Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, my geckos have been in a sand cage for a long time, they stoped eating so i moved hem in a different cage with wood stuff for there floor, but they're still not eating and there tail have been very skinny and i am very worried, their cage size=20 gallon, i have 2 that havent been eating, the cage temp. is around 100 degrees.

Wood chips is NOT a suitable substrate......

put them on papertowel till they start eating
Gecko Freak

Hi there,

By "wood stuff" do you mean chips? That would be worse than sand, not better. Please put them on paper towels immediately (the best choice for young and ill geckos). Also, your tank temperature is too high. Try to get a temperature gradient arranged so that the temps range from 80 degrees at the cool end of the tank, up to 90 degrees at the warm end.

Your geckos may have become impacted by the sand...did they stop defecating (pooping) as well as not eating? Were they eating the sand before (deliberately or accidentally)? Sometimes soaking them in a shallow container of warm water will help them move their bowels, or giving them a small amount of vegetable oil (dab it on their lips so they can lick it). If they still will not eat, you should consult a veterinarian. The link below may be helpful in finding a vet in your area.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Amy
Herp vets

You may want to serperate them, the ones who are eating may be dominating the ones who are not easting, just a thought

Well it is impacted by sand and probably the wood chip's also if it was eating after the switch. If it is sand a warm soak a day followed by a massage until it defacate's will cure this problem but I never had any impaction's with wood chip's. I had never ever thought about useing them so I would take it to a vet regardless.

Oh yah and I headlind this post as that because ppl have said within the past 2 week's that sand is good and I told them well why have there been over 6 or 7 impaction's do to this in which some case's ppl have perfectly healthy Leo's.

I dont want another debate cause the last one got so big and old and some ppl who knew what they where talking about stayed out of it but this just prooves my point and so will everyone else stateing that there Leo stoped eatng and is on sand.

Sorry Massappeal, don't take this the wrong way, but you can not definitively say that his problems are the sand. Nothing in his post stated they were impacted for sure, only that they had stopped eating. There are many other factors, based on the limited facts about their care that he provided, that could lead to problems. Temperatures were wrong, substrate choices were questionable, and who knows what other problems that were not described. Before you make the statement that sand caused this problem, I would consider that an overall lack of knowledge about the proper care of the animals was the biggest contributing factor to their current condition.
Sam

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This new format make's my pc lag alot I am getting pretty fed up with this new format.