Leo Hatchlings

[Hardknox]

These are not my hatchlings but a friends. One of the hatchlings seems to have come out a bit early. He is a good bit smaller than all the others that have hatched so far. He still has what looks like a yolk sack still attached to him. My camera quit on me so I do not have a good pic. It is a slightly reddish but more pink very fleshy little connection to the underbelly of the gecko. Also when placed under a microscope we were able to indentify what appeared as tiny mites or some other form of parasite. It was a round white (looked white under the light we used) bug looking creature with legs clearly moving.
Can anybody confirm that those do indeed sound like mites? Is there something you can recommend we treat him with, we were thinking after giving him a light bath with warm distilled water we may try a thin coating of olive oil to suffocate the mites. Also should we leave the sack/cord attached and allow it to fall off after he finishes adsorbing it?

Any quick advice and thoughts would be appreciated

Rob

 

[Saskia]

Well, I have never seen but I have read about hatchlings with yolk sacs, and they usually come off by themselves... what you describe sounds like mites, they are little pests!!!! I actually hate them, luckily my geckos have never gotten them... I had mites in my mealworms colony and I got rid of them by using oil actually.... but I can't advise to use it directly on the gecko not because I think it will harm them but just because I personally haven't done it, so I can't risponsably recommend it....

 

[Hardknox]

Thanks Saskia we had to remove the yolk sack because it managed to get wrapped around him and I did not want it to constrict as it dried. We are going to try the olive oil today and see what happens. I feel awful for him, he seems so frail relative to the others hatched.

 

[Saskia]

How does his skin look?? strong? bright colored?

 

[Hardknox]

He is looking a little better but he's walking awkwardly and he is still very small. His skin got slightly pale last night like he was ready for his first shed and looks fairly normal today. No red marks on him or anything and his skin looks fairly healthy. My big concern right now is that he manages to get around but not well. When he walks he falls a lot and is not coordinated really at all. I know its pretty common for hatchlings to not eat for 5-7 days after hatching and just focus on shedding and eating some calcium.

I have some calcium powder out for him that is readily available anytime he needs it and a water bowl as well as a hide and humid hide and its on a small heating pad which boosts one end of the cage to around 85. I have not attempted to feed him crickets yet, any thoughts on that? Maybe kill a pinhead cricket and try to feed him that or just hold off for a few more days and see what happens?

 

[Saskia]

My hatchlings usually start eating on day 3-4, I would say you should put a food dish with one small amputated cricket inside, and let it over night to see if he is interested!