New LG help?

[kooky12]

We bought my son a LG for Christmas he has been wanting one for years and has read numerous care books-so finally he goes to the store to pick one out. He picked the smallest one-this must be a baby baby. Well he has been in his enclosure for 24 hours and he just looks totally stressed out. We are not touching him-have put a meal worm and a cricket in for him to eat-have misted the side of the tank along with his water bowl so he can lick the water off the side-but all he does is lay under the log on the heating pad. Temp on both sides of tank are good. i guess my main concern is he is soooooo little how can he survive and not eat? he looks very lethargic. Any help would be appreciated-this is my first experience owning a lizard.
I am regretting letting him get the tiny little one instead of one of the bigger ones???

 

[IslaReina]

If I were you, I would have picked out the biggest one there. I did the same thing at the beginning of this year and picked out a tiny cute gecko, only to have it be sick and not eat for two weeks, then die. Luckily, it died on the exact two week mark and I was able to bring it in to get an exchange for it, and I picked a bigger, healthier one. She is now alive and perfect. Is its tail really skinny? I know you don't want to stress him out, but a picture would help us to be able to tell the condition of your new pet. Good Luck! I hope he just needs a little TLC to make it.

 

[kooky12]

Thanks so much for your response--his tail is SUPER skinny! I made the decision to have my Husband and son take him back to the store and get the fatter and bigger one. I feel bad for the little guy, but I am concerned if I kept him he might not survive.
Thanks again!

 

[IslaReina]

Anytime Yeah, it would probably be devastating to have the poor little gecko die on you It's amazing how some pet stores let their geckos be so skinny and not have any concern at all to sell them as children's pets

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

I would like to add that you shouldn't mist your leopard gecko's entire enclosure. You should have a hide on the warm end of the tank that you mist regularly, but other than that, the entire tank should be bone-dry. Leopard geckos can get skin diseases if they stay wet for too long. Water can also lower the temperature in the tank until it reaches a certain temperature throughout the tank.

Leopard geckos can and do drink out of a water dish. They aren't the kind of gecko that needs to drink water droplets from leaves so don't worry about misting him to supply drinking water.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks so much for your response--his tail is SUPER skinny! I made the decision to have my Husband and son take him back to the store and get the fatter and bigger one. I feel bad for the little guy, but I am concerned if I kept him he might not survive.
Thanks again!

Excellent decision! Bigger is better! Best wishes for your son's new leopard gecko. I feel that it is best that your son have a successful experience with geckos his first time around.

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited! You have discovered the very best gecko website in the universe :yahoo:!

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Moist hide = humid hide

PS: The moist hide should go on the COOL side of the tank.

If the moist hide stays on the cool end of the tank, the moisture won't evaporate as readily. Keeping it on the warm end makes the air inside the hide much more humid, which is why it is sometimes called a *humid* hide. You need a certain level of humidity in the air to aid in skin removal.

On the cool end, the hide would just be damp, and you don't want that. Less humidity in the air means less moisture to aid in removing skin, hence the gecko would need to rub its body on a wet surface. Doing this would lower its own body temperature and may - but not necessarily - cause abrasion on the new skin underneath.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

If the moist hide stays on the cool end of the tank, the moisture won't evaporate as readily. Keeping it on the warm end makes the air inside the hide much more humid, which is why it is sometimes called a *humid* hide. You need a certain level of humidity in the air to aid in skin removal.

On the cool end, the hide would just be damp, and you don't want that. Less humidity in the air means less moisture to aid in removing skin, hence the gecko would need to rub its body on a wet surface. Doing this would lower its own body temperature and may - but not necessarily - cause abrasion on the new skin underneath.

Sinosauropteryx ~

I appreciate your correction to my post ! You are correct in recommending the warm side of the tank as the proper location for the "humid" hide. I know how important this is. Somehow, my leopard gecko sheds just fine without a humid hide. Maybe that is just the damp Pacific Northwest. At any rate, I don't do anything special for her with regards to the humdity. The ambient room humidity seems adequate. I do keep a 3 inch diameter by 1 inch high water dish in her tank 24/7 on the cool side.

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Wet leopard geckos

Yeah, sorry I came on a bit too strong there but I was hoping I wasn't going crazy in my original post :blushing: Anyway, if your surrounding room's ambient temperatures don't go any lower than 60 degrees, I don't see any problem with putting a moist hide on the cool side of the tank. It just won't evaporate as quickly, that's all. Contact with liquid water on the skin probably wouldn't hurt the gecko either, once in a while. You just don't want your gecko's skin to stay wet all the time.

However, if your ambient room temperature is lower than 55 degrees or so, I wouldn't recommend any moist hide on the cool side of the tank. Keeping in mind that heating implements work relatively to ambient room temperature, any liquid water on the cool end can't be a good thing. The basic rule is that the cooler liquid water is, the lower an animal's body temperature will fall once its skin will come into contact with it. Most amphibians wouldn't mind this one bit, but a reptile is another story. That is partly why reptiles bask: so that they can dry moisture from their skin and stay warm. Even semi-aquatic lizards need a place where they can get out of the water and stay dry.

I am thinking your leopard gecko may not even need that moist hide to shed. A warm moist hide is always better, but one of my leopard geckos has never had a moist hide at all and he sheds just fine. He even shed last night without a single problem, though he did wade in his water dish for a little while once to get the shed off of his toes.

Ah, sorry this reply is so long :yawn: I got carried away.