[Bizzeemama]

Hi there!

I'm a newbie gecko parent with a question about normal behavior.

Our leopard gecko Buddie seems healthy enough, but as far as I can tell, he never leaves his cool side hide. He also hasn't eaten much in the last 3 to 4 days and he hasn't gone to the bath room.

He's in a 20 gallon tank, warm side hide with an UTH and "blue" moon light to keep the temps around 90-95 on that side. The cool side has no lighting or heating. Temp on cool side is the ambient air temp and varies with the room temperature (as low as 65 at night and as warm as 74 in the day). He's in a room that gets lots of natural light during the day, so his day/night cycle is natural.

He eats gut loaded (? I think that's the term - we feed the crickets a jelly, vitamin thingy before feeding them to Buddie) crickets - 2 to 3 medium size, 2 to 3 times a week. He gets daily water changes and a daily social call from us after the sun goes down. If we didn't take him out each night, I don't think he'd come out at all.

I'm just not sure what's going on with him. Is there a chance he's hibernating or that the tank is still too cool for him? Any suggestions/advice would be welcome. TY!

[jsteele2]

How big is the leo?

Since you said its living in a 20 gallon I imagine its not a juvenile, so you may need to feed about every other day or so. As long as there's always some (2 or 4) crickets in the cage for the leo to chase around that shouldn't be a problem

What substrate are you using?

If it is still a younger leo you may be experiencing impaction. If that were the case, it means the sand or coco fiber in your cage is being ingested and is blocking their digestive tract. Reptile carpet is great for all sizes.

How do her limbs look?

If she looks like she's walking on the backs of her hands and can't carry her body weight, this could be very early stages of MBD. Not to freak you out, but calcium is a crucial part of leo diets. Dusting crickets and wax/mealworms with calcium could supplement their diet and you may see more activity in your leo.

Hope this helps!

[evilkarot]

He probably comes out while you're asleep and there is no commotion about. I thought the same about my geckos, until I got up in the middle of the night and saw them out and about.

[Mardy]

Some good suggestions above.

Just wanting to add, if the environment gets too cold, they will brumate, which is different than hibernation but they go into a shutdown mode and don't eat much. If your ambient temperature consistently get below 70, I would highly recommend getting a ceramic heat emitter. Ceramic heat lamps don't emit light, which is ideal for your leopard geckos as they are nocturnal/crepuscular, they prefer darkness. There's a chance he doesn't like the light you have installed on the warm side. A ceramic heat lamp will also heat up the ambient temperature inside the tank, so it should make the living environment more comfortable for your gecko. Natural day/night cycle by opening window blinds is all the lighting they need.

Another possibility is that if he's new to the tank, he may just be scared to move around while you are watching, or when the light is on. This happens to geckos that have just been introduced to a new living environment. You will want to give him time to get used to his surroundings, as well as get used to you.

Good luck

[Bizzeemama]

Originally Posted by jsteele2

How big is the leo?

<snip>

What substrate are you using?

How do her limbs look?


Hope this helps!

Buddie is around 6 inches long, including his tail. We are using a reptile sand substrate. His limbs look fine, he doesn't appear to have an issue with using them. We do offer calcium in a small bowl near his water dish so he can take it as needed. The sand also has a calcium component to it. I don't think he's impacted - his abdomen isn't hard.

Of course after all this worry - he ate 3 crickets last night, came out and went to the bathroom. LOL! Typical. I think I am going to look for the ceramic light thingy, though. I think the cool side of his tank is getting too cool now that the weather is turning cold.

Thanks for all of your input! I appreciate it.

[Saskia]

Just my humble opinion, sand is not the best choice for leos, since they usually ingest it and eventually might get impacted, if he is pooping it means it hasn´t happened YET, even more if the sand has calcium in it you are encouraging him to eat it, I would eagerly advise you to change to tile, paper towel, or any solid substrate, just an advise!
Maybe it is that my leos are just hungry at all times, but 2-3 crickets seem like a little meal, mine (I have 4 adults and 7 juveniles) eat 5 to 7 crickets/grasshoppers or 12 mealworms or 5 roaches every other day..... and I am pretty sure they would eat every day if I fed hem every day, because they always come out of their hides when they notice movement around... have you tried different feeders? maybe he wants a change

[Yoshi'smom]

I agree with removing the sand substrate. I've just switched all of my tanks that use heating over to slate tiles! I'm a firm believer in them now. They are a great substrate. They're natural looking, easy to clean, really cheap, hold heat very well, and have no risk of impaction.
As far as feeding, I would offer as much food as your little one will eat in about a 15 minuet time frame. I would do this every evening as your little one sounds as if she's still pretty young. They have voracious appetites as juveniles.
A CHE (Ceramic heat emitter) will really help the temps go up in your tank. I would suggest getting one as well.
Good luck!

[jsteele2]

6 inches is probably the size of one of my juveniles (i think shes my user pic), sand is probably not best, they advertise that it has calcium in it but in reality they shouldn't even be ingesting it as long as you have that calcium dish in the tank. I'd definitely swap it out for either repti-carpet, tiles, or paper towels.

Since he's probably not impacted having pooped and all, I think he might just be stressed, I'd put some dusted gutloaded crickets in there and let him relax and eat, sometimes young geckos can get stressed over handling. Glad he's more active!