Leopard gecko losing too much weight

[westsamuel]

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My leopard gecko has gotten really thin in the last few months. Her legs are spindly, her joints are pronounced, her tail isn't plump, and her face is looking sunken and gaunt. She's also been having trouble shedding, with the skin sticking to her tail, face, and toes. There's been no change to feeding, bedding, or location in years. The caveat is she turns 17 next month. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about a serious health problem or if this is just her deteriorating generally as she gets up there in years. She has been getting progressively slower over the last few years. Any advice?

[Embrace Calamity]

She should see a vet immediately. If she's that bad, she will be dead soon. Also, fill this out:

Gender:
Age:
Weight:
How big was the reptile when you first acquired it?
Source (pet store, breeder, previous owner):
Captive bred or wild caught?
Do you handle him? If so how often?

Enclosure:

Cage: type, size:
Substrate provided?
What types of hiding places are provided?
Is there a humidity hide? location?
Please describe any other furnishings:

Lighting:

Artificial lighting?
incandescent (“screw-in” bulbs): wattage(s) ?
fluorescent (tube bulbs)?

Temperature:

Do you have a thermometer(s) in the cage? what type?
What is the temperature in the warm part of the cage? under the warm hide? In the coolest part?
What device(s) are used to maintain the temperature? hot rock, UTH, heat light, ceramic heater, other:
Are you using a thermostat?
Which hide does she/he spend most of her time?

Is the temperature decreased at night? by how much?

Humidity:

Is the humidity measured? Range:


List other animals that are kept in the same cage:
Recent acquisitions (new pets within the past 6 months)
Are any of your other pets ill?
List recent changes in the environment, if any:

Diet:

Insects, list type?
Are they “gut loaded”? If so with?
How often do you feed your reptile?
Please list any supplements used. How are they given and how often?
What calcium brand are you using? with D3, without or both?
Is the calcium in the tank with D3 or without?
Multivitamins?

Please list any recent additions/changes in the diet:

If your reptile is sick, please describe the signs and how long your reptile has been showing these signs:
Is your reptile’s general activity level normal, decreased, or increased?
Is your reptile’s appetite normal, decreased, or increased?
Have you noticed any of the following?
Weight loss, Weight gain
Discharge from the eyes or nose
Increased breathing rate or effort
Change in the droppings
urates white or yellowish
Abnormal skin color or shedding
Parasites on the skin or in the feces
Weakness

~Maggot

[westsamuel]

I just called the vet and will be stopping in after the weekend. I had assumed this was mostly related to age and was prompted to investigate when the condition looked liked it was getting worse. I have to run, but here's the basics.

Gender: F
Age: 17 years
Weight: no idea
How big was the reptile when you first acquired it? Small. About 6 mos.
Source (pet store, breeder, previous owner): pet store
Captive bred or wild caught? I assume bred
Do you handle him? If so how often? Monthly. She lived with my parents for a few years and wasn't handled then, and now gets anxious when held.

Enclosure:

Cage: type, size: glass terrarium. 1' x 2.5' x 1' (no idea how many gallons that is.
Substrate provided? Vita sand
What types of hiding places are provided? log with little hideaways
Is there a humidity hide? location? No. I was told by the pet store owner when I first got her to put her in the travel cage with a warm paper towel after shedding to loosen the skin off her toes.
Please describe any other furnishings: heat rock, water bowl, mealworm/basking bowl

Lighting:

incandescent (“screw-in” bulbs): wattage(s) ? 100W


Temperature:

Do you have a thermometer(s) in the cage? what type? a sticky one on the wall
What is the temperature in the warm part of the cage? under the warm hide? In the coolest part? About 80F
What device(s) are used to maintain the temperature? hot rock, UTH, heat light, ceramic heater, other: Heat lamp, hot rock.
Are you using a thermostat? no
Which hide does she/he spend most of her time? Mostly she sits under a branch of the log, or next to the rock.
Is the temperature decreased at night? by how much? a bit. At night it's about 72F

Humidity:

Is the humidity measured? Range: no


List other animals that are kept in the same cage: none. No other pets.
List recent changes in the environment, if any: None

Diet:

Insects, list type? Crickets from Petco, mealworms
Are they “gut loaded”? If so with? No idea.
How often do you feed your reptile? Weekly. The crickets tend to last about five days or so there's usually food crawling around in there.
Please list any supplements used. How are they given and how often?
What calcium brand are you using? with D3, without or both?
Is the calcium in the tank with D3 or without?
Multivitamins?

Please list any recent additions/changes in the diet: none

If your reptile is sick, please describe the signs and how long your reptile has been showing these signs:
Is your reptile’s general activity level normal, decreased, or increased? decreased in general, over the span of a few years
Is your reptile’s appetite normal, decreased, or increased? normal
Have you noticed any of the following?
Weight loss, difficulty shedding

[Embrace Calamity]

I'd venture a guess to say age isn't the issue - at least not the primary one.

