New to Forum and New Leo owner. =)

1leolover · #1 02-02-2012, 12:00 PM

Hello, My name is Wendy. Came across your awesome forum the other day when my sons Leo, Kemp, started having issues. I look forward to being a part of this community and learning from all of you!

Never thought that I would EVER love a Gecko the way that I do. <3

Yoshi'smom · #2 02-02-2012, 12:33 PM

Welcome to GU! It's a really great resource for all of us! Glad to see you here!
Believe me: I know how you feel about the gecko love! It's amazing that such a little creature can steal your heart- or at least in my case, how 7 (soon to be 8 ) can steal my heart!

**Elizabeth Freer** · #3 02-03-2012, 04:57 AM

Hello Wendy ~

A hearty welcome to Geckos Unlimited!

Be sure to check out my leo care recommendations in the care sheet forum.

If my laptop was not having issues, I would give you the link. Perhaps Kelly can?

Yoshi'smom · #4 02-03-2012, 08:04 AM

Gotcha Elizabeth! Here' the care sheet!!

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/commu...12-update.html

1leolover · #5 02-04-2012, 01:01 PM

Thanks so much for the link to the care sheet. I have read many and upon purchasing my sons Gecko, I also purchased him a book on the Leopard Gecko. We have had "Kemp" (my son named him after his favorite baseball player) from Petco about 4 months ago. Since coming across this forum I have since found out how to sex Kemp. Found out that he is in fact a she.

On a sad note, Kemp has been having feeding issues for the last couple of weeks. Is this the correct place to write about this? I want to make sure that I am in the right area of the forum to post about Kemp's health issues. Thanks for in advance for your information as to where I should post about this.

**Elizabeth Freer** · #6 02-04-2012, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1leolover

Thanks so much for the link to the care sheet. I have read many and upon purchasing my sons Gecko, I also purchased him a book on the Leopard Gecko. We have had "Kemp" (my son named him after his favorite baseball player) from Petco about 4 months ago. Since coming across this forum I have since found out how to sex Kemp. Found out that he is in fact a she.

On a sad note, Kemp has been having feeding issues for the last couple of weeks. Is this the correct place to write about this? I want to make sure that I am in the right area of the forum to post about Kemp's health issues. Thanks for in advance for your information as to where I should post about this.

You are very welcome for the care sheet! I try to do what I can for geckos.

Kemp is a girl!

Please post a picture of her as soon as you can. This way we can get up close and personal with her from the beginning.

Post your feeding issues in the leo subforum or just continue here.

How warm are you keeping her tank? Leos depend both on belly temp and air temp to digest their food.

1leolover · #7 02-04-2012, 04:23 PM

Hello Elizabeth, Kemp's enclosure is a 20 gallon tank, mesh top, the carpet substrate sold at pet stores, rock like cave hiding place, and shallow water dish. On one side of the tank (where her hiding rock it) I have a thermopad stuck to the underside of the tank and we use the heating lamps on top of the mesh lid as well, kept on one side. Tank is kept between 85-90 degrees. I do not know how old Kemp is but she is currently 6.5 inches long. Her diet has been crickets as well as Meal worms, which we coat in Herba vitamin prior to feeding. She use to shed rather regularly. On all the literature that I have read about shedding, it had said to remove left over skin from toes as it could cause restriction and her toes to fall off. Well, about 2 weeks ago my son was doing just that, and while pulling the left over skin off of Kemps toes Kemp screamed, had a seizure, and her tail swelled up, went back down, and then she went limp. My son came running into my room telling me this and said that he thought she was dead. I ran into his room where Kemp did in fact look dead. I picked her up and started stroking her, she then took a few huge gasps of air through her mouth. She started breathing regular again but was pretty limp. The next day she refused to eat and seemed pretty lethargic. After two days of her not eating, I started force feeding her meal worms. Some days I can get her to eat up to 4 on others only one. I was afraid of her being dehydrated and read up on Fluker's Repta-Boost. I ran to the pet store and bought it. I have treated her with it for three days now. Kemp seems to be more alert and moving around more, but still will not "hunt" or eat anything on her own. Oh, and we were also told by a girl at the pet store to give her warm baths and that this may help her to feel better. She gets her bath 2 times a day. I just do not know why she had the seizure and if her not eating is/was caused by the seizure itself or if she may have some kind of infection or virus. Any insight or info is greatly appreciated!! Please help. Next step will be going to the vet.

**Elizabeth Freer** · #8 02-04-2012, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1leolover

Hello Elizabeth, Kemp's enclosure is a 20 gallon tank, mesh top, the carpet substrate sold at pet stores, rock like cave hiding place, and shallow water dish. On one side of the tank (where her hiding rock it) I have a thermopad stuck to the underside of the tank and we use the heating lamps on top of the mesh lid as well, kept on one side. Tank is kept between 85-90 degrees. I do not know how old Kemp is but she is currently 6.5 inches long. Her diet has been crickets as well as Meal worms, which we coat in Herba vitamin prior to feeding. She use to shed rather regularly. On all the literature that I have read about shedding, it had said to remove left over skin from toes as it could cause restriction and her toes to fall off. Well, about 2 weeks ago my son was doing just that, and while pulling the left over skin off of Kemps toes Kemp screamed, had a seizure, and her tail swelled up, went back down, and then she went limp. My son came running into my room telling me this and said that he thought she was dead. I ran into his room where Kemp did in fact look dead. I picked her up and started stroking her, she then took a few huge gasps of air through her mouth. She started breathing regular again but was pretty limp. The next day she refused to eat and seemed pretty lethargic. After two days of her not eating, I started force feeding her meal worms. Some days I can get her to eat up to 4 on others only one. I was afraid of her being dehydrated and read up on Fluker's Repta-Boost. I ran to the pet store and bought it. I have treated her with it for three days now. Kemp seems to be more alert and moving around more, but still will not "hunt" or eat anything on her own. Oh, and we were also told by a girl at the pet store to give her warm baths and that this may help her to feel better. She gets her bath 2 times a day. I just do not know why she had the seizure and if her not eating is/was caused by the seizure itself or if she may have some kind of infection or virus. Any insight or info is greatly appreciated!! Please help. Next step will be going to the vet.

Boost her temperature to 92-95 F.

Wonder whether she is calcium depleted? Wonder whether that could account for her seizure? Please post a picture of Kemp as soon as you can.

Is she underweight? Generally I would recommend feeding her about every other day.

Have you some questions about the care sheet?

What is in Herba vitamin? Just be safe and use what I recommend on my care sheet. She should have 100% calcium in the tank 24/7. You should lightly be dusting her prey 2-3x weekly with a phosphorus-free calcium with D3 powder.

Repta-Boost is good. Follow those directions e-x-a-c-t-l-y!

Soaks will help loosen stuck shed PRIOR to assisting her remove stuck shed. I wonder whether her seizure was due to pain. That might be too easy of an answer.

lauraleellbp · #9 02-07-2012, 01:15 PM

Welcome to GU, and I hope you get your Leo back up to speed soon! Elizabeth is one of the resident Leo gurus, so you're in great hands with her.

1leolover · #10 02-12-2012, 02:46 PM

Update: Sorry for the delay. I've been sick. Anyway, my sweet girl is up and running around! Yay! She has since shed and is now eating on her own. =) She once again greats us with lifting her head up to see us when we are talking to her and is doing awesome. What a scare! @ Elizabeth, I do have one pic of Kemp on my profile and have since took several pics prior to her coming back to her spunky self. Will post soon. She is so flippen cute. Just love her!