Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I have a madigascar day gecko (not sure on the scientific name, appologies for that) I have had him for about 4-5 years now. Lately all has been well, except about a month or two ago I woke up and to my surprise he was standing on the ground, something that he RARELY ever did. Tossed in his crickets and watched him eat. Day after day he's always be on the ground in the same spot. I looked him over and physicaly he looks healthy, and I couldn't see anything that would concern me, so I shrugged it off assuming that this was just a territorial thing or something. Anyways, few more weeks pass, he's still on the ground, when I threw in the crickets they startled him a little and he went straight for the side of the tank and tried to climb it. For some reason though he was unnable. He just kind of stood there pawing desperately at the glass trying to climb as if he had lost all ability to climb. The glass was not wet at all, and I NEVER use any type of cleaners or soap when cleaning his enclosure (just warm water). And there doesn't seem to be any heat/humidity changes at all. But for some reason he was just unnable to get a grip on the glass.

there could be a few things wrong, first off, is it getting ready to slough? or did it not get all the skin off it's toes on the last slough? try to up the humidity if that's the case so it will be easy to shed.

does the animal seem weak, is it climbing at all? or does it look paralyzed in the hind limbs? if that's the case, it could have some sort of metabolic disease or vitamin/calcium deficiency. how often and how much are you giving for vitamins and calcium?

if it's been going on for more than a few days and the animal hasn't left the ground, i'd go to a vet right away. sometimes these problems could be easy to get rid of, but if it's something serious, you should try to catch it ASAP.

Good luck
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Lisa

1.0.0 P.m. grandis (Linus)
3.3.1 P. standingi (too many to name!)

Well... this has actualy been going on since before christmas... he doesn't seem paralyzed and he's shed a couple times... I give him vitamin powders every meal (exactly which ones I forget, but I've been using them for years with no problem) One thing I notices was that he had some powder on the pads of his feet, and by my understanding, geckos stick using little tiny hairs on their pads, so I'm gonna try to get that powder off and see how he does.

Find out what his supplement are exactly and let us know. Also tell us his feeding schedule and about your cricket gut-loading program.

Sometimes nutritional deficiencies are so slow to develop that when the symptoms show up we can't directly point to that direction.

I generaly feed him 6 crickets daily, removing whatever he doesn't eat, I use a calcium D3 supplement, but I'm glad that you mentioned this, because I went back to check the powders and just noticed that there was none of the multivatin mixed into his powder (I had left for vacation awhile ago, and my dad must have run out of powder and only put in the D3 calcium supplement). I've added some of the multivitamin into it, and I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Multi-vitamins are not the first thing I would look to as a cause, but if there was a long time period where he was lacking in vitamins and your cricket gut-loading program was not adequate, then yes, a nutritional deficiency may be the problem.

Add multi-vitamins, but do not get too enthusiastic to add too much right away. If a person was sick in the hospital, doctors would not be quick to start giving them vitamins, but instead would be consider a good nutritional program. This is why I asked if you had a good gut load program for your crickets. If your crickets are eating well, then they are supplying a good amount of vitamins that your gecko needs.

Here is the BEST in cricket diets:
http://www.adcham.com/html/husbandry/gutload.html

If you would like to correspond with me directly as your gecko recovers, please go to my website and contact me there: www.daygecko.com

Leann Christenson
Link

my guess.....is that it isn't actually 'powder' on his little feet but unshed skin, which is making his feet slippery. I have a crested gecko and this seems to happen occasionally with them, though fortunately not with mine. I think humidity and soaking can help get the stuck shed off....though not sure what the best method is with geckos as it is much easier to keep a snake in a pan of water than a gecko (my hognose has retained eyescales once) I'm not a phelsuma person but just thought I might be able to add this point of view before you go crazy thinking he has some wacky ailment....it is probably very simple.
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Sue

0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
1.0 Crested gecko (Gator)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
2.2 mini rex rabbits (Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
0.1 'found in someone's garage' kitty (Terra)

1.0 Betta (Flash) and 1.0 FL kingsnake (Vega) currently living with boyfriend