Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a baby Leopard Gecko that my 6th Grade class gave me for a post-Christmas present. She was in perfect health, eating about 4-8 crickets a day on average, until one of my students let her drop a short distance into her cage. I took her to a vet, because her hind leg swelled up, and he confirmed that it was probably fractured. I had been dusting her crickets, but that apparently wasn't enough, as he felt the fracture was due to a calcium deficiency, and so he gave me a prescription for oral calcium supplement (2-3 drops per day). I've been giving her the drops, but she's not eating much -- 1-3 small mealworms a day. Any ideas on what might tempt her appetite? She appears to have no interest in the (now gut-loaded) crickets -- she looks at them, but makes no move to catch them.

Thanks for any advice.

If she is at least eating 1-3 mealworms a day that's great. She will be fine. If she didn't eat at all for a while would be raising a red flag. She probably doesn't have any interest in crickets since her leg is injured (doesn't want to chase them). Give her time and I'll bet she'll be fine.

Well, I just talked to the vet tonight -- the mealworms are the canned, small variety (not longer than about 1/4" -- and I'm now, based on his advice, trying to get them gut-loaded with the calcium-rich gutload I got for the crickets. I've been reading the posts on "growing" the mealworms -- any ideas on what I should give them to survive on besides potato (for moisture, right?) and the gutload?

Thanks for your prompt reply -- she's really active -- doesn't really favor the hurt leg much, and still enjoys climbing around on me. The kids are pretty sad, as I'm not letting them handle her until she's on the mend -- they understand, though, why they can't . . .