Leo acting strange...

[Elizabeth Freer]

Yes. That's the exact kind we have.

Only lightly dust half her crickets with the Fluker's D3 calcium today. Then offer undusted crickets for the next 2 days. On Thursday again lightly dust half her crickets with the D3 calcium. Even if she does not eat Tuesday or Wednesday, still follow Thursday's suggestions.

Scroll to post 24 following my Leo Guidelines for a comparison of the D3 amounts in the major brands of D3 calcium available in the USA.

 

[RyoDai89]

Alright, I dusted half and offered her both dusted and un-dusted. As well as mealworms. Still didn't eat them. I've tried twice now, once around 4:30 PM and just now at around 9M. Still nothing. Should I hold off another day then? Try again tomorrow?
Decided against doing the carnivore care tonight too on the off chance it'll make her more hungry and thus more eager to eat the live food...

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Alright, I dusted half and offered her both dusted and un-dusted. As well as mealworms. Still didn't eat them. I've tried twice now, once around 4:30 PM and just now at around 9M. Still nothing. Should I hold off another day then? Try again tomorrow?
Decided against doing the carnivore care tonight too on the off chance it'll make her more hungry and thus more eager to eat the live food...

I'd skip Tuesday. Then try Wednesday.

 

[RyoDai89]

So no food today then? Will she be alright having only ate the three small things back on Sunday?

 

[JessJohnson87]

She should be fine, this will give her the opportunity to be hungry enough to hopefully eat the insects.

 

[RyoDai89]

Alright then! Here's hoping for the best on Wednesday!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

So no food today then? Will she be alright having only ate the three small things back on Sunday?

As Jess mentions, it's important for Boomie to be hungry so that she's motivated to eat.

This time lightly dust her prey with the Nutrobal you have. It's a very good multivitamin. It does contain vitamin D3. If she'd go for mealworms or crickets dusted with that, it will really be great.

Can you offer her freshly shed mealworms? Those are easier to digest.

• How is Boomie walking these days as compared to your earlier video?
• Are you leaving her UTH on 24/7?
• How are the ground temps?

As you know, we can now get Nutrobal in the USA. Amazon carries it.

 

[RyoDai89]

Alright, I'll go ahead and try tomorrow with the insects and dust with the Nutrobal.


I don't know about freshly shed... but I know we have the ones in the pupa stage? Just before the go all beetle on you... those look a little softer?


She doesn't drag nearly as much. If you first 'wake her up' she will a little. But if and when she's active, it's gotten alot better!


Yeah, we leave it on 24/7. If we don't, it gets cold. Especially now with the weather going up and down.
When we had the A/C and fans on, we kept a towel over one part of the cage too because it was getting so cold, and then she'd be on the cooler side. Now that it's cold out and the heat's on, we've taken the towels off and now she's been back on the warm side.
The towel was what the vet suggested. Putting it on one side to allow air circulation, but keep out the draft from the fan.


Last checked I believe 2 days ago and it was around 89-90 on the warm side.
The cool side I believe was around 83 last I checked... (not gonna lie though, I checked that probably a few days prior to checking the warm side as we were more worried about that since we took the towels off. When the towels were on it was around I think 85F. The warm side didn't really change...)


Though, I gotta ask...
Again, not familiar with these geckos as it's not really mine. And all research I did was after they got her... Now I have snakes. And I use lamps and UTH on them. But at night, I turn them completely off. And they seem to be better that way. Have for years...
This being a desert reptile, a leopard gecko... should we be turning off all heat at night? I wouldn't know what the temp would be yet if we did, but should we at all?


Did not know that! That's awesome!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Use the softer mealworm pupae...as long as they wiggle.

:cheer: for Boomie's improvements and for you too!

EDIT:
What size UTH have you in comparison with your 20L? 1/2 the floor?

If you turn all heat off at night, the temp of the vivarium would be the same as the room where the viv sits.

Most folks leave their UTHs on 24/7. That way it does not need to heat up from scratch every time. Doing that gives Boomie a choice: warm or cool.

If you add overhead head in the form of a ceramic heat emitter (CHE), you might cycle that off at night.

 

[RyoDai89]

Oh trust me, they wiggle. Thought one was dead and grabbed it barehanded. Scared the crap outta me.


I can't remember the size... they got it at Petsmart- I don't even know the brand. I think it covers around a third of the tank... It's less than half, with about three inches from the middle...? I'll have to look actually. It's probably about the size of half a ten gallon tank...


Guess I'll leave it on then. I should have noted! The gecko is downstairs where it's cooler, I have my snakes upstairs where the rooms are alot warmer in comparison.


Dunno if they wanna go with the lamp again. They still have that black bulb..? But they just use the UTH now to my knowledge...

 

[JessJohnson87]

If they got it at Petsmart, it's either a ZooMed reptitherm, all living things heat pad or a nat geo one. I think those are the brands they carry, was just in there the other day.

 

[RyoDai89]

Probably. I think the original one we had was zoo-med? It didn't put out any heat so they went back and got another 'more expensive' brand. So, I know they didn't buy zoo-med again, no clue what this one is...

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Oh trust me, they wiggle. Thought one was dead and grabbed it barehanded. Scared the crap outta me.


I can't remember the size... they got it at Petsmart- I don't even know the brand. I think it covers around a third of the tank... It's less than half, with about three inches from the middle...? I'll have to look actually. It's probably about the size of half a ten gallon tank...


Guess I'll leave it on then. I should have noted! The gecko is downstairs where it's cooler, I have my snakes upstairs where the rooms are alot warmer in comparison.


