Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know where I could get a wild caught leopard gecko that is healthy? Also i have heard many different things on the subject of parisites. i a have a male leo that i have had for while now and he wont eat! I also have a male fat tail that wont eat. a few weeks ago now, i switched everydoby to their very own 32qt sterilite. my fat tail has started eating like a pig and his beautiful coloring is back. my leo on the other hand still wont eat and he is looking rather dull. the leo is still active though and doesnt mope arround or anything like that. but when i changed his paper towels the other night he looked very dull and someone told me to feed them baby food(turkey or beef). so i gave a little beef and he didnt like it but i got him to take some. i checked on him about an hour later and his coloring had improxed greatly but i know he still wont eat on his own. the question is i suppose what should i do? i hear all this talk about parasites and how they can be cured just with parazap and i also hear you have to go to the vet and dont try anything on your own. i also hear good things about something called acidophilize. wich i think i might try sense im not for sure that he even has parasites. open to sugestions.....

Someone Please Respond!

Wild Caught are not easy to come by as they have not been imported to the US in 10 plus years.

As for the parasites, I would take a fecal to the vet and go from there. Not a good idea to treat parasites when you don't know for sure or what type.
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www.LeopardGeckoBreeder.com

www.LeopardGeckoArt.com

6.16.1 Leos
1.0 Peach Fronted Conure
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
1.0 Pembroke Corgi
0.2 Cats
8 fish

well that kinda stinks, about the wild caughts not being imported in such a long time. but like i said i have fed my leos babyfood for the past 2 days. last night i fed them for the 2nd time and then i put some crickets in there. these guys probably havnt eaten in 3-4 weeks. anyways to my suprise one of them was actually hunting and caught at least 2 crickets. i left him alone after that because i dont want to disturb him anymore. i dont think the other has eaten on his own yet. i will find out in little while when i go home. but the baby food seems to help unless he just wanted that nasty baby food beef taste out of his mouth after a few seconds of giving them the baby food the almost take it willingly.

It's still possible to purchase WC AFTs. I think that's what most petstores sell unless things have changed in the last year or two. (Sorry, I don't keep up with these things.)

As for treating parasites with Parazap... Parazap is only effective against some worms and not nearly as effective as proper medications. I know the advertising tries to convince you that it will reduce coccidia levels and whatnot, but that's very misleading. The only reason why coccidia levels would be reduced is because getting rid of the worms helps boost your animal's immune system so that it can fight off coccidia. But keep in mind there are other parasites Parazap is entirely ineffective in treating.
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chickabowwow

A healthy animal kept in proper husbandry that hasn't been under immense amounts of stress will often remain unaffected by parasite issues.. after all.. parasites are not designed to kill their hosts. Lost and misplaced parasites (Those who took a wrong turn in their life cycle.. like heartworms in dogs) can cause problems however, I'm a firm believer in the "Treat with Heat" method as a reptile's immune system is very heat dependant. Many lizards and snakes realize when they feel ill and find a very warm area with a high heat gradient somewhere... and curl up for a few hours until their core body temperature reaches an optimum level to allow their immune systems to overtake the invading organism. This is a documented fact in reptiles, especially in monitors, bearded dragons and many species of african agamids. Leopard geckos are no different as long as they also have the choice to move away from a high heat area... All parasites and bacteria have a specific temperature at which they cease to function and die.. Exposed to this for a few minutes (Like the Japanese Giant Wasp being killed by the Japanese honeybees who can tolerate temperatures of 119 degrees F where their enemy the giant wasp can only tolerate about 115 degrees F.) their bodies become basically an oven which kills the parasites and other organisms. A reptile's second advantage is the ability to cool down quickly without risking immune system or organ damage...Cooling down quickly is the ket to the entire system.. they can stay at temps high enough to kill invading organisms and then cool down within minutes to normal operating temps once their high heat treatment has done its job. As such, with a properly done environment, and available heat sinks with high heat availability.. (We are talking desert animals here..and rocks after sundown in the desert can still be scorching hot) parasites in captive animals should never be a problem unless there's an underlying stress or other disease going on within the reptile's body. Which can also normally be avoided by proper heat availability. All of my belly heat surfaces for my leos can sometimes feel hot to me.. but they use these surfaces heavily at times of gestating eggs, digesting larger meals and whenever else they may be feeling under the weather so to speak which isn't often. I've yet to experience any burns on any of my animals from this treatment either. As a matter of fact.. high heat has saved many of my rescues that I take in...from an array of infections brought about by injury or improper care. I dislike the use of antibiotics in reptiles because long term effects of some still aren't known and most were developed for human or mammalian animal use.. not reptiles. With the difference in their metabolism.. you never know what a medication may do to a specific animal and how it may compromise their systems in the future...I've yet to be failed in 10 years of using this method to treat any problems that crop up in my collection.

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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
5.11.Leopard geckos (1.2 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 0.3 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, and Aris), 1.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.2 Normals)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)