[kaylad09]

I have had my tokay gecko for a little under 3 weeks now. When we first got him it took a few days for him to start eating then he was eating crickets regularly for about a week and a half. About a week ago he stopped eating altogether for about 4 days then ate a mealworm or two. He hasn't eaten again for another few days and I am worried. He has crickets and mealworms available. His tank is kept over 80 degrees, he has a heat lamp and I make sure to keep the humidity high. Also his poop was normal up until two days ago and now it is a pile and looks more like mucous than poop. He is still pooping every day or every other day although he is not really eating. What could be wrong with him? He isn't super skinny but is getting skinnier than when we got him and i am worried. He is also young and not full grown yet if that makes a difference.

[Riverside Reptiles]

I would take a fecal sample to the vets to be checked for parasites.

[Yoshi'smom]

I second the fecal test! It sounds like a parasite....

[MauricesExoticPets]

Yep, fecal exam! ASAP.

Quarantine the gecko and keep it in as steril an environment as is possible for at least 60 days.

Your vet will advise you how else to deal with a parasite issue via medications but may not go into great detail on quarantine procedures.

The basics are;

1) Clean environment, remove waste at once, wipe down area where the feces was found, clean the area with a antibacterial cleaner.
2) Clean self and equipment prior to and after dealing with this gecko and its environment
3) Avoid feeder escapes at all costs once introduced into the enclosure
4) Maintain this environment until several fecal exams in a row come back clean. A single fecal exam may not catch the few remaining parasites. Ask your vet about the type of parasites found, their generation period, how often they are passed in the feces, etc. This will determine how to end the quarantine

It might not be fun or easy to administer medications to your gecko, but it must be done and it must be done correctly. The faster you act the better the chances you will come out of this with a perfectly healthy and much stronger gecko.

Best of luck,
Maurice Pudlo

[kaylad09]

So we ended up taking him to an emergency vet tuesday night, but we didn't have a fecal sample. We had called petco where we got him explained the situation and they thought he may have been impacted and said to soak him in warm water for a few minutes to try and loosen things up. Well his tail fell off and we freaked out added on to the situation already we called and found an emergency vet that dealt with them and took him right away. The vet fel his stomach and said he could not feel anywhere where he was impacted and this also wasnt likely since he still is pooping some. He said he probably had a parasite or bacterial infection and gave him antibiotics and gave us one to take home and give him in two weeks. He said he should begin eating within a day and otherwise we may need to try force feeding him at first.He didn't eat by this morning and we trying putting his food in his mouth when he opened up and he would just bite on to it but not eat it and let it go. I don't know what else we can do to try to make him eat but put his food in his mouth for him. I am going to try to call another exotic animal vet tomorrow morning and talk to her but she has weird hours and is hard to get a hold of so wish me luck. Anyone have any ideas of how else I can get him to eat or what might be going on?

[Riverside Reptiles]

Force feeding him should ONLY be a last resort as it is VERY stressful and likely to cause more harm than good. Impaction is a very unlikely issue with this species and is just the pet store grasping at straws for an explanation. Soaking, again in general, is more stress than value. If this were my animal I would get a vet to write a prescription for Flagyl/Panicur to deparasitize him (I can bet with 99% certainty that this animal has internal parasites) and then I would leave him alone as much as absolutely possible other than medicating, misting, and feeding for 30-60 days. Making sure that his temps/humidity are correct and giving him lots of privacy with lots of vertical hiding spots is also essential. As for the broken off tail, it should most likely heal well without major issue assuming that it's kept clean. Considering that tokay tend to stay up off of the ground, that shouldn't be much of an issue. The less stress this animal has, the better chances it will have for a quick recovery and acclimation.

[Riverside Reptiles]

PS you may want to try taking your vet bill to the Petco manager. They will sometimes be willing to pay part or all of the bill considering they sold you a sick animal and then also gave you poor advise making the situation even worse.

[kaylad09]

I did take him to the vet and they gave him an antibiotic medicine for the parasite but they said he should begin eating again in a day or so or we would need to feed him and he hasn't. He's getting pretty skinny. I'm going to try to call another vet in the morning for advice.

[Riverside Reptiles]

Be aware that an antibiotic and antiparastic are two different types of medications. It's either one or the other. Do you know the name of the drug and what dosage it was given?

[MauricesExoticPets]

In addition to the fact that the two are quite different they are typically proscribed differently as well. Antibiotics are daily, antiparasitics are one shot deals with a follow up being given several days later to catch freshly hatching parasites thus ending the cycle. The span between administration depends on a number of factors but of primary concern is type of parasites present and their specific life cycle.

Best of luck to you and the gecko.

Maurice Pudlo