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Did I do Anything Wrong?

X

Xero

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Hey, I'm a new poster, and a new leo owner, however last night I lost my first leo. She was a month old, bought from a reputible pet store. I made sure there was the thermal gradient going, and the warm end was about 92 degrees, I fed her mealworms. I follows care sheets to figure out what to do and she seemed to be doing fine until six days ago, at which point she stopped eating all together. After about a day or two she got sluggish and slept around the clock. This continued until last night, when I found her dead.

She was a wonderful pet while I had her and I was just wondering if I had done anything wrong so I could correct that mistake for when I get another one.
 
hmm. did u feed her calcium? did u dust all her food with calcium? what substrate did u keep her on?
 
Yes I did, I kept her on a light bed of coconut bark (it was recommended to me by a breeder so...)
 
Not really, she was about the same size she was before she stopped eating.
 
?

Sounds like maybe she was impacted to me, could be a number of things at that age I'm not a pro but that is my opinion, would also like to add, dont let it get you down learn from your mistakes and carry on!
 
And when you do carry on don't use the coco fibers, or what ever. It could cause compaction, I'm not saying thats what happened, I'm just saying its better safe than sorry. You could try tiles or papertowels, not as aesthetically pleasing, but much safer.
 
The pet store keeps theirs on a mix of coconut and moss, and they say they've never had a problem with it, but who knows...
 
Did you get a chance to find a fresh poo or vomit? Was the poo solid and dark, or watery and green? If watery and green it points to possible parasite/GI tract problem. Vomit could mean impaction.

From the sounds of it, it was sudden, which says to me that it wasn't parasite or malnutrition related. Also, due to the age, it could be a genetic or just chance (fatal flaw in the body, like bad heart, bad liver, etc).

I wouldn't let this incident bother you. Some animals just die for no apparent reason (even people do). To be on the safe side though, I'd sterilize everything you have before getting another gecko, and I'd start with paper towels just so you can see that the gecko is pooping regularly and what the poops look like (looking at poop is a great indicator of the gecko's health).
 
Before she stopped eating her poop was perfectly fine, and I never found any indication of vomit of any sorts.
 
Sounds like she was definetly impacted. With either the mealworms or the substrate. Mealworms are bad to feed as a staple diet to babies, there is too much chitin in the shells, and they can't digest it. Mealworms is however, an okay staple to feed adults, as long as they are dusted with a good vitamin powder. Plus, she could have easily gotten a couple pieces of coconut bark down, and thats a killer too. The only thing safe for babies, I think, is paper towel.

So, if you get another leo... I recommend feeding it crickets on papertowel substrate.
 
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