Hello,
I recently got a leopard gecko for Christmas that is 9 months old. When I first got him he was pooping regularly, but not eating. I am assuming he was pooping out the food he had consumed previously with his new owner. The owner told me that they fed him superworms and the odd cricket, however I looked up their diet and asked around and found out the superworms are very hard on their digestive system so I decided to try meal worms. Hades (the gecko) refused to eat the mealworms for about a week, he would look at them and lick them but not consume them. Then I went to a petstore and asked what got some butterworms to try and fatten him up abit, for his tail didnt seem as large as the ones in alot of pictures of healthy geckos that I had looked up. It wasnt shrivelled by far, just not as round. He ate a few of these butter worms, however they are very expensive, and fatty so I knew I should not use these as a primary diet. Next, I decided to try crickets. When I got these crickets and fed them to him, he ate! I guess maybe he is just picky and does not like meal worms, that was the only reasoning I could come up with. Now he has been eating 3-4 crickets every second day, with the odd butterworm snuck in there too. I am covering his crickets with a mixture of reptile multiivitamin and calcium with no phosphorus and with D3 and gut loading them with carrots, potatos and apples (this is what the cricket breeder told me to feed them).
So thats the story of my cricket... Now here is the problem..
Since Ive been feeding him these crickets and butter worms he has pooped twice, the poop looks completely different then when I first got him and he was pooping, but I also changed his diet, and his substrate (what the originally owner had him in) from sand to reptile carpet since I also read that sand is not good for them, and can cause impaction if consumed, so Im guessing this is why the poop looks different, now it looks like what a healthy geckos poop should look like, or atleast thats what I got from pictures off the internet. He has been eating steady now since about Jan 3rd, and has pooped twice. I am very worried. His stomach does not feel hard, or atleast I dont think so.. He also remains in his humid hide all day (which I know is normal since they are nocturnal) and all night, I have seen him out of his hide three times in the month that I have had him.. and the bottom of his humid hide seems cold since it has a wet papertowel on the bottom and isnt directly on the floor. I have the hot side of his tank to be about 90-95.. I have a heat lamp, which is what I use. I have a reptile heat pad as well, but whenever I use it the tank gets too warm.
Any ideas on what this could be? If he is eating enough? Why he wont ever leave his humid hide? Also, would he be considered a juvinelle or a adult since he is 9 months old? I was just curious as what to classify him as.
Thanks.
I recently got a leopard gecko for Christmas that is 9 months old. When I first got him he was pooping regularly, but not eating. I am assuming he was pooping out the food he had consumed previously with his new owner. The owner told me that they fed him superworms and the odd cricket, however I looked up their diet and asked around and found out the superworms are very hard on their digestive system so I decided to try meal worms. Hades (the gecko) refused to eat the mealworms for about a week, he would look at them and lick them but not consume them. Then I went to a petstore and asked what got some butterworms to try and fatten him up abit, for his tail didnt seem as large as the ones in alot of pictures of healthy geckos that I had looked up. It wasnt shrivelled by far, just not as round. He ate a few of these butter worms, however they are very expensive, and fatty so I knew I should not use these as a primary diet. Next, I decided to try crickets. When I got these crickets and fed them to him, he ate! I guess maybe he is just picky and does not like meal worms, that was the only reasoning I could come up with. Now he has been eating 3-4 crickets every second day, with the odd butterworm snuck in there too. I am covering his crickets with a mixture of reptile multiivitamin and calcium with no phosphorus and with D3 and gut loading them with carrots, potatos and apples (this is what the cricket breeder told me to feed them).
So thats the story of my cricket... Now here is the problem..
Since Ive been feeding him these crickets and butter worms he has pooped twice, the poop looks completely different then when I first got him and he was pooping, but I also changed his diet, and his substrate (what the originally owner had him in) from sand to reptile carpet since I also read that sand is not good for them, and can cause impaction if consumed, so Im guessing this is why the poop looks different, now it looks like what a healthy geckos poop should look like, or atleast thats what I got from pictures off the internet. He has been eating steady now since about Jan 3rd, and has pooped twice. I am very worried. His stomach does not feel hard, or atleast I dont think so.. He also remains in his humid hide all day (which I know is normal since they are nocturnal) and all night, I have seen him out of his hide three times in the month that I have had him.. and the bottom of his humid hide seems cold since it has a wet papertowel on the bottom and isnt directly on the floor. I have the hot side of his tank to be about 90-95.. I have a heat lamp, which is what I use. I have a reptile heat pad as well, but whenever I use it the tank gets too warm.
Any ideas on what this could be? If he is eating enough? Why he wont ever leave his humid hide? Also, would he be considered a juvinelle or a adult since he is 9 months old? I was just curious as what to classify him as.
Thanks.
