muffin_song
New member
Hi all,
I'm not kidding when I say Leopard Gecko Enthusiasts: We Talk About Poop A Lot! :roll:
Scooter's rate of poops has decreased in the last month or so - she gets fed three times a
week, but only poops 1-2 times a week. This week she only pooped once, and once a small part of it was poop (compared to the urate). The tail end of her urates have also been runny (picture attached). She's still eating enthusiastically.
I'm going to call on Tuesday to see if I can get a vet appointment this week (could someone give me a link again to that "Find a Herp Vet" page?) But in the mean time, I wanted to see if anyone here had any thoughts. I also ordered some horn worms in hopes that they would help get her bowels moving.
I've attached her updated health information sheet below.
Health information:
General Information
Species of lizard: Leopard Gecko
Gecko's name: Scooter
Morph: Normal
Gender: Female
Age: 2.5 years
Weight: 76 grams
Total length: About 7-8 inches
Length of your reptile when you first acquired it: Same
Source (pet store, breeder, previous owner): Previous owner was my mother, who bought her from a non-big box pet store about two years ago
Captive bred or wild caught: Captive bred
[/u]Vivarium[/u]
Enclosure dimensions (length x width x heighth):12x12x30
Cage (type, size): 20 gallon long glass aquarium
Substrate provided: 90% tile, 10% paper towel
Types of hiding places provided: Warm hide, cool hide, moist warm hide, extra turtle log on warm side
Is there a humidity hide? location?: Yes, warm side
Please describe any other furnishings: Fake plants
List recent changes in the environment, if any: Added some new fake plants
Lighting
Artificial lighting
Incandescent (“screw-in” bulbs): wattage(s): None
Fluorescent (tube bulbs):
Access to ambient daylight from a distant window: Yes
Note: I live in a studio apartment, meaning if I have the lights on at night, Scooter will see it. I try to reduce the lighting at night and point it away from her cage.
Heating
Do you have a thermometer(s) in the cage? Yes
What type and brand of thermometer (digital with probe, temperature gun, LCD strip, analog (circle), combo digital thermometer/hygrometer, stainless steel aquarim type, other): I have two Jumpstart Hydrofarm digital probes. The one inside her warm moist side is set to 91, and is connected to the UTH. The other measures her cool side and is connected to a CHE – when the temperature gets below about 72, it turns on.
What is the ground temperature right on the substrate under the warm dry hide: 88 to 92ish, depending on when the thermostat turns the heat pad on
What is the air temperature on the warm end about 4 inches up from the ground: Not sure, need to get an air thermometer.
What is the air temperature on the cool end about 4 inches up from the ground: Room temperature, so 75ish
What device(s) are used to maintain the temperature (Under Tank Heater, heat light, ceramic heat emitter, Flexwatt heat tape, hot rock, other): Medium (made for 30-40 gallon tanks) UTH from Reptitherm.
Ventilation space for your UTH by elevating the tank above the shelf (some UTHs come with sticky feet for the tank corners): I use tile to elevate the corners of the cage
Are you using a thermostat(s)? Yes, one for UTH.
Which hide does she/he spend most of her time? Mostly in her warm, dry hide. Has been spending most of her time in hides lately, have been blaming it on the weather.
Is the temperature decreased at night? by how much? No.
Humidity
Is the humidity measured? No, need to get on that!
Humidity range: Unknown
Diet
Insects and worms, list type: Dubias are her staple. I add in meal worms for variety, recently ordered some horn worms.
Regular diet fed to the insects and worms: Dry beardie food, collard greens.
Are the insects and worms formally “gutloaded” 1-2 days prior to feeding off to your gecko? If so with? For the refrigerated mealworms, I take them out about 12 hours before feeding and put them in a container with turnip greens and oatmeal.
How often do you feed your gecko? Three bugs per feeding, three feedings per week
Please list any supplements (with brand names) used. How are they given and how often?: ZooMed ReptiCalcium w/D3 once a week. ZooMed Reptivite w/out D3 once every two weeks.
What calcium brand are you using? with D3, without or both? ZooMed ReptiCalcium w/D3
Multivitamins (include brand name)? ZooMed Reptivite w/out D3
Please list any recent additions/changes in the diet: Due to a mixup with caretaker instructions, she went with minimal food/water for a week about two weeks ago. (Caretaker only stopped by once).
General Health
If your gecko is sick, please describe the signs and how long your gecko has been showing these signs: The slightly runny urates have been around for maybe several weeks?
Is your gecko’s general activity level normal, decreased, or increased? A little decreased, but I’ve been blaming that on the weather.
Is your gecko’s appetite normal, decreased, or increased? Normal
Have you noticed any of the following?
Weight (loss or gain): None
Discharge from the eyes or nose: Nope
Increased breathing rate or effort: no
Change in the droppings: Less frequent, slightly runny urate.
Urates
---white or yellowish: White,
---size of urates as compared to size of feces: Today they were MUCH larger than the feces.
Abnormal skin color or shedding: Some stuck shed two weeks ago, got it off with a Qtip, had a grumpy gecko.
Parasites on the skin or in the feces: no
Weakness: no
Previous problems and/or illnesses: Scooter went through a period about a year ago (while living with her previous owner, my mom) when she was wasn't eating and became very skinny. My mom reexamined the husbandry and gave her something (an antibiotic? Don't remember) with a stopper, and now she's back to having a nice, healthy tail.
