Baby leopard gecko reappeared after 6 months

[Silverfire]

So, I’m in shock right now. My little sister’s four month old or so gecko escaped early January. We spent hours looking for her to no avail. We kind of gave up on finding her again.

Well, the day I leave town (so today) I got a call. They found her. She was trying to get into one of my geckos cages.

It’s too late to buy any heat mats and I don’t have a spare, so they have her on red and white lights until tomorrow. They used the extra food and water bowls I have to give her water and made her some makeshift hides. She’s been eating like crazy too. I’m a bit worried though.

She’s not much bigger than when she went missing, which probably means she’s malnourished- I don’t think it’s crypto since she still has a bit of fat on her tail, she’s just a bit skinny. My mom will take her to the vet soon (like. Within the week) and they’ll be buying a small dish for calcium to put in her tank because I feel like after six months of no vitamins or calcium or d3 she needs some in her tank.

Is there any advice that I can relay to my parents before she gets into the vet? They face timed me and she doesn’t look like she has any visible injuries- she still has her tail as well- and besides being tiny she didn’t look like she was ill besides that.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

The most important part in rehabbing an escaped gecko is hydration. Make sure this leo drinks lots of water prior to feeding her at all!

That should protect both her liver and her kidneys.

 

[acpart]

I had a hatchling get lost in my house and was found as an adult after 2 years!

Aliza

 

[Silverfire]

The most important part in rehabbing an escaped gecko is hydration. Make sure this leo drinks lots of water prior to feeding her at all!

That should protect both her liver and her kidneys.

Update. My mom is having trouble getting her into a vet cause she has a lot of other doctors appointments and such going on.

The water was full last night and there was a large difference this morning. She also left a large poop. She’s currently basking on some rocks.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Update. My mom is having trouble getting her into a vet cause she has a lot of other doctors appointments and such going on.

The water was full last night and there was a large difference this morning. She also left a large poop. She’s currently basking on some rocks.

That's excellent, Silverfire! Please let your mom know to keep filling this leo's water dish. :drool:

As long as your mom follows this advice, there is not more a vet could do.

After maybe one morel day of super hydration, begin feeding this leo small amounts of well-fed prey. She would probably eat more, but little bits of food will be easier on her kidneys.

When this leo begins eating lightly dust a good calcium + D3 powder on her food at 1 feeding per week. I recommend Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3. That powder has just the right amount of vitamin D3.

Over time she should start gaining weight. I recommend baby steps for now.

 

[Silverfire]

So it’s been a week since Clementine showed back up, and while we are not able to get her into the vet for a little bit (she showed up at literally the worst time for us- as in we had a week to get her to the vet and my parents have been having to get other pre vacation appointments and then there was the Fourth of July... it’s insane) I am not worried about her dying in the time it takes before I can get an appointment for her.

Her drinking’s leveled out- she isn’t drinking so much water that it’s quite noticeable- and since we started introducing food, she’s been eating like a champ- as in 10 or so crickets and 8 mealies a day. She’s 29 grams- so a lot thinner than I’d hope for a gecko who is almost a year old, but that’s understandable considering what she went through. She’s been pooping on a daily basis, and it’s completely normal. We got a thermostat and heat mat for her and the warm side is ~92 degrees. She’s been quite happy with a steady heat source. We’ve transferred the overhead UVA/UVB lights to her cage and while she isn’t taking a lot of advantage of it, she does get some.

She’s on the exact same schedule of feeding and vitamins as my baby- which is the schedule that Elizabeth suggests. I feed the food with Repashy Bug Burger and Gutloading formula so I think she’s getting the proper amount of nutrients. The biggest concern I have for her is how dull she is. I don’t have a good picture, but when she vanished, she was a nice, bright tangerine with vibrant spots of white and black. Now, she’s just dull... I’m pretty sure that this is due to her being malnourished. Besides that, she’s coming along fine. She’s super skittish- but that’s to be expected.

 

[Silverfire]

Another update. Still haven’t been able to get her to a vet. The only reptile vet in the area is super busy and the schedules just don’t work. However, I no longer thing that it’s absolutely urgent to get her to the vet. Yes I’d love to get her there ASAP, but she’s eating, drinking, and pooping like normal and she’s starting to become more vivid! So I’m not worried about her being in critical condition right now.

 

[Silverfire]

Another update. Still haven’t been able to get her to a vet. The only reptile vet in the area is super busy and the schedules just don’t work. However, I no longer thing that it’s absolutely urgent to get her to the vet. Yes I’d love to get her there ASAP, but she’s eating, drinking, and pooping like normal and she’s starting to become more vivid! So I’m not worried about her being in critical condition right now.

