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i know this is the leopard gecko forum but you guys have helped a lot in the past and you respond quickly which is what i need right now. About 2 months ago i thought i lost my african fat tail gecko..i came home one weekend and thought she was gone..then i moved and i thought she was dead and lost forever. Just now as i was cleaning i found her!!! She was in her cage hiding under the newspapers the entire time!! I looked and looked before and i can't believe i missed her. Anyways she seems to be a live a little sluggish from being cold and she is very thirsty she shed almost her whole skin right when i misted her she has been very dry.Her tail is rat thin but the rest of her body seems to be ok a little thin but ok.She would have died this week for sure its spring break and they are turning the heat off.Anyways i think she will make it but any advice on what i can do to make sure she makes a full recovery? any advice would be appreciated thank you.I am so thankful i found her but it is kind of like someone coming back from the dead i was so sure she was gone!!PLease help me thank you

Its great that you found her when you did,I had a tree frog escape and I never did find her I would say to keep her warm,fed and hydrated and she should be ok.If she gets sick or doesn't respond to reagular feeding then get her to a vet.Oh yeah,you might try giving her some pedialite (sp) and vitamines.

How absentminded do you have to be to not find your gecko in her own cage???? Sorry if this sounds "mean" but come on now..... That is just rediculous..... First of all, you need to make sure your animals are kept in secure cages where they can not escape..... Second, how in the world do you look for your gecko in the cage and not look under the newspaper???? I just do not understand how something like this can happen..... I do not feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for that poor fat tail.... Does anyone understand why I get so heated sometimes???? This is just out of control.....

I understand what your getting at Gregg and I agree but still he needs help with keeping it alive and so I'm going to give him as much of it as I can.

I would definately try pedialyte! It's the best "homemade cure" in my opinion. Here's a recipe that I've used a number of times and it works great.

Ingredients:

1 quart of water
2-4 teaspoons of sugar (or 1-2 teaspoons of fructose)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

You can half it if you need to. I'm glad you found her, and I hope she's going to be okay.
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

gregs, sometimes i do think you are being to mean although right, still mean. but in this cass its completly called for. this is so wrong. i would have emptied the intire tank untill i found her. i cant beleive this either. -brandy
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brandy

trust me thats not mean at all...i've been trying to figure out how the hell i looked this over....i mean i looked under the newspaper, and i coulda sworn i took it out of the cage..yet she still remained inside...so i feel horrible and no idea why this happened but it is better than finding her dead frozen after a week of absoloutely no heat and 50 degree temps. Thank you so much for the pedialite soloution i will kepp everyone updated on this one if anyone else wants to vent about how stupid it is i didn't look feel free i deserve it she is such a sweet animal and it would break my heart to lose her again

ok well whats done is done. and you will know better next time. at least you realize it was a stupid move. i would really take her to the vet though. shes been through alot. she should have a fecal check. just my opinon -brandy
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brandy

I agree, a vet visit is in session. She'll probably be alright after she starts eating and stuff but just to make sure everythings back to normal a fecal would be good. You're welcome for the pedialyte recipe, I hope it works. Good luck!
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

I know if one of my leo's get away for that long that they would be fine. Im always finding escaping crix in my room. My leo's could live a year under my bed.

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Austin-WiteLeo
Leopard Geckos
2.3.1
1-Blizzard
2-Stripe/Choc. Albino's
1-Het Albino
2-High Yellows
Brothers
2

it's a crappy substrate and you must have had it piled in there thick to be able to loose your gecko in it.

Get some tile to put in the cage and you won't have that problem again.

If your gecko is not eating normal foods, there is a slurry recipe floating around here if you do a search, feed it with a syringe.

Good luck.
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1.0.0 Double Het Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Yoshi'
0.1.0 Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Miso'
1.0.0 Beagle 'Tigger'
0.1.0 Jack Russell 'Roo'
2.0.0 Guinea Pigs 'Millhouse and Ralph'
1.0.0 Hamster 'Fluff'
1.0.0 Husband

How do you lose a gecko in newspaper??? That is the most irresponsible thing I've heard all day! I'm sorry to sound so mean, but did you even look for it at all? I would've looked and looked until I found it.

I would not put any reptiles on newspaper again, and keep it hydrated, fed, and take it to the vet!
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0.1.0 Leopard gecko
1.0.0 Fat Cat

She said she looked all over for it.

My question is, when you looked, did you take everything out? If you didn't, but just moved things around instead, the gecko probably just ran under what was already down.

My other hypothesis is that maybe she got out and then found the tank later? I'm going by the subject line about finding the gecko in the closet... So I'm guessing you stored the tank in the closet, right? Was it on the floor? With any way to get up to it? It's always a possibility, if the conditions were right, for people to look at (rather than automatically jumping down her throat - reflex/instinct or not).

AH well.. I'm glad that you found her. Another excellent recipe to get geckos back on their feet is one that Golden Gate Geckos came up with. You should email & ask her for it. her General Info email is info@GoldenGateGeckos.com and her website address is http://www.goldengategeckos.com/

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
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~~The Gecko Barn~~