Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello,

I've got a juvenile leopard that i recieved as a gift. The baby was housed in an aquarium with sufficient undertank heating with sand as a substrate at different depths for different heat gradients. it's poop started out as clumps of cricket and calcium deposits. it has since started to poop what looked to me like sand clumps. that is when i realized that impaction might be imminent. Incidently, it has lost what little meat it had grown on its tail.

I completely changed the setup in its ten gallon now. the undertank heater is still in place at one side of the tank. I replaced the sand with green reptile matting and strategically placed hide boxes around the tank to provide hides with different temps. I have also included a little dish with reptivite, a dish for mealworms and a moist hide box (peat). ornaments are sparse. I donot have a thermometer in the tank nor do I have one yet (forgot). However, In being pretty avid in guessing the general temps of things (long time aquatics keeper), I would say that it has a choice of gradients from 75 to high 80's.

It has now only been 18 hours since the change and I haven't noticed any new poop in the tank yet.

Am I doing the right things for the symptoms I recognized? I'm very worried that impaction isn't easily cured, or is it???

Thank you in advance for any help I might recieve on this matter,

Paul

get a thermometer, guessing isn't good enough. Keep a dish of CALCIUM available at all times, make sure you also have a dish of clean water available at all times. What are you feeding your gecko? Impaction is a symptom that the gecko's needs are not being met. Double check all of your husbandry issues and put it on paper towel until you can insure you are doing everyting right. Good luck with your new gecko.
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www.hullabalooherps.com

Well, I've bought two thermometers, one for the hot end of his tank and one for the cool end. Temps are where they should be.

Since I took out the sand, added the green carpeting and a couple more hide boxes, he (or she?) has been much more active. It's been using all of the hides periodically. Ive noticed two mealworms missing from its dish and the 2 crickets I left are gone too. The best news of all is that I came home today to find a nice fresh, healthy poop! Hopefully I start to see It's tail getting fatter again.

I know that I am a newbie to lepard geckos but, I fully believe that I was correct in my diagnosis of sand impaction. I mean, it seems that all the clues where there. I personally witnessed it striking at crickets only to come up with a mouth full of sand, twice, within a few minutes of each other. This, I took as a sign that most of the info that I read online about juveniles not being kept on sand is for a damn good reason. Maybe, later on, I'll set up its tank with more natural surroundings of sand and rocks and such. But only after it grows to his adult size.

Thanks,

Paul