 

[Marillion]

Good to hear she's doing better! Thanks for the update.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Another update. Still haven’t been able to get her to a vet. The only reptile vet in the area is super busy and the schedules just don’t work. However, I no longer thing that it’s absolutely urgent to get her to the vet. Yes I’d love to get her there ASAP, but she’s eating, drinking, and pooping like normal and she’s starting to become more vivid! So I’m not worried about her being in critical condition right now.

I'm glad Clementine is recovering well. She sounds just fine with what you're doing.

 

[Silverfire]

I have some great news guys! Clementine shed for the first time since we found her yesterday! It was a complete shed too- no stuck shed anywhere! She’s also gained eight grams since I found her. Her belly is starting to gain a bit more weight. Her sides are starting to return to the normal color and her tail is nice and fat again.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I have some great news guys! Clementine shed for the first time since we found her yesterday! It was a complete shed too- no stuck shed anywhere! She’s also gained eight grams since I found her. Her belly is starting to gain a bit more weight. Her sides are starting to return to the normal color and her tail is nice and fat again.

:yahoo: for Clementine and for you!

How about sharing a picture so we can see her progress?

 

[Silverfire]

There she is! She was a lot duller when we found her again- I don’t have any pics but I was shown her via FaceTime when they found her.

She’s going to be getting a new tank within the next week- a new ten gal since hers has a small crack on the outside of the tank (ran fingers along the inside of the cage along the crack, no sharpness or pokiness at all). She’s also got a uva/uvb slimline fixture up and running (I’ll replace the bulb with a zoomed one once it burns out) but she doesn’t really use it so I’ve been keeping up her d3.

I’m currently hoping that she’ll eventually realize that she doesn’t have to eat dead insects. Sometimes a dead cricket or two gets mixed up in her food and she goes and eats them before I can remove them from the cage. I think she must’ve eaten a lot of dead insects when she was missing, which would definitely be another factor as to why she was so malnourished. I tend to be very messy when it comes to dealing with calcium and it’s a pain in the butt to get it out of regular carpet so I think that’s a reason as to how she didn’t get MBD...

We’ve also noticed something funny- ever since we found her, we’ve been finding more and more dead insects upstairs (where we think she stayed the whole time).

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

View attachment 47887

There she is! She was a lot duller when we found her again- I don’t have any pics but I was shown her via FaceTime when they found her.

She’s going to be getting a new tank within the next week- a new ten gal since hers has a small crack on the outside of the tank (ran fingers along the inside of the cage along the crack, no sharpness or pokiness at all). She’s also got a uva/uvb slimline fixture up and running (I’ll replace the bulb with a zoomed one once it burns out) but she doesn’t really use it so I’ve been keeping up her d3.

I’m currently hoping that she’ll eventually realize that she doesn’t have to eat dead insects. Sometimes a dead cricket or two gets mixed up in her food and she goes and eats them before I can remove them from the cage. I think she must’ve eaten a lot of dead insects when she was missing, which would definitely be another factor as to why she was so malnourished. I tend to be very messy when it comes to dealing with calcium and it’s a pain in the butt to get it out of regular carpet so I think that’s a reason as to how she didn’t get MBD...

We’ve also noticed something funny- ever since we found her, we’ve been finding more and more dead insects upstairs (where we think she stayed the whole time).

Thanks so much. How about maintaining Clementine at her current weight? Too much fat is not healthy.

:idea:: How about upgrading Clementine to a 20 long enclosure: 30 x 12 x 12? PetCo is having their $-per-gallon sale right now. She really deserves a lot more wiggle room than a 10 gallon provides.

There could be a problem offering powdered vitamin D3 along with a UVB light. I take it you're using the T8 tube that came with the Slimline fixture. That setup is really too strong for a 10 gallon. There is almost no place to dodge the rays without staying hidden.

The UVB strength of any UVB tube or bulb declines over time to negligible amounts way before the tube burns out. Zoo Med's Reptisun tubes need replacing annually. The tube that comes with Slimline fixtures produces less-than-optimal UVB rays from the beginning.

Do you have a backup carpet? That way you can send the dirty one through the washer and have a fresh carpet in the enclosure.

 

[Silverfire]

I’m feeding her on the same schedule as my baby- so about ten small/medium crickets every day. She’s a little under a year old, but she’s so small (she’s about the size of my four month old gecko) that I’m just feeding her and the baby the same amount. She’s gaining weight at about the same rate as the baby.