Other Critters in Same Cage or in Household: Just me
List other animals that are kept in the same cage: None
Recent acquisitions (new pets within the past 6 months): None
Are any of your other pets ill? Nope
I'm not kidding when I say Leopard Gecko Enthusiasts: We Talk About Poop A Lot! :roll:
Scooter's rate of poops has decreased in the last month or so - she gets fed three times a
week, but only poops 1-2 times a week. This week she only pooped once, and once a small part of it was poop (compared to the urate). The tail end of her urates have also been runny (picture attached). She's still eating enthusiastically.
I'm going to call on Tuesday to see if I can get a vet appointment this week (could someone give me a link again to that "Find a Herp Vet" page?) But in the mean time, I wanted to see if anyone here had any thoughts. I also ordered some horn worms in hopes that they would help get her bowels moving.
I've attached her updated health information sheet below.
Health information:
General Information
Species of lizard: Leopard Gecko
Gecko's name: Scooter
Morph: Normal
Gender: Female
Age: 2.5 years
Weight: 76 grams
Total length: About 7-8 inches
Length of your reptile when you first acquired it: Same
Source (pet store, breeder, previous owner): Previous owner was my mother, who bought her from a non-big box pet store about two years ago
Captive bred or wild caught: Captive bred
[/u]Vivarium[/u]
Enclosure dimensions (length x width x heighth):12x12x30
Cage (type, size): 20 gallon long glass aquarium
Substrate provided: 90% tile, 10% paper towel
Types of hiding places provided: Warm hide, cool hide, moist warm hide, extra turtle log on warm side
Is there a humidity hide? location?: Yes, warm side
Please describe any other furnishings: Fake plants
List recent changes in the environment, if any: Added some new fake plants
Lighting
Artificial lighting
Incandescent (“screw-in” bulbs): wattage(s): None
Fluorescent (tube bulbs):
Access to ambient daylight from a distant window: Yes
Note: I live in a studio apartment, meaning if I have the lights on at night, Scooter will see it. I try to reduce the lighting at night and point it away from her cage.
Heating
Do you have a thermometer(s) in the cage? Yes
What type and brand of thermometer (digital with probe, temperature gun, LCD strip, analog (circle), combo digital thermometer/hygrometer, stainless steel aquarim type, other): I have two Jumpstart Hydrofarm digital probes. The one inside her warm moist side is set to 91, and is connected to the UTH. The other measures her cool side and is connected to a CHE – when the temperature gets below about 72, it turns on.
What is the ground temperature right on the substrate under the warm dry hide: 88 to 92ish, depending on when the thermostat turns the heat pad on
What is the air temperature on the warm end about 4 inches up from the ground: Not sure, need to get an air thermometer.
What is the air temperature on the cool end about 4 inches up from the ground: Room temperature, so 75ish
What device(s) are used to maintain the temperature (Under Tank Heater, heat light, ceramic heat emitter, Flexwatt heat tape, hot rock, other): Medium (made for 30-40 gallon tanks) UTH from Reptitherm.
Ventilation space for your UTH by elevating the tank above the shelf (some UTHs come with sticky feet for the tank corners): I use tile to elevate the corners of the cage
Are you using a thermostat(s)? Yes, one for UTH.
Which hide does she/he spend most of her time? Mostly in her warm, dry hide. Has been spending most of her time in hides lately, have been blaming it on the weather.
Is the temperature decreased at night? by how much? No.
Humidity
Is the humidity measured? No, need to get on that!
Humidity range: Unknown
Diet
Insects and worms, list type: Dubias are her staple. I add in meal worms for variety, recently ordered some horn worms.
Regular diet fed to the insects and worms: Dry beardie food, collard greens.
Are the insects and worms formally “gutloaded” 1-2 days prior to feeding off to your gecko? If so with? For the refrigerated mealworms, I take them out about 12 hours before feeding and put them in a container with turnip greens and oatmeal.
How often do you feed your gecko? Three bugs per feeding, three feedings per week
Please list any supplements (with brand names) used. How are they given and how often?: ZooMed ReptiCalcium w/D3 once a week. ZooMed Reptivite w/out D3 once every two weeks.
What calcium brand are you using? with D3, without or both? ZooMed ReptiCalcium w/D3
Multivitamins (include brand name)? ZooMed Reptivite w/out D3
Please list any recent additions/changes in the diet: Due to a mixup with caretaker instructions, she went with minimal food/water for a week about two weeks ago. (Caretaker only stopped by once).
General Health
If your gecko is sick, please describe the signs and how long your gecko has been showing these signs: The slightly runny urates have been around for maybe several weeks?
Is your gecko’s general activity level normal, decreased, or increased? A little decreased, but I’ve been blaming that on the weather.
Is your gecko’s appetite normal, decreased, or increased? Normal
Have you noticed any of the following?
Weight (loss or gain): None
Discharge from the eyes or nose: Nope
Increased breathing rate or effort: no
Change in the droppings: Less frequent, slightly runny urate.
Urates
---white or yellowish: White,
---size of urates as compared to size of feces: Today they were MUCH larger than the feces.
Abnormal skin color or shedding: Some stuck shed two weeks ago, got it off with a Qtip, had a grumpy gecko.
Parasites on the skin or in the feces: no
Weakness: no
Previous problems and/or illnesses: Scooter went through a period about a year ago (while living with her previous owner, my mom) when she was wasn't eating and became very skinny. My mom reexamined the husbandry and gave her something (an antibiotic? Don't remember) with a stopper, and now she's back to having a nice, healthy tail.
Other Critters in Same Cage or in Household: Just me
List other animals that are kept in the same cage: None
Recent acquisitions (new pets within the past 6 months): None
Are any of your other pets ill? Nope
My 11.5 yo female leo weighs 65.5 grams at 9 inches long as of Feb 12. Might you post a picture?
