4th case of dead lepidodactylus - why??

rattlesnake082

rattlesnake082

New member
Hello everone,

I started breeding Lepidodactylus lugubris approximately 7 years ago...I continously reproduced them for about 3 years. During this time lots of babies hatched and all of them were healthy. Raising them up caused no problems at all.
Then I sold my L. lugubris because I had to reduce my collection for some reasons.

About 2 years ago, I thought it would be nice to have some of these cool little geckos again and I purchased two of them.

And now it's getting interesting:

So far, I got only 4 babies of them (the lugubris I had before were breeding like crazy). All of these babies seem to be healthy at first...the are eating properly and are very active. Then, after 4 to 6 weeks, they die for no reason. I watched this today: it jumped around and seemed to be in perfect shape, 15 minutes later it was lying on it's back and died.

I have to say that I'm not a newbie in keeping reptiles. I keep my lugubris in exactly the same way like the ones I had before...they have a appropriate sized terrarium with lots of hiding spaced, they get their calcium and vitamins, fruit mush and gutloaded feeder insects.

I have no idea why they all die when they are 4-6 weeks old.

Thanks for your help in advance!

-Martin
 
B

Bonehead

New member
Martin,

I no longer breed this species, but when I did I had the same problem. Someone recommended using fruit flavored yogurt in an attempt to get more calcium into the animals. I would leave a small dish in the tank either over night or for a few hours so it wouldn't get to spoiled. When I started doing this, I did have an increase in egg production and the babies were much larger and healthier. I am currently doing this with some of my Lygodactylus and Anole species with good success.

Paul
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Phosphourous-free calcium

Martin ~

I have been breeding these "guys" since 1988. I seem to always have more than enough of them. In fact I find myself squishing their eggs as a method of population control---a nutritious treat for the moms. In the early days, if I was getting lax with dusting their prey, I witnessed seizures in some animals. The Lls would generally recover completely from the initial seizure, but further seizures would prove fatal. Are you seeing seizures?

Have you changed your brand of calcium? I use Rep Cal's Ultrafine Phosphorous-Free Calcium with D3. Other brands contain some phosphorous. Check GU under Health and Nutrition for more info on a Sticky.

Are your current 2 female? As someone posted on GU recently, he had a male Ll hatch. Those are rare, but possible. What temps are you keeping them? What type of heat?

Maybe a nutritional problem? Where do their crickets come from? Maybe change suppliers? What are you gutloading their feeder insects with?



rattlesnake082 said:
Hello everone,

I started breeding Lepidodactylus lugubris approximately 7 years ago...I continously reproduced them for about 3 years. During this time lots of babies hatched and all of them were healthy. Raising them up caused no problems at all.
Then I sold my L. lugubris because I had to reduce my collection for some reasons.

About 2 years ago, I thought it would be nice to have some of these cool little geckos again and I purchased two of them.

And now it's getting interesting:

So far, I got only 4 babies of them (the lugubris I had before were breeding like crazy). All of these babies seem to be healthy at first...the are eating properly and are very active. Then, after 4 to 6 weeks, they die for no reason. I watched this today: it jumped around and seemed to be in perfect shape, 15 minutes later it was lying on it's back and died.

I have to say that I'm not a newbie in keeping reptiles. I keep my lugubris in exactly the same way like the ones I had before...they have a appropriate sized terrarium with lots of hiding spaced, they get their calcium and vitamins, fruit mush and gutloaded feeder insects.

I have no idea why they all die when they are 4-6 weeks old.

Thanks for your help in advance!

-Martin
Click to expand...
 
D

DJreptile

New member
Elizabeth raises an important point. This is the season for bugs and, consequently, bug spray. Anyone been spraying bugspray in or around your house? Doing some serious cleaning, or building projects? Fumes from all sorts of solvents, adhesives and cleaners could be the culprit. One other possibility very few people think of: non-stick cookware. If they're heated too long without any food on them the coating starts to burn. The fumes can easily kill a large ****atoo, much less a little lizard.

Maybe the substrate? If you're using some sort of garden soil it's possible the manufacturer started putting chemicals in it since you last used it.

If you have a good vet near you you may want to consider a necropsy.

Hope this helps; best of luck to you.
 
rattlesnake082

rattlesnake082

New member
Thank you all for your replies!

@ Bonehead: I forgot to mention that my L. lugubris actually get fruit yoghurt on a regular basis. Some years ago I read that some day gecko breeders have made excellent experiences with fruit yoghurt. I started feeding fruit yoghurt to my Lepidodactylus then and that's what I still do.

@ Elizabeth: No seizures at all. I Also haven't changed their brand of calcium. For calcium, I use "Drago Vit Calcium with Vitamin D3" - pure calcium/d3 stuff. For vitamins, I use ZooMed's "Reptivite".
My crickets come from the pet store I got my crickets from ever since. Before feeding them to my geckos, they get organic lettuce and carrots. My mealsworms (I breed them myself in order to have all sizes available at all times) get the same stuff. All of my other geckos which get the same insects/vitamins/calcium are in perfect condition.
I'm keeping my lugubris at 88 F on the hot spot and about 74 F at the coolest part of the tank (temperatures get a bit lower in winter). I'm using a light bulb for light and heat.
No real plants in the tanks of the yougsters -> no pestizides.

@ DJreptile: Here in Vienna/Austria temperatures are a bit lower then in Knoxville/TN, I guess. That's why bugs aren't really a problem here - even in summer....we rarely use bug spray - and I NEVER use it in my reptile room because I'm breeding my mealworms in there.


As you can see, it seems to be a tricky thing. As I mentioned when I opened the thread: I'm not a newbie in keeping reptiles. I have breeding groups of Coleonyx mitratus, Homopholis fasciata, Ptychozoon kuhli and one single Leopard gecko. All of them are doing well and most of them are breeding regularly...they are in the same room, they get the same feeder insects as my lugubris.


I really have no idea what the problem is. ​

Thanks again for your replies,
Martin
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
4th dead Ll

Hi Martin ~

Lepidodactylus lugubris do NOT need to have temperatures to 88 F. 80 F is really warm enough...even 75! I keep mine in the 70s much of the year except when their western exposure warms up. I also no longer heat their cages with anything external. 68 F lows are just fine with them ;-]

Maybe that is the reason you've experienced the deaths???

How long do you keep your crickets before you feed them to your geckos? I suggest adding some protein to your cricket gutload. I feed my crickets dry oatmeal, Fluker Farm's High Calcium Cricket Food, alfalfa hay (really high in protein, and very low fat), sometimes carrots, and sometimes collard greens (high calcium to very low phosphorous).
 
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giorgio199

New member
Hi everyone, two days ago happened the same thing to my Lepidodactylus lugubris, they were all good, half an hour later they started feeling bad, I take them to the veterinary and in two hours we couldn't find any death cause.. He supposed that it maybe was a high change of temperature
 
rattlesnake082

rattlesnake082

New member
Thanks for your replies.

Temperatures reach 88F only at the hotspot itself. This is on one end of the terrarium. In most parts of the terrarium, temperatures are much lower.
The geckos stay in the middle of the terrarium most of the time. They would have the possibility to stay at the cool end where temps are lower, but they don't.

Nevertheless, I'll try to keep them cooler for a while...I'll keep you posted.

Thanks a lot!
-Martin
 
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