Leopard Gecko (Eublepharus macularius) Pregnant or not?

[Jester]

Hey guys so my Leopard Gecko has pooped 1 time in the last week but she still readily accepts food and is quite active. When I hold her, her stomach seems firmer than normal, and I was just wondering if carrying eggs will make them stop defecating.

I don't think it is because she is impacted because about 6 months ago she was living on sand and didn't have a very balanced diet of just crickets, and they were a little to big for her which I learned from the vet. She pulled though and since then I kept her on paper towels up until 2-3 weeks ago when I finally got up the courage to put her back in a natural looking setup.
I have been feeding her baby meal worms, and smaller crickets, also because I didn't want to risk it. When I do feed her now, i feed her meal worms in a dish and crickets in a separate container to reduce the chance of substrate ingestion.

Here's the curve ball the vet couldn't quite determine if it was impaction caused by sand and crickets or possibly her trying to lay an egg, but she was egg bound. I wanted to know if she was egg bound once she was more likely to become egg bound a second time? The last time I had to take her to the vet it cost a little over $1000.00 and I would of course take her again if it was necessary, but with these times I don't have that kind of money just laying around, and I would like to minimize the stress of transportation and weird ppl on her as much as possible.

Finally, could she maybe just not be laying simply because there isn't a dedicated lay box in her vivarium? If that's the case, what can I buy/make for her to possibly help her out?

Any and all help is welcome

Thanks in advance
-Jester

 

[Clink]

The lay box could be a big player in her holding her eggs. I guess one of the ways to determine if she is gravid is: Is there a male gecko in the house? haha. Also, if she has nowhere she finds suitable to lay her eggs, she can retain them, hoping for better conditions to turn up. Do you have a humid hide in the tank at all? If you do, use perlite or vermiculite to make it humid instead of something larger, like paper towel or moss.
Good luck!

 

[Jester]

There is no male gecko but she has laid eggs before. I have a humid hide but it's filled with sphagnum moss not vermiculite.

So if I switch out the sphagnum moss for some vermiculite I can just use the same hide for a lay box and and a humid hide?

 

[Clink]

Yes, all of my humid hides are filled with vermiculite, which they do actively lay in. It's much easier for them to kick around the smaller particles and can correctly blanket the eggs.
Have you tried seeing if she has eggs in her? Try looking at her belly by bending her back gently forward to press the eggs against her transparent skin. Google some images of what a gravid female should look like for comparison. Hope she lays and doesn't become egg bound! Good luck, eggs are fun.

 

[Jester]

Ok thanks so much for your help