Help: Sick Leo? New Here!

[turtul]

Hey there!

I just recently became a leopard gecko owner about a week ago, and it seems I've run into some problems. We purchased our gecko, "Noodle," at Petsmart last Sunday. She seemed healthy and alert when we picked her out and brought her home. The image above is from the first day.

The first night we had her, we fed her 28 small crickets. 28. I read that you're supposed to feed her however many she will eat, then remove the rest and take note of how many you should feed her in the future. Well, 28 seems like a rather crazy number to me, so I was hoping that trend wouldn't continue. A friend mentioned she seemed thin, and when I picked her out, we discovered she was in a tank with a large male that was most likely eating a majority of the food. So I thought it was good that she ate her fill, no problem.

I went to the store the following day and bought larger crickets. I compared the small ones to "potato chips" and the larger ones to "full chickens." I figured a couple of larger ones would fill her up and require her to eat less of the smaller ones. After the second night's feeding, I found that she'd thrown up all of the larger crickets. I hopped online and read that they may have been too large for her and to just feed her smaller ones. Fair enough, more potato chips it is.

So the next night, I dusted all of her crickets in calcium powder and fed her. She ate seven small crickets before I went to bed. The next morning, she'd thrown them all up again. D: I don't get it! She pooped a couple days after her 28-cricket feast and it wasn't runny or discolored. Now, it's very watery and sort of green (no blood, though). She hasn't eaten since Tuesday and doesn't seem interested in crickets. Could her diarrhea be linked to her lack of eating?



From what I've read, it needs to be warm enough in the tank to help her digest her food, otherwise she may regurgitate it. I have a heating pad under one side of the tank (the right side in the image), so she should be good, right? We also have a desk lamp set up above her during the day, as shown. The day time temp on the warm side is about 85-90 degrees.

The only other thing I thought was that the day she ate the larger crickets (Monday night) was the day she had a bit of an adventure. I forgot to cover her cage and she escaped during the night. We found her the next day hiding on my desk, but could the stress of that and lack of heat have made her sick? I haven't owned her long enough to know if she's behaving lethargically, but the puking and runny poop is telling me she's sick.

She's still "under warranty" if anything does go wrong, but I don't want to have to return my Noodle for some other lizard. Should I try and feed her mealworms or something? Could the calcium I'm dusting her with be making her sick (I use Fluker's calcium powder)? I know that sounds odd, but the 28 crickets she ate the first night were not dusted, and the two times after that when she threw them up, they were dusted. At this point, I just want her to keep her food down. I have the cage covered with a towel to help warm it up, but still no progress and no eating. I only have a week or so left of my 14-day warranty, so I'm thinking it may be best if I just return her. I just feel bad since I've grown quite fond of her, but I don't know what else to do and wasn't expecting that I'd have to take her to the vet right after buying her. Any suggestions or tips? Anything I may have missed?

I appreciate any advice and sorry this is so lengthy!

[Clementine_3]

Poor Noodle!
Next time she poops put it in a baggie and take it to your herp/exotics vet for a fecal float, Noodle may have parasites that can easily be treated.

It's also possible that she just plain ate too much and is stressed still.

How are you measuring her temps? I couldn't see a thermometer in the pics, I use digital thermometers and lay the probe on the warm side substrate. You can probably pick one like that up at PetSmart. Also, do you have a thermostat or dimmer hooked up? UTH's can get too hot if they aren't controlled.

She could use hides that are more enclosed/secure too, and a humid hide on the warm side. See if you can pick up (or even make) smaller hides, butter tubs with holes cut out work well...something tight and dark is what she would really like. One for the cool side and one for the warm side.

She looks thin but I don't think it's anything to worry about, even if she does have parasites she should bounce back with treatment. Besides, if she does chances are they all do so returning her may not fix anything.

[Boanerges]

Hey there!

I just recently became a leopard gecko owner about a week ago, and it seems I've run into some problems. We purchased our gecko, "Noodle," at Petsmart last Sunday. She seemed healthy and alert when we picked her out and brought her home. The image above is from the first day.

The first night we had her, we fed her 28 small crickets. 28. I read that you're supposed to feed her however many she will eat, then remove the rest and take note of how many you should feed her in the future. Well, 28 seems like a rather crazy number to me, so I was hoping that trend wouldn't continue. A friend mentioned she seemed thin, and when I picked her out, we discovered she was in a tank with a large male that was most likely eating a majority of the food. So I thought it was good that she ate her fill, no problem.

I went to the store the following day and bought larger crickets. I compared the small ones to "potato chips" and the larger ones to "full chickens." I figured a couple of larger ones would fill her up and require her to eat less of the smaller ones. After the second night's feeding, I found that she'd thrown up all of the larger crickets. I hopped online and read that they may have been too large for her and to just feed her smaller ones. Fair enough, more potato chips it is.