1) She needs three hides. She needs a humid hide at all times somewhere around the middle/warm side, and she needs a cool dry hide. If the log has a bottom, move that to the cool side and get a hide without a bottom (or use something around the house that's clean) and put it on the warm side.
2) Get an appropriately-sized under tank heater attached to a thermostat: Amazon.com: Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats: Patio, Lawn & Garden
3) Ditch the heat rock. They used to cause extreme burns in reptiles. There is apparently a fail-safe in the new ones (if you have a new one that has that feature), but I don't think anyone is willing to risk it, so it's still suggested to not use them.
4) Are you using no supplementation at all?
5) Ditch the analog thermometer. Those things are crap. Get a digital one or an infrared temp gun.
6) Your temps are way too low (if your thermometer is right, which we can't be sure of). The hot side needs to be 88-93. She can't digest her food right if it's that cold.
7) That's too cold at night. Temps on the warm side shouldn't drop below 80. Some people don't even provide a temp drop at all.
8) Remove the Vita Sand. She could be impacted, especially since the other husbandry things aren't correct. Put in paper towel.
9) Never listen to pet store people. Ever. You'll be hard-pressed to find one that is actually knowledgeable about reptiles. The vast majority of them will give you bad advice that will make your reptile sick, injured, or dead.
10) Don't leave crickets in there for that long. They will bite her, and that will cause her extreme stress. Remove any that she doesn't eat or leave something in there for them to eat.

She definitely needs to see a vet, but based on how bad a shape she's in, I wouldn't expect her to make it.

~Maggot

[westsamuel]

9) Never listen to pet store people. Ever. You'll be hard-pressed to find one that is actually knowledgeable about reptiles. The vast majority of them will give you bad advice that will make your reptile sick, injured, or dead.

Pretty much everything I've been doing has been from following instructions we got from the pet store 16+ years ago. She was always doing just fine so we never bothered to do anything differently. Only now that's she's not looking too good had I even thought to get another opinion.

Funny story: When we bought her, the guy said the gecko was male. About two years later she was having trouble digesting and we took her to the vet (the only time she's ever been). The first thing the vet said was "This is the largest female I've seen!" So turns out the guy was wrong at about at least one thing. Then the vet gave the gecko an enema with a q-tip and my dad was scarred for life.

[Embrace Calamity]

Pretty much everything I've been doing has been from following instructions we got from the pet store 16+ years ago. She was always doing just fine so we never bothered to do anything differently. Only now that's she's not looking too good had I even thought to get another opinion.

Funny story: When we bought her, the guy said the gecko was male. About two years later she was having trouble digesting and we took her to the vet (the only time she's ever been). The first thing the vet said was "This is the largest female I've seen!" So turns out the guy was wrong at about at least one thing. Then the vet gave the gecko an enema with a q-tip and my dad was scarred for life.

I've personally had two reptiles die from following pet store advice, and many others have had similar experiences. I recall one person who came asking about their gecko, who showed just about every symptom in the book for a severe calcium deficiency. The pet store's diagnosis? A calcium overdose and to not give any. The thing would've been dead if the person hadn't come looking for a second opinion.

Properly kept, a leo won't have trouble digesting their food. However, it all depends on three things: hydration, temperatures, and supplementation. Any of those are off, and you're got an unhealthy gecko. Are you not using any supplements at all?

~Maggot

[westsamuel]

There's some vitamin supplement that we add to the bag of crickets and shake to cover before we dump the crickets in the tank, but the label came off and I couldn't tell you what's in it.

[Embrace Calamity]

There's some vitamin supplement that we add to the bag of crickets and shake to cover before we dump the crickets in the tank, but the label came off and I couldn't tell you what's in it.

You need to know what you're using. You need to know if it has vitamin A, if it has D3, how often it's supposed to be used, etc. You need to get some pure calcium to leave in the tank 24/7. Then you also need either a calcium + D3 supplement and a multivitamin, or you need to get something like Repashy Calcium Plus that covers all three of these areas. Some people prefer one over the other, but the bottom line is, you need to supplement properly.

The lack of humid hide means she's also probably dehydrated, which will also cause her to have trouble digesting. Just take a Tupperware container, cut a hole in the side or top (make sure there are no sharp edges - use a match to melt the edges if necessary) and put in moist paper towel, moist moss, or moist Eco Earth.

~Maggot

[Elizabeth Freer]

Vita Sand is a calcium-based sand...a huge NO for leopard geckos!

Zoo Med Vita-Sand - Reptile - Sale - PetSmart

[westsamuel]

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Vita Sand is a calcium-based sand...a huge NO for leopard geckos!

Yes, that Vita Sand. The package says "Excellent substrate for ... geckos (including leopard geckos)" and has a photo of a leopard gecko on the right side. Is everything I've ever known a lie?