I’ll definitely see about getting Clementine upgraded too- it’s mostly a problem of convincing my mom since she doesn’t think juveniles need a super big cage. It’s getting easier to convince her about these things though so I have high hopes for that.

Okay. I tend to use the uvb lights with the 20 gal cages but I felt like she needed it more than the others cause she wouldn’t have gotten anything for so long.

I have multiple back up carpets- I’m referring to the carpet floorings my house has. Calcium is almost impossible to get out of those haha. They get their carpets changed weekly, sometimes more if they’re exceptionally dirty.

 

[Silverfire]

I’m feeding her on the same schedule as my baby- so about ten small/medium crickets every day. She’s a little under a year old, but she’s so small (she’s about the size of my four month old gecko) that I’m just feeding her and the baby the same amount. She’s gaining weight at about the same rate as the baby.

I’ll definitely see about getting Clementine upgraded too- it’s mostly a problem of convincing my mom since she doesn’t think juveniles need a super big cage. It’s getting easier to convince her about these things though so I have high hopes for that.

Okay. I tend to use the uvb lights with the 20 gal cages but I felt like she needed it more than the others cause she wouldn’t have gotten anything for so long.

I have multiple back up carpets- I’m referring to the carpet floorings my house has. Calcium is almost impossible to get out of those haha. They get their carpets changed weekly, sometimes more if they’re exceptionally dirty.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I’m feeding her on the same schedule as my baby- so about ten small/medium crickets every day. She’s a little under a year old, but she’s so small (she’s about the size of my four month old gecko) that I’m just feeding her and the baby the same amount. She’s gaining weight at about the same rate as the baby.

How much does Clementine weigh these days? I hope she'll "stretch out" in length too.
​

I’ll definitely see about getting Clementine upgraded too- it’s mostly a problem of convincing my mom since she doesn’t think juveniles need a super big cage. It’s getting easier to convince her about these things though so I have high hopes for that.

:banana: If you upgrade Clementine now, you'll save $ from upgrading her 2x. Heat mats should be larger for 20 longs. She'll love all that space.​

Okay. I tend to use the uvb lights with the 20 gal cages but I felt like she needed it more than the others cause she wouldn’t have gotten anything for so long.

I feel that 10 gallon enclosures are too small to give UVB properly. Giving UVB properly is kind of a science.​

I have multiple back up carpets- I’m referring to the carpet floorings my house has. Calcium is almost impossible to get out of those haha. They get their carpets changed weekly, sometimes more if they’re exceptionally dirty.

:yahoo:​

 

[Silverfire]

Clementine weighs 36 grams- she was 24 grams when we first found her. So she’s gained 12 grams in a little over a month.

I also managed to get her a 20 gal which she is absolutely loving. The first night my sister reported that Clementine was wandering all over the cage, exploring every little nook and cranny. She’s getting back to a nice tangerine orange color, though she’s not as bright as she used to be. She’s getting more used to people too- letting me take her out to weigh her. She seems to be getting along really well, and I’m really happy with that. She’s stopped scarfing her food down too. When we first found her she’d eat everything as fast as possible so I had my mom give her a few crickets at a time. Now she hunts and eats at the same rate as any of the others when they’re hungry. She has very normal very regular looking poops and spends a lot of time curled up on her heat mat. She’s getting better so fast it’s amazing.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Clementine weighs 36 grams- she was 24 grams when we first found her. So she’s gained 12 grams in a little over a month.

I also managed to get her a 20 gal which she is absolutely loving. The first night my sister reported that Clementine was wandering all over the cage, exploring every little nook and cranny. She’s getting back to a nice tangerine orange color, though she’s not as bright as she used to be. She’s getting more used to people too- letting me take her out to weigh her. She seems to be getting along really well, and I’m really happy with that. She’s stopped scarfing her food down too. When we first found her she’d eat everything as fast as possible so I had my mom give her a few crickets at a time. Now she hunts and eats at the same rate as any of the others when they’re hungry. She has very normal very regular looking poops and spends a lot of time curled up on her heat mat. She’s getting better so fast it’s amazing.

A 20 gallon long?

Thanks to your mom for upgrading Clementine to a big enclosure! I hope your mom has noticed how successful this upgrade is.

Thanks to you for this update! You all are doing well with her. You've covered all the basics.

 

[Silverfire]

Yeah. 20 gal long. My mom finds her running around amusing so she’s glad I convinced her to get a bigger cage. Now every gecko in the house has a 20 gal long which is great! They all seem to like them. Now the next task is to get everyone an ultratherm.