lost Tail-won't Eat since

[SuziRider]

A square rock fell over in the tank (with another pet's help, I think...) and my beautiful 4-month old leo lost her tail last week. She hasn't eaten since, and it has me worried, since now her fat stores are gone. She has been spending all day and night sleeping in her warm little cave, and hasn't eaten any mealworms or crickets. It has been 8 days now.
At what point should I force feed her? How do I go about that?

 

[Lemur_6]

Are you tank temps warm enough? You should try to maintain a slightly higher temp on the warm side (88-90 F) since she lost her tail.

Also, do you take your crickets out if she doesn't eat them? They could be stressing her out when she's already pretty stressed out from losing her tail.

If she won't eat mealworms or crickets, try a waxworm but don't feed more than 1 or 2 of these a week, they're pretty addictive.

-Dave

 

[robin d.]

first off,
if she is not by her self in the cage, seperate her by herself. and keep her on paper towels until it is completely heal;ed... no sand,wood chips, mos ect. something sterile and clean and her enclosyre must be kept clean all the time to try and prevent infection. cleaning the towels everyday or every other day is best

next..
when she dropped her tail... did you clean the wound? i generally use a half and half betadine/water solution and follow that up with a topical antibiotic. other than when cleaning and cleaning the wounds (very promptly i might add) you should not handle her til she is totally healed.

what does the area around her tail look like, i mean the wound? pink,red,swollen.closed?

it could be stress from the event but
if all her other husbandry requirements have been met, heat(keep her hot spot at 90.. no hotter though),water, hides and it has been already 8 days and she has not eaten anything... i would be inclined that she MIGHT have an infection in her tail due to it dropping....

also, have you noticed any weight loss? have you seen any feces or urates in her cage?

if she has not lost any weight i would not force feed her, force feeding can do alot more harm than good and should only be tried as a last ditch effort

the safest thing though is possibly a visit to the local vet to get her a check up... might not be anything but stress induced but if it is an infection it needs to be adressed and taken care of promptly before she begibns to decline....
leopard geckos cant tell you whats wrong and usually by the time we notice something it's prolly good cause for vet assistance.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Awwww!

Hi Suzi!

Is this the little hypo-tangerine you got from me? Poor thing! I agree with everything Robin and Dave advised, but I would also consider that there could be additional injuries. Is she moving around OK? Is she even noticing or visually tracking the crickets or just ignoring them? Like what was already asked, has she pooped at all? If she hasn't eaten, then it's hard to have any. It could be from the trauma of the incident or infection, as well. A vet visit might be in order... call me if you need help finding one.

I also do not believe in force-feeding unless it is a life-and-death situation, because it only adds to the stress. In situations like this when they haven't eaten for over a couple of weeks and start losing weight, I have dropper-fed with great success using the following blender slurry:

1 small can Hill's A/D pet food (available at most vets)
1/3 cup pedialite
1/3 cup Ensure (not chocolate)
I jar baby food squash (good source of carbs, and it stays in the GI system longer)
1/2 tsp each calcium and vitamin powder
large handful of mealworms *optional*

Puree all ingredients in a blender (add mealworms as slurry is blending) and pour into an ice-cube tray and freeze. Store frozen cubes in a zip-lock bag in the freezer, thawing out only one at a time as needed for a couple of days use.

Using an eye-dropper, place a drop of the mixture on the end of her nose, and wait for her to lick it off. Keep doing this until she starts lapping, squeezing out a little at a time as she does. This creates less stress, and stimulates them to eat under their own power.

If I can be of any help, please don't hesitate to call me!

 

[robin d.]

any one up for frozen margaritas at marcias house ??? LOL
marcia have you ever tried to tube this, of course in very sick animals??? and how has it worked that way??

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

LOL!!!

Yes, I have used this on severely anorexic leos via "the tube" a few years ago when I was going through that horrednous nightmare of mycotoxic poisoning, and attribute saving many of their lives to the stuff. I just added milk thistle extract as a liver purifier.

You can't tell ANYONE you put mealworms in the blender until they've had a few margaritas!
"Jose Cuervo, you are a friend of mine..."

 

[robin d.]

You can't tell ANYONE you put mealworms in the blender until they've had a few margaritas!

after a few margaritas, no one could careless if mealies had been in that blender or not LOL... shoot by the end of the night you could even tell em it was used to blend the ingrediants in a "pink Pump" and now one would care..
i can hear em now

"cool!!!, anyone up for a game of darts or pool..... let's make some of those "special" bloody mary's"
LOLOL


by the end of the night your house will look like this........
uke:

and this will be the scene the next morning.....

 

[SuziRider]

Yes Marcia, it is the juvi hypo-tang, Selene. I cried for a day or two when she lost the tail, after being thoroughly grossed out. The cage looked like a hurricane hit it, with all the three little fake cactuses, a piece of driftwood, and the square rock knocked over while I was out washing the car. I don't know if the cage got bumped (my cat denies everything...), or if she climbed on something that moved and then panicked, or what. The tank has a full solid plastic light hood with vents.

No sign of infection and she moves well. Did have a dark spot under the chin, but it is fading. She shed this morning (2 weeks ago was the last one), and finally ate a cricket when I held a wiggly one by the leg in front of her nose. She wouldn't eat a 2nd one. I am hoping she will eat another if I try again later. Selene still doesn't seem interested in the mealworms, however, when she used to eat 7-8/day. Maybe she just needs a little more time?
At least she has something in her belly now, even if it is just a small (3/4") cricket.

Warm spot is 90-92 degrees on the surface, cool end is 75 degrees, and air temp in the middle of the aquarium is 78-80 degrees.

She has become best buddies with my other juvi yellow/normal leo, Liz. Both stressed out when I separated them when Selene lost her tail, so I put the two girls back together after two days of neither of them eating and both constantly looking for the other. They both seem more content now and sleep a lot.

I tried triple-antibiotic ointment on the tail stub, but that just seemed to make every little bit of dirt and lint stick to her. Sterile salt-water wash and Betadine splashed on the end seemed to work better. It seems to be healing nicely, although I am seriously bummed she will no longer have her original tail.

Any other recommendations?
Maybe like any new mom, I just worry too much?

-Sue

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

encouraging...

Hey, Sue... the only thing I could really suggest strongly would be to keep her off of any substrate other than paper towel until you see the new little red/pink tail starting to form. If it has been a week already, you may be able to see it now. This will tell you that the wound itself has healed and the chance of infecton has been reduced. Your tank temps are fine.

It sounds to me like your cat terrorized the geckos if the tank set-up was in that state of disarray. Leopard Geckos (like many lizards) will voluntarily drop their tails to serve as a decoy to preditors, which enables them to escape for their lives. Unfortunately, a cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do... and it is likely that little Selena is suffering from both physical and behavioral trauma. Give her some more time... at least she showed interest in eating a cricket, and shedding is always a good sign!