a new leo found me

[LadyGecko]

Someone came up to me in PetCo yesterday when i was buying supplies for my diurnal lizards-lights etc and asked me if i wanted a leopard gecko that was about a year old
He had bought it for his son and he has lost interest and so they were looking for a good home for her
He did mention that she had dropped her tail and I have never seen'/had an adult that dropped a tail and i didn't think to ask how long ago this had happened
My question is-with her fat belly and skinny tail- is it possible that she is just regrowing that tail back or do i have a Leo with a problem here-losing weight in her tail
Her setup left lots to be desired-a zoo med uv spot light-a huge heat rock and pine shavings for a substrate
He had just bought her about 2 or 3 dozen crickets-all of which he had thrown in the tank with her before i got there to pick her and the tank up

This was her setup

I got rid of the pine shavings-switched to paper towels and got rid of that humongous hot rock -put a uth on the tank and pulled most of the crickets out added a moist hide and a smaller dry hide and a water dish and a dish of calcium

I am going to take a fecal sample into my vet as soon as i get one from her
Don't know if she ate-she was in transit and there were just so damn many crickets in with her that it would have been imposible to tell
This is Hailey and she weighs 56 grams and is alert and active

I hope that i am just being paranoid and that the fat belly and skinny tail isn't a major sign of a problem
She will be a treasured pet so i hope that everything will be OK with her
Sorry if this sounds dumb- but as i said-if she dropped her tail as an older juvie -then i have never seen one grow back at that age-only with babies
thanks for any input
Sandy

 

[The NY Gecko]

The tail looks like its regrowing to me, just from the way it looks. But i dont know. A vet check should be in order

 

[A_Kendergirl]

I've only seen regenerated tails from younger leos as well, but I doubt they look any different. I would guess that it did happen awhile ago, as it's pretty much full length. She maybe a bit underfed...after all, the son did loose interest long enough for Dad to decide to give it away. The 2 - 3 dozen crickets may have been a show so you don't think they weren't still taking care of it. Good luck, hopefully the fecal will come back OK!

 

[LadyGecko]

Thanks so much for your replies

I will start with the fecal -let her get settled in-and go from there
She was hugging the uth last night when i last looked at her but earlier she had been about and about exploring the changes in her tank
I love the way that she acts like she is gonna eat me when i picked her up to inspect her and take the pics
The guy was in the store buying crix for her before he even approached me and i get the feeling that they might have just dumped that many in with her once a week or maybe even once every 2 weeks-i think that was the way that she had been fed

She had a small piece of shed attached to her nose but it appeared that the rest of her last shed went well so we'll see what the fecal test results bring

Sandy

 

[Sarah H]

It looks like the tail hase been regrown for awile to me. Also looks like she has lost some weight in it, by the way it looks like it is deflating at the end(my adult females is nice and firm).
Good luck, thank goodness she is off those pine shavings.
keep us updated.

 

[saltwaterreptiles]

yeah, I'd concur, I had an adult fattie drop a tail and the way it grew was wide at the base, kinda filling in width wise before it got longer....

Overall weight isn't too bad though, not great, but not bad, so I would say with a little TLC it will bounce back for you quickly!

 

[DeeSWR]

LOL Cory beat me to it (this is his other half ).

Agreed, she looks like she's probably lost weight recently, but she's certainly not emaciated by any stretch. A good regimen of feeding frenzies should have her filled out in no time!