Leopard Gecko lost a lot of weight and wont eat

[Tokayy]

Hey guys,

So im having an issue with my younger gecko. She was bred before and did produce eggs that did not hatch. I did feed her during the process, kept up on my calcium dusting. Anyways it was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that she is really skinny. Her tail looks very thin and she has lost a lot of weight. I have been putting some dusted crickets in there in case she gets hungry. I also tried to feed her some silk worms and other worms but she did not take any.

Right now I have been feeding the gecko pedialite... (gatorade for babies). And she does take it, and she doesn't seem to mind it. I have my temperatures nice and hot in the enclosure as well. Also like always, I have calcium in a dish in a tank.

So does anyone have any suggestions on getting my gecko to eat? I know these questions are asked all the time. I'm just concerned because she is very skinny, and appears not to eat any of the food I offer her. If I keep offering crickets, theoritically, in time she would eat them correct?

 

[cricket4u]

Hi,

If she is that skinny the best thing to do is take her to the vet to make sure the problem is not health related.

How long has she been refusing to eat?
Enclosure size?
Temperatures?
Supplements? Brand?
Feces?

 

[cricket4u]

I am assuming you were dusting calcium with d3 at all times according to the D3 post, 3-4 times a week for females? Can you dip one insect in water and offer it without the calcium to see if she will eat it?

Just a heads up. If by any chance the weight and appetite loss is due to oversupplementing, the vet will not know unless blood work is performed.

 

[Tokayy]

I've tried to give her meal worms and have a couple of crickets in her cage. She was in a 20 gallon fish tank. Heat pad, infrared light, and moon light. Temperatures were always around 90ish. Room is always warm. Calcium supplement was repocal with te green anole on the bottle. And yes she has been pooping. I gave her a warm bath and just put her into a smaller and her own enclosure. I believe we are going on 3 weeks without her eating.

 

[cricket4u]

I've tried to give her meal worms and have a couple of crickets in her cage. She was in a 20 gallon fish tank. Heat pad, infrared light, and moon light. Temperatures were always around 90ish. Room is always warm. Calcium supplement was repocal with te green anole on the bottle. And yes she has been pooping. I gave her a warm bath and just put her into a smaller and her own enclosure. I believe we are going on 3 weeks without her eating.

90ish in the whole enclosure or do you meann over the heat mat?
Stool looks normal? urates are white or yellow?
What do you mean you put her in her own enclosure? was she housed with another?

 

[Tokayy]

She was housed with another female in a large 20 gallon fish tank. The urinate is white.

Okay for for the past two days I have been making a special formula. A little bit of water, pediolite, calcium powder, and some meAl worms crushed up. I was able to feed her this liquid for about 2 days. Today is where I had a great improvement. I opened her mouth and put a mealworm in her mouth. She ate in, and when I did another, she ate it as well. So today I was able to get two mealworms into her belly. I decided that would be enough for today. So now it appears I have a system. I'm going to keep at it in order to get her appetite back. I'll be doing the same thing with meal worms and tongues, just dropping them in her mouth. Hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll go back to hunting crickets in her cage.

Yes overall temperature in the cage is roughly 90 degrees. My bedroom is hot as I house a ball python and a tokay along with my 3 Leo's in the same room. With all the lights running my room never gets cold. I also have lights and UTH running on all tanks, so the general temperature is genetically warm.

 

[cricket4u]

She was housed with another female in a large 20 gallon fish tank. The urinate is white.

Okay for for the past two days I have been making a special formula. A little bit of water, pediolite, calcium powder, and some meAl worms crushed up. I was able to feed her this liquid for about 2 days. Today is where I had a great improvement. I opened her mouth and put a mealworm in her mouth. She ate in, and when I did another, she ate it as well. So today I was able to get two mealworms into her belly. I decided that would be enough for today. So now it appears I have a system. I'm going to keep at it in order to get her appetite back. I'll be doing the same thing with meal worms and tongues, just dropping them in her mouth. Hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll go back to hunting crickets in her cage.

Yes overall temperature in the cage is roughly 90 degrees. My bedroom is hot as I house a ball python and a tokay along with my 3 Leo's in the same room. With all the lights running my room never gets cold. I also have lights and UTH running on all tanks, so the general temperature is genetically warm.

It's too hot. They are all different. Some have less tolerance to heat and will stop eating. They need a temp gradient, if not the will suffer dehydration at some point. No higher than 77 on cool end~ 85 max air temp warm end. I suggest you buy an Ac unit.

 

[Tokayy]

I shall look into that. I have also switched up my bulb from
A 75 watt infrared heat to a 50 watt day light. This should decrease my temperature. Lucky for me the 75 watt died and so I decided to get a 50 watt. So far the temperatures are in that approximate value of 88.

 

[cricket4u]

I shall look into that. I have also switched up my bulb from
A 75 watt infrared heat to a 50 watt day light. This should decrease my temperature. Lucky for me the 75 watt died and so I decided to get a 50 watt. So far the temperatures are in that approximate value of 88.

It will be best not to use the heat bulb until you are able to buy the AC. For now just leave the heat mat on alone. Do your best to get that cool side down.

It may be best to switch calcium products as well. Reptocal does not contain a broad range of vitamins. You do not want to dust with D3 more than 2 times a week. It will be best to buy a plain calcium for example Zoo Med and a bottle of Reptivite with D3 (no more than twice a week).

If she is refusing to eat and losing a great amount of weight there is a reason. If it were me I would focus on hydration first. I would never force a gecko to eat unless I was sure the gecko was well hydrated.

 

[Tokayy]

Is the exo terra calcium basically the same thing as the zoo med one you have mentioned?

 

[cricket4u]

Is the exo terra calcium basically the same thing as the zoo med one you have mentioned?

If you asking in regards to their plain calcium, no. Exo terra includes low phosphorus. We prefer the calcium not to contain any phosphorus due to the fact insects are already high in phosphorus.

 

[Tokayy]

Okay. So I should basically use regular calcium with no d3 or phosphorous. And I should also have a calcium powder with d3 in stock. Gotcha.