[the moof]

Hey all,

it's been a LONG time since I was last here on the forum, because school life really invaded all of my hobbies. Since then, one of my U. guentheri died, because his older sister was eating all of his food. I thought she was fantastically healthy, until two days ago, when I checked up on her and she seemed extremely thin. I guess school has taken its toll at home, and I take full responsibility for the problems which are going down, but I need help if I'm going to right them, so let's not dwell on the cause, and dwell instead on the solution. okay:
She is quite thin, which I'm putting down to malnourishment, and her tail and eye crests are drooping, which I attribute to dehydration. I just pumped about two and a half litres of water into her cage, and got quite a positive response from it. I assume she's shedding, as she's quite white and her toes aren't sticking. However, her jaw seems to be hanging loosely, and the lower jaw appears to have an underbite, which she traps her tongue in... Her movement is lethargic and measured, but when I spray her full on, she moves towards the water stream. Any idea of reasons for this? I'm thinking the jaw slack may be due to a calcium deficiency, but i'm trying to right that first by getting her to eat, and then by supplementing calcium and vitamins onto her food sources.
I hope there's something I can do. I really don't want to lose another of these beauitful animals.

best regards,
Mark Scherz

[crestedtimm]

Get her away from all the other geckos first, in her own cage. Then provide small, soft roaches or other easy to manage, easy to catch insects in a dish. Do not worry about supplements as much, as you do not want to overdose her in her weakened state. Also, you may very well "Kill her with kindness" if you overdo the procedures at this point: In other words, she did not get this way overnight, so do set her up in a nice hospital cage, make sure to manage the temperatures in the medium range, so as not to expose her to any extremes, and most of all...LEAVE HER ALONE! Once you have provided her with what you can, allow her to rest.

And just for the record, I have Guntheri, so I am not just guessing...

You could post your care procedures, temps as they were, diet, settup, and we can go from there to see what needs to be adjusted.


Hope this helps,
Timm Smith

[the moof]

she's looking better already. I'm going to grab some wax worms tomorrow, and do as you suggest. The water in the cage helped immensely. She's struggling to climb around, but I'm raising the humidity now to facilitate her shed, so she can clean the toes. I'll post back on further developments tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.

best regards,
Mark Scherz

[Scott F]

Some drops of an electrolyte solution, such as "Pedialyte", administered with an eye droper will substantially help her rehydrate. Put the droplets on her snout until she starts licking them off.

I would also keep her tank a little warmer to kick her metabolism into gear, as gunthers come from different climatic conditions than most of the other Uroplatus species.

[RamseysReptiles]

Just a thought would anyone agree that a liquid diet similar to the slurry for leopard geckos work in putting some weight on this animal. Not sure if it would but thought I'd throw it out there.

[Scott F]

I think that kind of over manipulation may cause too much stress, wich can easily put an already weakened uroplatus down quickly.

Most important thing for Right Now is to get her hydrated. Hydration will make her less lethargic, more alert, and get her metabolism going.

When she is a little stronger the liquid diet, like a crested gecko MRP from Repashy, may help her get back on her toes a little quicker in addition to her solid foods. Again just put little droplets on her snout and let her lick off the food.

[jadrig]

well the hydration part should be number one priority. second, if it is a female which has been producing eggs, CALCIUM is more important than food at first(this is more true w/Phelsuma than Uros). i have seen it with female standings, P.mad.mad., and my female henkels while they were producin eggs. Also, my female U.s.sameti has been acting sluggish lately. it could be a cold/pneumonia, shedding, and/or stress.

For the hydration, manipulate the gecko to where she is facing upright or better than a 45 deg angle, they can drink continuously when in this position.
An eyedropper works best with clean water and a minute amount of calcium/vitamins in the water. You dont want to put too much supplementation in the eyedropper, especially if they do not have any solid matter in their gut.

Sometimes giving an eye dropper full of water can also act as an appetite stimulant.

If the gecko is definitely not eating on its own, grab it gently to where you have its two front legs pinned back completely. Have a dead cricket w/no back legs ready w/ forceps. As soon as she opens her mouth, place the cricket in an area(usually the corner) to where she will bite down on it and not bite the forceps. As soon as the gecko bites down on the cricket, quickly and smoothly place the gecko back on a limb/structure to where she can walk at an upward angle. For some reason, their motor skills work to where they chew and swallow more efficiently when walking at an upward angle. Sometimes the gecko will fling the cricket out of their mouth.

And as a previous poster said,"dont kill it with kindness."
Sometimes a lack of stress can be more important than nutrition.

[Protean]

Agree with scott on hydration, disagree on approach. Crashing uroplatus when weakened by lack of care, i.e. calcium deficiency need more immediate solutions than hydration. Yes higher humidity will help and so will separation, however, do not remove the animal from its current cage, remove the cagemate(s). They healthier animal will adjust better to newer surroundings than the weakened animal will.

if she hasnt passed yet.... use this formula. Its a modification to a phelsuma diet I used for over the last 7 years.

baby food. 3 parts mixed fruit, 1 part chicken. water it down with 50% pedialyte. Mix in about 1/2 teaspoon of calcium powder. Total amount made should be close to 1 large baby food jar. Give by dropper (or syringe, less than 0.75 cc for smaller uroplatus) directly into mouth. the animal will get protein, mixed vitamins, calcium and hydration at once. give by dropper quickly, open the mouth, insert dropper tip. squeeze in, close mouth and then let be. Dont touch it, move it, look at it until the next day. repeat. And continue to spray enclosure. Guentheri are bullet proof geckos because they are generations CB. You should have been paying attention to the geckos to see this occur.

Use a fresh UV light as well.