Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a problem. My 9 year old leopard gecko is sick. It's a female, and prior I had her in a tank with a male gecko. I have not had my geckos for 9 years - they came from a friend. I have only had them two years, and this is the first time I am dealing with illness.

Here are her symptoms:
She won't eat. This has been going on for three weeks now. I gave her crickets, and she *moves away* from them.
She refuses to hide. She sits in a corner of her cage and lays there. This is unusal for her, since she's very skiddish.
I have sand in her tank - It's calcium sand, recommended by the petshop - It's supposed to help with their digestion. I thought it would be good for them, since neither of them ever used the calcium powder I put in the tank.
Her stomach is swollen - but it feels hard. I was told the eggs were soft, and if she were pregnant, I would not be able to feel them.
Her tail has shrunk drastically - even without eating it shouldn't be as small as it is.
She has been going to the bathroom - though very little, but it shouldn't be unusal since she hasn't been eating.

I have since put her in a smaller, seperate tank. I thought at first she was hybernating, so I made the seperate tank warmer, but her behavior hasn't changed.
I'm stumped as to what to do, and so is everyone else I've asked so far. Can someone please help me?

Get her off the sand!

The hard lump you're feeling likely is the result of a belly full of sand. If you're lucky, she'll be able to pass it. Although sand can be used successfully, supplementation with a calcium supplement is still necessary. Left unsupplemented a gecko may ingest massive quatities of sand and become impacted, even with supplementation geckos will occaisionally ingest sand on purpose or incidentally while feeding. The hard lump you're feeling should send up a huge red flag.

I personnaly think that regular sand is preferable to calci sand. I use play sand for my desert herps, but not my leos. I just prefer to avoid the whole impaction risk since they seem so prone to problems.

Here's a link on calcium carbonate substrates is you want to do a little background reading (it will NOT improve digestion):
http://www.pythons.com/calcium.html

I hope your gecko recovers. If she starts losing weight, or fails to produce a poop, get her to a vet asap.

-Alice

She's not on sand now, and I had calcium powder in the tank but they wouldn't touch it. :/

I'm currently using a tank carpet for her, and she has been going to the bathroom, but very little. She hasn't really been eating much, so I think that it's pretty normal for right now.

Maybe she is just brumating / slowing down for winter. I'd keep a close eye on her though. The solid lump is worrisome.
-Alice

Yes, I'll keep an eye on her. Thank you for your concern.

Get your gecko to the vet. If she is pooping, it is probably not any type of impaction/constipation issue. Could be a kidney problem, egg binding, or any of a hundred other problems. You still need to keep a dish of calcium powder in with your gecko. You will probably never see her eating from it, they will lick out of them every now and again but they don't eat calcium as if it were food. Also make sure to keep her hydrated, maybe give her a nice warm bath. Use a shallow bowl or plastic container. If she starts drinking any of the water then that means she is SEVERLY dehydrated! What are the temps in her cage? It is very important to keep a hot spot and a cooler area for her. You may be able to tempt her to eat some waxworms, just to get her to eat. Hope this helps you out, keep us updated!
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www.hullabalooherps.com

I wanted to bring her to the vet, but the closest vet is over 3 hours away. I'm worried she won't make the car ride.

I'm going to try a warm bath, that sounds like an excellent idea.

Her cage is around 80, and it's small, so there's not really any cool spots for her. I'm going to move her into a larger tank and see how that works out. Thank you for your help!

It needs to be 80 on one side, and about 90 on the other side. This creates a thermal gradient that will let your leo choose which temperature is right for her. You can adjust the temperatures on both ends of the tank but at no point should you ever take away the gradient. This is basic reptile care.
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chickabowwow

It's almost to that. More like 78-91 or depending upon how much she kicks around her bedding (since it's a below the tank heater. She prefers the warmer side, it seems. I think it's a little more soothing for her stomach. The water bowl is placed so it hits both of the warm/cool sides, and she still prefers the warm water.