Gecko Obsessed with Getting Out

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Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

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I've had Howie for about a month and he seems to be settled in nicely. To say he's curious and has really come to enjoy being handled would be an understatement. I never pick him up.. he crawls up my arm on his own. It's getting to the point that he'll pass up a butterworm just to crawl up my arm and hangout. He's far from starving [47g] but I was hoping to get him a little bit plumper and I'm concerned that he's passing up eating to hangout. He's super active in the evenings and is spending a lot of time climbing all over his tank. He's in a 20 long with hot side temps between 90-92 daytime and 86-88 night time. His moist hide is on the warm side as well. I'm a little torn whether I should continue to allow him to come out for adventures or whether I should cut him off in hopes he chills out and becomes content where he is.
LEO_HABITAT_2.jpgLEO_BEFORE_PIC.jpg
 
avoidtheboyd

avoidtheboyd

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I wouldn't stop picking him up. If he enjoys coming out and socializing with you that is perfectly fine. I would not however handle him all the time but once a day isn't bad. My only question to you is how often you feed him butterworms? If its a staple in his diet or fed to him more than once a week you should cut back. I understand you would like to "fatten" him up a bit but just do that by feeding him about as much in about a 15 minute time. The feeder you should be feeding him should be crickets, roaches, or any other feeder than is low in fat instead of butterworms.
 
avoidtheboyd

avoidtheboyd

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It really doesn't matter whether you let him be but just don' constantly handle him throughout the day. Somehow I missed your first post about him being a year old which in that case he seems to be quite underweight for his age. Get a pair of tongs and just drop the feeders in his cage instead of putting your hand in there during feeding time which may make him more interested in crawling on you.
 
Embrace Calamity

Embrace Calamity

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Him coming out isn't "socialising," just to make that clear. Leos don't "socialise." His refusal to eat and his desire to get out whenever possible seems to me more indicative that there's something in his enclosure he doesn't like or isn't suited to what he needs.

I see that you have strip and analog thermometers. Do you have any decent ones or a thermostat? How are you heating the enclosure? Where does he spend most of his time? What's inside his hot side hide? Have you tried anything other than butterworms?

~Maggot
 
avoidtheboyd

avoidtheboyd

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I meant the socializing in the more general sense of him just wanting to get out an explore. I know geckos aren't solitary creatures and don't socialize like other creatures. Like Embrace said those analog thermometers are notorious for being wrong so you need to pick up a digital thermometer of some sort to see if the temperatures are what is causing him to want out.
 
Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

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The strip and analogue are on the cold side. The hot side is controlled by a hydrofarm with the sensor on the floor of his warm dry hide. It is heated with a UTH and CHE. His warm side dry hide has a small rock in it that I use to stabilize the sensor and cover a small hole I have cut in the slate so that I can lift the tile if needed for cleaning. He get crickets, mealworms, butterworms and silkworms. He just doesn't seem to be a very big eater. He eats every other day but only eats really well once per week. If he's not interested i remove the worms, but i leave a couple crix running around in case he gets hungry. He picks them off slowly. Does he look thin in the picture?
 
Embrace Calamity

Embrace Calamity

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Have you ever had a fecal done on him? He doesn't look like he's on his deathbed or anything, but considering his age, he looks thin. All geckos are different in their growth rates, but by his age, he should be pretty much his adult size, which should be quite a bit thicker than that.

Did you wash any of the things in the enclosure? What with and how long ago? Has anything new been added that coincides with this behaviour? Or has he always acted like this?

~Maggot
 
AKlizzards

AKlizzards

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Your temps seem really high to me. I have no idea if that could be part of the problem, but in Pakistan the temp gets below 80F at night. Obviously every gecko is not the same but mine which is a little over a yr old seems to not enjoy anything over high 80's during the day. Infact if its over 85F he's guaranteed to be in his humid hide.
 
Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

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AKlizzards said:
Your temps seem really high to me. I have no idea if that could be part of the problem, but in Pakistan the temp gets below 80F at night. Obviously every gecko is not the same but mine which is a little over a yr old seems to not enjoy anything over high 80's during the day. Infact if its over 85F he's guaranteed to be in his humid hide.
Click to expand...

From what I've read on here, my temps are bang on. He spends the day mostly in his dry warm hide. I've never seen him in his moist hide. So I do a little indirect misting when it comes time for shedding which he has done twice now.

Unfortunately, 1 year is just a guess at his age, he's a bit of a rescue. His previous owner didn't provide any of the essentials aside from crickets. When I picked him up she didn't even have his UTH on and stated "he's fine without it".:shock: So I've got a long road to get this little guy up to snuff.

Of course moving him originally was a big changed and I tweaked his set up for the next couple of weeks after that. No changes for a couple of weeks. I should say this obsession only lasts for a couple hours at night. If I let allow him out for some exploring and exercise, he calms down afterwards. I noticed all but one of the crix gone this AM, so maybe he's simply had his fill of worms for a bit. He kinda pigged out on them at first as he had never had them before.

Poop check is AOK.

I've only cleaned the substrate with a damp cloth.
 
avoidtheboyd

avoidtheboyd

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That could be pretty dangerous if your temperatures are only around 80 degrees. He may be able to digest his food now but sometimes you may accidentally feed him something a little too large and he may not be able to pass it.
 
Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

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I'll try to take a pic of him tonight with a ruler beside for scale and get a current weight. The lady I got him from said they had him less than a year, I assumed he would have been a couple months old when they got him... maybe he's younger than I thought. Aside from size, is there another way to estimate age? His appetite seems to vary quite dramatically from day to day. One day he gobbles up 6 silkworms, then shows no interest at all for 2-3 days. Next feeding he might just grab a couple of crickets and be satisfied. Does this seem off, or pretty typical?
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

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Hi,

He does not appear thin to me. Maybe a bit small if he's at least a year, however may just be due to poor care in the past.


You mentioned you have been tweaking his enclosure for the past weeks
Handling him daily

This can lead to stress and why he may be attempting to escape. You've only had him a month and he is dealing with changes. I would stop handling him for a while. Also make sure his enclosure is not too warm at night. Aside from the UTH, the air temp should be in the 70's.

90-92 daytime and 86-88 night time. Where exactly?

Can you be more specific?
I don't see a probe measuring air temp?
 
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Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

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cricket4u said:
Hi,

He does not appear thin to me. Maybe a bit small if he's at least a year, however may just be due to poor care in the past.


You mentioned you have been tweaking his enclosure for the past weeks
Handling him daily

This can lead to stress and why he may be attempting to escape. You've only had him a month and he is dealing with changes. I would stop handling him for a while. Also make sure his enclosure is not too warm at night. Aside from the UTH, the air temp should be in the 70's.

90-92 daytime and 86-88 night time. Where exactly?

Can you be more specific?
I don't see a probe measuring air temp?
Click to expand...

I get that the tank adjustments can cause stress, but if it were the handling that was stressing him out wouldn't he be avoiding me?

These are temps from the probe inside his warm dry hide. I don't have a probe measuring the air temp. though our house is 65 Degrees and I shut off the CHE at night. Believe it or not my analogue is within a degree or two of my thermostat I can get an air temp with that.

Based on my cricket counts, he's been hunting through the night so I've been tossing in 3-4 at a time. I don't add anymore until they're all gone. I wonder if the crickets wandering around can stress him out. Though this is not a new practice.
 
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