Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last year we lost a couple of juveniles. After a month or so of them eating well and gaining weight and growing, (they were in ideal conditions.... (under tank heater, sufficient dry and humid hides, newspaper substrate, baby meal worms and pinhead crickets as food, separated from each other etc) when a few of them suddenly started to go down healthwise, stopped eating, losing weight, etc. Over a 2 month time period they died.

Were giving breeding another go, and we need advice..... We need some helpful advice.

Thanks

i would suggest that you switch over to mealworms as a staple for your adults and babys/juvies

crickets are known to carry harmful parasites, if not treated, the gecko will die, i am willing to bet they contracted a worm or some other harmful bacteria from the crickets

if you decide to use crickets again, and you see the same thing happening again, please switch to mealworms and get them to a vet ASAP
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Dan Quinn
Manhattan Herps

I would say the only thing you need to do differently is take them to the vet if you start seeing similiar, or any, symptoms of illness. Leo's can get parasites, not just from feeder insects, but also during times of stress, or sometimes for reasons that we arent sure of. Either way, if you ever notice weight loss in your leos you need to bring them and a fecal sample to the vet asap. In my experience the two biggest causes of acute anorexia/weight loss are impaction and parasites. Impaction can be easily avoided by providing the proper substrate (one that cannot be injest, i.e not sand or dirt). The problem with parasites is that they are always present in your leos system to an extent, no matter what you do. They become problamatic when they reproduce and the leos immune system can no longer fight them off. In order to ensure you do not have a parasite problem again you should be doing routine fecals on all your animals 1-2x per year, even if they look perfectly healthy. You should also get a fecal done and have an appointment made with your reptile vet the second you notice any weight loss. Parasites are easy to treat if they are caught early, even in juvies, but can be fatal if they are left to long and WILL be fatal if they are not treated at all.
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Actually, I would first suggest dehydration as possible cause of the loss of appetite and lethargy then death. Baby leos are actually remarkably fragile in terms of their need for high ambient humidity up until about 4-6 months of age. I keep all my hatchlings and juveniles at a 75-85% humidity inside their enclosures with a moist hide where humidity is close to 97%. Dehydration will cause toxins to accumulate in the kidneys and they won't flush out without enough liquid in their system. After enough time.. crystals will also form in the kidneys and cause problems. I had one baby leo who I did keep a bit dryer than the others and he started to go downhill after about a month. I moved him into a container which kept better humidity and he perked back up and started eating like crazy again.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

Thank you guys. This is all good advice.