keep alittle sand in its cage" or "Hey wat will I get if I breed this to that????" You know what, do what people like me did before there was a kingsnake.com..... Its called reading....

Oh Greg, you have a such an interesting way of stating things

See that is why Brian is the only one still patient enough to reply. I personally don't reply unless its something new, or something that can be solved by common sense

Aleast you see some humor in it and dont get all offended.... Along with the humor there is truth in what I write here..... I guess I can try to be a bit less harsh..... But that just would not be me..... LOL

I do get sick of it... but I'm more afraid of what will happen to the poor leos when the poster gets no response, or worse, a wrong response.

This is why you have seen me reply with stuff like "see my post below titled...". It's also why I created a links page on my site... but apparently the mods didn't like me asking for help making that page (apparently it was self-promotion or something...) so here's a shameless plug:

http://www.milwaukeereptiles.com/links.html
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

hahah Brian you're gonna get banned from kingsnake

then we'll all complain about it on fauna

>>hahah Brian you're gonna get banned from kingsnake
>>
>>then we'll all complain about it on fauna

I better not I pay good money to post a whole 2 ads a month.(rolls his eyes)... too much money...
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet