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Have not many answers HELP!!!

jag Jul 21, 2003 06:13 PM

I have a post about what is going on half way down the forum thanks.

Well I talked to brice at snake broker. He says he has no idea what is wrong but yet I saw it in a few of theirs at the expo. Anybody have any ideas?

Here is what it says.

OK... ready....

You guys remember how I bought the 2 females at the expo. Sunshine from Rising sun reptiles and Serenity from snake broker. Well Sunshine is great cant say one thing is wrong besides she is always hungry lol. Well serenity is another subject. After we bought her we brought her back to the hotel and put her in her own separte 10 gal tank. Then we noticed that she was shaking when she walked. We went later and talked to snake broker again. The wife (cant think of her name) said it was because they were trying to get the sand off her feet since I had her on papertowels now. Well its been over a week and still seh does it. Not as bad but still noticable. She also hasnt really ate yet. I know she its some but not a lot. I think it worries me more because Sunshine it a lot. She also is very scared of people. When I take her out of her tank to clean it the other day. She tried to claw through my hand to hide.
Should i be worried. Do you guys think i should give her some liquid calcium incase it could be MBD. She doesnt touch her calcium in her cage. You guys also think I should try to give her some jump start?

Please help.
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

Replies (14)

divinitry Jul 21, 2003 06:25 PM

I would start dusting everything she eats with calcium....give her a little while to attempt to adjust/recover and if you don't see signs of improve in a week or so, TAKE HER TO A VET who can tell you for sure what's wrong.
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Garden State Geckos Website - www.jerseygeckos.tk
THE ALL NEW GSG GECKOCAM!

Cleopatra Jul 21, 2003 06:35 PM

Both my leos' legs shake when they walk...and they have miner-all available 24/7 and have miner-all added to the mealie gutload so I don't think its MBD....but am not sure (they had this shakey walk when I got them). I am gonna try dusting their insects every feeding for a while and see if that helps with the shaking problem...

Cleo
1:1 leos (4 eggs cooking)

tundrageckos Jul 21, 2003 09:32 PM

Well, personally it has being a long time since i dont have them in calci-sand, but i dont remember any of leos shaking because of sand. ummm...I dont know, keep an eye on her and make sure she is eating...good luck

Severa Jul 21, 2003 09:39 PM

I have read all your posts and this is my take on it. While it is merely an educated guess that MBD is a factor, I tend to lean more towards it too because you said so yourself, you saw other geckos they had doing the shaky leg habit and trembling legs are the early symptoms. Theoretically, I just think that if more than one was doing it, and many of them had been deprived of good calcium, it would make since. My question to you is, is it little trembles or do they shake their legs as if they were just bitten by a small cricket?
And as already posted before by someone else, the skittishness my very well be due to the fact that they are in a new environment, and/or the geckos are still relatively young (how old are they again?). I have hatched geckos in the past that for some reason they were just frantic around my movement for up to 6 months. Very Skittish!
I know you said that it was eating some but not touching the calcium powder very much. Is the shaking impairing the speed of your gecko during feeding? Are you using Crickets or mealies? Here is my "suggestion" for a higher intake of calcium as I would engage heavily on for the next week.
Get a shallow lid and get some small meal worms. "Dust" the bottom of the lid with the calcium, and dust your mealies.Another suggestion: If you want, you may also buy a can of zoo meds Can O Worms. They are juicy little dead mealies, but to animate them, put some live mealies in the bottom of a feeder lid and put some dead mealies over top, that way the live ones move the dead ones. Once again, have the bottom of the feeder dish dusted with calcium. When a gecko vigorously snatches the mealies up, they get the calcium from the bottom and what ever calcium is dusted to the mealies. So why did I tell you this? Because if her movement is impaired by the shakes and if she feels weak, fast moving insects can intimidate her. The slow moving mealies with the double shot of calcium may do the trick.
And just an after thought, many people don't like using the can o worms, that is their matter of preference for one reason or another, but me personally, though I never use it for a staple diet because I vary the diet as much as possible, I have had incredible results rearing my hatchlings (starting after 2 weeks of hatching)off can o worms.
Finally, Cleo, I believe it was you who said your geckos also had the shakes, check the expiration date on your powders....just last week we were in a "Big Chain PetStore" to get some repcal, and 3 of the 5 repcals on the shelf carried the expiration date DEC 2002! Gotta love those PetSm.....I mean "Big Chain PetStores"!
I hope this info does help,I agree with the other individual who posted to your post earlier stating that if you see no improvement in a weeks time to go straight to the vet.
Good Luck and Keep us informed!
Severa

jag Jul 21, 2003 10:42 PM

See with the calcium and MBD thats what I thought also. But yet I have talked to them and they say the keep them on cali-sand with more calcium carbonate mixed up in the san as well wich they say by doing this it always allows plenty of calcium during everyday living plus its great while they shed. SO I am not sure. I keep the calcium with her mealworms. SO I am not sure. I gave her a drop of liquid calcium and a little of jump start. So we shall see. She was born on March 13th so she is about 4 1/2 months old. I am keepin an eye on her.

