HELP!!! Leopard Gecko has been throwing up!

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Ohkay

New member
I have had my leopard gecko for almost 5 months now. He is 4 years old. I keep him on repi carpet and the temperature is around 85-90. He lives in a 20 gallon tank with a hide on the hotside. There is always fresh water available for him. (I have water, in a bucket, sit out over night so the chlorine ion is no longer in the water when i give is to him.) He usually eats everyday, 5 or 6 kingworms, and occasionally a couple of butter worms. I dust the kingworms with calcium powder everytime I feed him. I don't do this to the butter worms since they are a natural sorce of calcium. I never leave un-eaten food in his cage overnight. (His old owners fed him crickets, but my old gecko died from an infected cricket bite he got at PJ's Pets...)

Recently has poo has been dry and not as large as it used to be when I got him. 2 days ago, I fed him, made sure he had fresh water and left for work. When I got back from work, I checked on him. He had a dry poo, and it looked like he had thrown up 2 kingworms (dead) and a butter worm. Last night, I let him out of his cage for some excerise ( I watch him, NEVER unattended) and he started gaging. This confused me because leopard geko don't have a natural gag reflex.

HELP PLEASE! Should I take him to the vet? Is this normal?
 
M&S-328

M&S-328

New member
Whoa whoa. Im noticing some strange things here. I see you come from Canada..so perhaps a few of the items there have different names....

But What are kingworms and butterworms??
Leopard geckos should be on a consistant diet of Crickets, Mealworms, Superworms, and Dubia roaches (a combinations of any of these or just one or two). Wax worms can be given as a treat ONCE every other week or so. But they SHOOULD NOT be a part of the regular diet.
If he is used to crickets, then you should probably feed him crickets. Regular crickets cannot typically hurt a leo very badly at all. Usually is a cricket bite a leo you would never even notice. So it concerns me that maybe you unknowingly fed your other gecko "killer crickets" - a jamacian species which is not feedable to reptiles.

Next, you must reaise the hotside's temp. The hot side needs to be between 93 F and 98 F. You are using a UTH (Under Tank Heater) correct?
Also, you need to have more than one hide in the tank. There should be at least 3 or 4 in a 20 gal.

Do you put chlorine in the water before you give it to your leo? Or is in normal to have excessive chlorine in the water in canada? I give my leo water straight from the sink with no issues. But if there is something unsafe in the water, then I'd make the switch to giving him bottled water only.

Gagging (which may sound like barking/sneezing) is semi-common. Meaning, Leos do throw up sometimes, but usually that either means that they ate too much or what they are eating is not agreeing with their stomach.

Please keep up on replies so we can help figure all this out with you!

Good Luck!
 
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Debbie7054

New member
Butterworm offers more than double the Calcium content of any other feeder insect. Its protein levels are high, compared to those of a cricket or mealworm, and they are very simple to keep.

You can keep in the fridge in the vegetable drawer, and ensure they remain dry in sawdust they come in. DO NOT FEED. They will begin to hibernate in the cold temperature. To feed, simply take out as many as needed, and put into a bowl as suggested below.

WORMS CAN LIVE FOR UP TO 4 MONTHS IN A NORMAL FRIDGE

Butterworms are easy to feed to your reptiles (they wont jump around or escape like crickets, hoppers or roaches) simply put them in a vertical sided china bowl (like the ones for hamster food from the pet shop) and the wriggling will attract your reptile's attention.

Occasionally mine have gagged on butterworms I think it happens when they try and eat them in the middle and they get stuck.
King worms are also known as Morio worms in the UK and Super worms in the US I think. Maybe the ones they have been eating have been a bit big and not gone down properly.
 
M&S-328

M&S-328

New member
After some good research I see that kingworms are the same as superworms. So that is a good diet for a leo.

The butterworms still worry me a bit though. I've just never heard of anyone using them as a feeder before..and they physically seem to resemble waxworms. Perhaps an admin of this site would know for sure if they are a good feeder or not. I'd definitely ask them.

Lastly, i still suggest you try crickets again. If the leo has lived 4 years off them and is healthy, it will probably be good to incorporate them back into his diet. Maybe do a few of each feeder a night?

Please remember to answer the questions from my first post!
 
Mardy

Mardy

New member
Regarding chlorine in the water, most water these days are treated with chloramine. Chloramine does not dissipate from water by letting it sit out, unlike chlorine. So if your city uses chloramine (and it probably does), letting water sit won't do much of any good.

There has been debate whether you should allow your geckos to drink directly from tap or if you should use bottled water. I won't even attempt to argue one way or another, since there haven't been enough tests done to determine whether tap water is harmful to leopard geckos or not. But many say chlorine shouldn't really affect your geckos, it's really the other substances found in tap water that you should worry about. But even then, there are breeders that have bred reptiles for 30+ years and used tap water without a problem. So this comes down to whether you want to take the chance or not. Also most people get city water reports once a year, so you will want to look at those reports and see if your city's water is good or not.

I do have to say though, if you suspect problems with your geckos, then you may want to start narrowing it down by going the safe route. Give them bottled water for awhile.

As for regurgitating, geckos do that sometimes, but they shouldn't do it often. So if he regurgitated once, what you want to do is to observe to make sure he doesn't do it again. If the behavior continues, then it's time for a vet visit.

Like suggested above, raise your temperature on the warm side. It should be 90-95 degrees for proper digestion. I don't think gagging is really normal, but just observe to see if this continues or not. Like humans, geckos can have a bad day every once in awhile too.
 
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Debbie7054

New member
Wax worms are really fatty and should only be used for treats for geckos, butterworms are super high in calcium (their body mass is like 65 percent calcium) and relatively low In fat. I don't feed mine exclusively on them and not all of mine like them, they are quite expensive compared to a lot of feeders but I do use them to add variety to my gecko's diets. I haven't heard any bad reports on them and they aren't anything like butterworms as far as I know.
 
Nayte

Nayte

New member
If you are anywhere in Ontario, and use bottled water, I would suggest NOT giving him the Nestle brand. A friend of mine had worked at their bottling plant in Guelph, Ontario (I believe?) and said that the levels are not even consistent, so really, you never know what you're getting, let alone, giving to your animals.

I've used tap water occasionally, but bottled water has always worked.

And yeah, in Canada, some places call superworms kingworms, and I know some places consider kingworms a fully grown exoskeleton-ized superworm. I don't get it, but I never use them anyways so I've never cared to research on them.

I would also suggest maybe NOT dusting for a little while as you get back into crickets or mealworms (I suggest crickets) but replace his use of calcium as a water bottle lid with some calcium in it, and maybe dust a couple crickets with Vitamins instead for a short period. It'll switch things up while also allowing his tiny body to balance whatever seems to be unbalanced.

Hope you figure it out, and hope this helps! :)
 
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Debbie7054

New member
They aren't cheap but I find them useful for building geckos up if they are gravid or haven't been eating well. Silk worms are even better calcium level wise but don't put silk worms in with other feeders they will eat them - meal worms can eat a silk worm within seconds lol.
 
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missiechrissie

New member
Hello-

Just did some VERY speedy research, and here is the latin name of butterworms (I had never heard of them either, so now Im on the hunt )
Chilecomadia Moorei

My best
Chrissie
 
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