Dunno if they wanna go with the lamp again. They still have that black bulb..? But they just use the UTH now to my knowledge...

Yes, leave the UTH on 24/7. Right now that's her warmest place. Just make certain Boomie has 88-92* on the floor of her warm dry hide.

 

[RyoDai89]

Alright, will do!


And also... so, we fed her today...
I tried three different times. Once at 4PM, once at 7PM and just now going on at 9PM.
She ate one (large) mealworm at 4PM and that was it.

Should we try again tomorrow? At any point in time should we do the carnivore care... I feel really bad that's she's not eating and that there isn't anything in her- she's gotta be starving right?
It makes me feel awful that I could 'feed' her and she'd be okay. Right now, I know she's gotta be waiting for something...

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Alright, will do!


And also... so, we fed her today...
I tried three different times. Once at 4PM, once at 7PM and just now going on at 9PM.
She ate one (large) mealworm at 4PM and that was it.

Should we try again tomorrow? At any point in time should we do the carnivore care... I feel really bad that's she's not eating and that there isn't anything in her- she's gotta be starving right?
It makes me feel awful that I could 'feed' her and she'd be okay. Right now, I know she's gotta be waiting for something...

:banana: on the large mealworm. Was it dusted with Nutrobal? Remember that it has been a while since she ate live.

Skip Thursday, then feed Friday with the Nutrobal again. We'd like to get her totally back on live food.

As long as she keeps eating some insects or worms, hang in there. Don't give in to Carnivore Care. If you run out of Carnivore Care, you may want to switch to Repashy's Grub Pie. It's a 75% insectivore powder that you mix with warm water to make a paste. It has a much longer shelf life than does Carnivore Care.

 

[RyoDai89]

I tried to dust it but it wouldn't stick to it. She wouldn't touch the pupa (which was unfortunate as it stuck to that.)


Will she be alright? Her tail i s looking fine but she herself is looking less 'fat' than usual... (Not skinny per se, but then maybe I'm being a little over dramatic what with her not eating alot.)


Oh wow, never heard of that one... We've got alot of carnivore care (I tried stocking up since that's all she'd eat.)
But alright, we'll try to hold off on the carnivore care for now... at what point though do you think she's reached a kind of 'danger zone' though? Surely one tiny bug a day isn't gonna keep her healthy... The thought of going back to the carnivore care DOES depress me as we've been trying so hard to get her to eat live. But I really don't want her to get unhealthy either as we tried really hard to get her to where she is, y'know?
But then, I am keeping you all updated so I suppose you'll let me know when we reach that point?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I tried to dust it but it wouldn't stick to it. She wouldn't touch the pupa (which was unfortunate as it stuck to that.)


Will she be alright? Her tail i s looking fine but she herself is looking less 'fat' than usual... (Not skinny per se, but then maybe I'm being a little over dramatic what with her not eating alot.)


Oh wow, never heard of that one... We've got alot of carnivore care (I tried stocking up since that's all she'd eat.)
But alright, we'll try to hold off on the carnivore care for now... at what point though do you think she's reached a kind of 'danger zone' though? Surely one tiny bug a day isn't gonna keep her healthy... The thought of going back to the carnivore care DOES depress me as we've been trying so hard to get her to eat live. But I really don't want her to get unhealthy either as we tried really hard to get her to where she is, y'know?
But then, I am keeping you all updated so I suppose you'll let me know when we reach that point?

Thanks for all your info. This is a big dilemma!

You see, Boomie has some MDB issues too. I am "operating" in the dark without a newer video. I need some visuals. Another thing you can do is buy a small kitchen-type digital scales that will weigh in grams less than 20 grams. By monitoring her weight we'll have a better handle on what is what.

Please post the old video with a new video in the same post. That would be a HUGE help.

 

[RyoDai89]

I can try to take a new video on Saturday. That's when I'm off. I'd try tomorrow but after working really early mornings and having to work closing hour today I don't think I'll have time to post one until Saturday...

And we actually bought a scale for her... but we got it off ebay and when we tried testing it it was realllllly off. However, since I'm off Saturday I could go see if I can find another somewhere (not online). Food scales right? Like diet scales? That's what we got...


I can try to post the old one too. If I still can find it...

And despite not feeding her today, she was realllllly active! Not only did we see her out a couple times tonight, once even standing over by the calcium we have in a cap. She literally climbed up on to the top of her huge rock cave. Which she's never done before that I've seen... and just kinda sat there for a bit.

I also forgot to mention that, while she did only eat the one mealworm the other day, she does kinda bite at them? Like a half nip before giving up. Like she wasn't even really trying... don't know if that means anything, but just incase I wanted to point it out.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Forgot pic of the tank... But it's a 20 long, heat lamp on one side, with caves on each side (hot and cool sides) with the moist hide in the middle.
She's always in the hot hide though. Always. It's her go to place...

Checked temps, it'd about 80 in the middle. 95 directly under the lamp on the hot hide, and 75-80 on the cool.
Lifting the tank, even though it's a lamp, it's pretty hot underneath. Especially the bottom of the glass.

I want to add, the cave on the hot side she's always in, it doubles as a water bowl... Could that be the problem? Water evaporating and all.


Video here too! Sorry for the lame music but I needed to cut out my sister screaming on her game...

/\ Here's your first video.

A food scales that weighs to the gram and will go from ~1 gram to 50+ grams is what you need.

 

[ilikepie]

i wouldn't but from petsmart, I bought my first leo there and he ended up having stick tail disease and died. If you notice something wrong take your leo to the vet right away to be sure, it could easily be parasites.