Leopard Gecko not eating

Well, it looks like I stumbled upon some people who really know their stuff!

My son has a 6 month old L. gecko and she mysteriously stopped eating. This lizard is the love of his life. He has the tank at the foot of his bed and talks to it and, well, it's his life.

She hasn't eaten for a week and is starting to get skinny. I don't know what to do. No vets in this area will take lizards!!

What should I do? I've been doing some reading. I need to change the sand to newspaper and I think up the heat (its 70 - 75 now). She eats mostly mealworms and crickets and I don't have that powder in her tank! Anything else to change??

Thanks for any advice.

You should do this with every new animal anyway. The vet is the only way to find out what is wrong with her. If she is getting skinny then she is not just being finicky. You said she was on sand, she may be impacted. You also need to up your heat (75-80) on the cool side. (88-90) on the warm side. remember they are desert animals, if the heat is not right they can't digest their food properly. This may be why she has stopped eating, but I would still take her to a vet. You stated that their are none that handle lizards in your area, that might mean a little trip, but it is definitely worth it. I had to call several vets, but I finally found one, they aren't as uncommon as you might think, since the reptile hobby has really taken off.

Hope this helped

Tim

The tank your gecko is in needs to have a heat source(I am asuming you don't have one since the tank is room temperature)
Half the tank shound be around 85-90 degrees. This can be acomplished by an under tank heater placed on one side of the tank. These can get hot so you may need a dimmer to get the right temp. When you measure the temp be sure to measure the ground temp on the warm side of the tank not the air temp.

You also should have been dusting it's food items with calcium and keep a small dish of it in the tank.

About the sand it really depends on the sand and the size and care of the gecko.
But I would recomend trying something like newspaper or papertowels for you, and hopefully it hasn't been eating the sand it is on since there has been no calcium provided.

Mealworms are fine as a staple diet just be sure to feed them as well, so they are healthy prey items

Jezze, I don't know where to go on, I think you really need to do a search and find some caresheets or maybe someone will post one for you. Because it sounds like you need to start over from the begining.

It may not be eating because of the improper husbandry, but ther could be other problems. but I would start by making correcting that, and see if that ,makes a difference.

if it is very thin you need to find a vet incase there are other problems.

I just wanted to say thank you. I will definitely be making some changes. Just a couple more questions. . .

1. How do you measure the temp. in the tank? I just have a sticker on the cool side of the tank. Do I need another one on the warm side? I have the heat pad stuck to the bottom and she has been fine with that for 6 months. Do I need a heat lamp as well?

2. Do I need to put the powder in the tank if I have been dusting the crickets??

Thanks again for all your help. I love this website and will definitely be showing it to my son tomorrow!

Before you go and turn up the heat, it appears that since you have a UTH and a stick-on thermometer on the cool side, you really need to find out the temp on the hot side.

Walmart, and I am sure other store, sells for about $10 an inside/outside digital thermometer. You can place the unit on the cool side and put the wired extension on the hot side and get a reading. Then just flip the switch and you can find the temp on the cool side. The problem with a stick on is that it is measuring the temp of the glass and not necessarily the temp inside the enclosure.

The calcium powder in the tank allow the leo to get at it whenever it wants. Using this approach, you can dust with calcium less often, maybe weekly and dust with vitamins 2X a week.

A decent vet will question you on your husbandry practices and the temps both hot and cold will really help him determine the health of your pet.

Keep us posted on progress.

I've been watching this thread and I have noticed that in every one of the replies, save one, she has been told to take the leo to the vet. While this is excellent advice, I just want to point out that she said she's already looked for a vet and none around her will see lizards.

Well Sybella, thanks for pointing that out!!!

Patricia,

have you asked your local vets for a recommendation? For the most part they should know who, in your area, would provide retile care.

If still unsuccessful, try this site.
http://www.drgecko.com/

It has a tremendous amount of info. There is a link near the bottom of the left hand panel "veternary care" this will take you to another page that can tell you how to locate and evaluate a reptile vet.

Good Luck.

Originally posted by Bitten
Well Sybella, thanks for pointing that out!!!

LOL!! Was that sarcasm or genuine?

I've been to Dr. Gecko and Bitten is right...that place is amazing.