So the next night, I dusted all of her crickets in calcium powder and fed her. She ate seven small crickets before I went to bed. The next morning, she'd thrown them all up again. D: I don't get it! She pooped a couple days after her 28-cricket feast and it wasn't runny or discolored. Now, it's very watery and sort of green (no blood, though). She hasn't eaten since Tuesday and doesn't seem interested in crickets. Could her diarrhea be linked to her lack of eating?



From what I've read, it needs to be warm enough in the tank to help her digest her food, otherwise she may regurgitate it. I have a heating pad under one side of the tank (the right side in the image), so she should be good, right? We also have a desk lamp set up above her during the day, as shown. The day time temp on the warm side is about 85-90 degrees.

The only other thing I thought was that the day she ate the larger crickets (Monday night) was the day she had a bit of an adventure. I forgot to cover her cage and she escaped during the night. We found her the next day hiding on my desk, but could the stress of that and lack of heat have made her sick? I haven't owned her long enough to know if she's behaving lethargically, but the puking and runny poop is telling me she's sick.

She's still "under warranty" if anything does go wrong, but I don't want to have to return my Noodle for some other lizard. Should I try and feed her mealworms or something? Could the calcium I'm dusting her with be making her sick (I use Fluker's calcium powder)? I know that sounds odd, but the 28 crickets she ate the first night were not dusted, and the two times after that when she threw them up, they were dusted. At this point, I just want her to keep her food down. I have the cage covered with a towel to help warm it up, but still no progress and no eating. I only have a week or so left of my 14-day warranty, so I'm thinking it may be best if I just return her. I just feel bad since I've grown quite fond of her, but I don't know what else to do and wasn't expecting that I'd have to take her to the vet right after buying her. Any suggestions or tips? Anything I may have missed?

I appreciate any advice and sorry this is so lengthy!

Could her diarrhea be linked to her lack of eating?
Absolutely. The best thing to do would be to get a stool sample to the vet. He will give you some anibiotics if it is parasites or at least give you piece of mind that it isn't.

The day time temp on the warm side is about 85-90 degrees
My warm side temp is always atleast 92, no drop in temps for night time.

We found her the next day hiding on my desk, but could the stress of that and lack of heat have made her sick? I haven't owned her long enough to know if she's behaving lethargically, but the puking and runny poop is telling me she's sick.
A new house and the adventure could help cause stress. Runny poop and puking is not a good sign.

Should I try and feed her mealworms or something?
You can but a vet visit seems best. I get a fecal done on all my new leo's no matter who they come from.

Could the calcium I'm dusting her with be making her sick (I use Fluker's calcium powder)?
I have never heard of calcium powder making leo's sick but I don't know for sure. But if "the 28 crickets she ate the first night were not dusted, and the two times after that when she threw them up, they were dusted." you could try and see what happens.

Any suggestions or tips? Anything I may have missed?
You need 3 hides. A warm, cool and moist hide. I wouldn't do a night time temp drop. Keep a cap full of calcium without vitamin d3 in the tub at all times. A common cause of throwing up in young leo's is that they over eat, They quickly become used to how much the can stomach and stop BUT I don't know if yours is over eating or it is parasites. With the runny stool your best bet is to get a fecal done at the vet's office

[Boanerges]

How are you measuring her temps?

Such a GOOD point I didn't even think of that I use a PE1 temp gun from pro exotics to measure all my floor temps.

[turtul]

Thank you Clementine and Boanerges! I've got some new ideas to try. For some reason, I just have a feeling that it isn't parasites, but I only feel that way because she was behaving normally the first few days; she "hunted" her food just fine, pooped normally, and was more energetic. I think it may have been either her overeating or the adventure she had that might have made her sick/stressed.

I'm going to get/make her a smaller hide, since I hadn't thought about the one I'm currently using as being too big. We figured we should buy one that will be sufficient now and when she's fully-grown (seemed financially smart), but I see how smaller would be better for now. And it doesn't show in the pictures, but I've since added a "humid hide" and a color-strip thermometer on the warm side. Apparently, those color-strips are inaccurate and frowned upon, so I guess I'll need to get one that's more accurate! I'm also going to pick up some mealworms since I'm wondering if maybe she's avoiding crickets due to them making her sick. I don't know if geckos do that sort of thing, but it's worth a try to see if I'm right.

If all else fails, I'll see about taking her to a vet this week. Does anyone know how much vet visits cost for these guys to do things like fecal tests and such? I've never had to take a reptile to the vet before. If it is costly, I actually read on the back of Petsmart's warranty that it is possible to return the animal, have it seen by one of Petsmart's vets, have it treated, then they can contact me when it is well enough to be taken home. That may be the best route for me at this time, but I'll update here when we figure out what to do (or if she improves).

Thanks again for your time and advice, guys!