Thanks for the help.
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

Severa Jul 21, 2003 11:35 PM

Ok...I am just going to e-mail you tomorrow because it is late and I wanted to reply but i fear for another long explination. But here is my quick suggestion, don't give it any more quickstart for one, and the other is, take her off the calci-sand until she is better, I know you are getting ready to either pull your hair out or just stop reading my replies, but I have damn good reasons for saying so. Keep her on paper towels for now. Get her where she needs to be health wise with the 100% calcium powder. I promise I will e-mail you tomorrow and reply here!
Severa
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3.2leopards,1.0 African fattail,0.2 pink toe tarantula,1.0 jungle/diamond carpet python,1.0 albino sonoran gopher,2 eastern painted turtles,0.1 sun conure, leo eggs incubating with one eastern box turtle egg,55 gallon brackish tank, and one ten gallon freshwater, and two chihuahuas......and thats all!

jag Jul 22, 2003 11:00 AM

I understand. No I dont have her on the cal-sand. Thats what snake broker told me to put her on, but I have her on paper towels. I dont trust sand. I dust her food daily and offer her everything you can imagine. I gave her soem turkey baby food this morning with some miner-all mixed in it and she ate some of that. So I am still trying. Snake broker told me to offer her Giant mealworms because thats the only thing they feed them. But I also hear giant mealworms are that good for them. Is this true?
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

Severa Jul 22, 2003 03:05 PM

Well, I am glad I don't have to give my spill about the Calcium sand, not saying that I am against regular sand, but it is best to keep young leos and sick leos on paper towels especially to better monitor the stool.
They feed them super mealies huh? Hmmmm...I never feed my leos super mealies until they are close to adult hood. I think that they are too big of a food item especially for a four month old. That is the length of your gecko now and its weight?
If she is about 4.5-5 inches, the longest food item i would feed them is a regular size mealy. And adult crickets aren't fed to my geckos until the width of the gecko's head is the length of the adult cricket.But like I said in a previous post, stick to the mealies because they are slower moving in a lid top since the shaking may be slowing your gecko down.
The reason I suggested not to use jump start is because of the following. Before I used it before, I was told to use it to help get a gecko interested in eating because it had stopped eating all together and it would give the gecko more energy and possibly curve the appetite. Well, in your case, you posted that your gecko is eating "some" and "shakes".
Based on what you have said, since your gecko is eating, just offer it food with calcium as I mentioned in earlier post. Monitor the health of the gecko in one weeks time and log down every day how much is eaten. That way if you need to take it to a vet, you have a log of info.
But to be absolutely honest with you, if she is not eating well, and with the shaking and all, I would already be looking for a vet and be setting up an appt. asap.
I have pretty much told you all my suggestions I know to tell you as far as what has worked for me in feeding techniques for weak geckos, and how to rebound from what seems to be the start of possible MBD. Please feel free to e-mail me with further questions if I don't reply to your post here since I come here off and on. I hope my info helped and I wish you and your little one the absolute best!
Keep us informed!
Severa
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3.2leopards,1.0 African fattail,0.2 pink toe tarantula,1.0 jungle/diamond carpet python,1.0 albino sonoran gopher,2 eastern painted turtles,0.1 sun conure, leo eggs incubating with one eastern box turtle egg,55 gallon brackish tank, and one ten gallon freshwater, and two chihuahuas......and thats all!

jag Jul 22, 2003 03:21 PM

She is about 24 gams and 6 1/2 to 7 inches long. She is a good size for being about 4 months old. Here is a pic.

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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

geckoman2000 Aug 05, 2003 12:26 PM

geeboo Jul 22, 2003 12:10 AM

dust their food and keep a bowl of calcium. If it is the beginning of MBD it will take a bit to remedy itself don't expect overnight results. Get away from the jumpstart and the liquid calcium I don't think either is very good myself. Keep her on paper towels. If it is just them not likeing the towel it will quit soon and no harm done. Calci-sand is not good to digest alot of, actually calcium-carbonate does not digest well and will actually nuetrilize stomach acids. I used it for a time once and it never bothered my adults but they never ate it either. Just dust food well every day and use a good vitamin/mineral once a week to dust with. Good luck
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Even if your on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there
22 leos,1.1 redtail boas,1.1 rainbow boas,1.1 cornsnakes, 1.0 tokay gecko,1.0 veiled cham, 5 dogs and a cat. Oh, can't forget Tater my parrolet.

jag Jul 22, 2003 11:06 AM

I use miner-all for the vitamin/calcium mix. Should i buy something else? Just a ? but why is liquid calcium and jump start bad? I talked to brice yesterday, and he said he had no idea about it, but Im sure he does. If I saw some at the expo like that from them then I'm sure he has saw a glipse. Well he told me to talk to shawna and I wrote her since she was the one I talked to at the show and she hasnt contacted me back yet. I have serenity some turkeu baby food with minerall mixed in side this morning, and she ate some. It doesnt really look like she has lost weight, just the shakyness bugs me. Maybe it is the papertowels, but I am not that happy about using sand. I Have heard to many bad things. I am going to go shopping later today for some stuff for them. Can you think of any food, vitamins, or minerals that might help if it is MBD?
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

dragonlady01 Jul 22, 2003 02:56 PM

Walkabout Farm has a special MBD dust you can get www.herpnutrition.com. Dr. Sue Donoghue is a veterinarian & a board certified reptile nutritionist herself and she is always VERY helpful. She keeps many reptiles herself, maybe you can try e-mailing her with your concerns and see what she suggests.

jag Jul 22, 2003 03:20 PM

Thanks. I shall try that. I'll keep you posted.

Alicia
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

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