Giant day gecko hatchling swallowed spagnum moss - please advise urgently :(

[Lunalacerta]

Giant day gecko hatchling swallowed sphagnum moss - please advise

Hi everyone, this community is a great resource. I have found myself needing advice more than once now so thought I would sign up!

I am new to keeping Phelsuma Grandis but I researched the species previously, keeping Leos as pets for several years. I am now (a decade later) the proud owner of a pair... that are pumping out eggs. There is a heatwave here in the south UK at the moment, which is developing these eggs more quickly than expected, and currently I have 4 hatchlings with one hatched just today! Some of the eggs go back to March when I got the parents (and were kept in bamboo in the viv for a few weeks until we dared claw them out), others are 7-8 weeks.. I was pretty much winging the incubation of them in a little plastic box on the mesh of the parent's viv by the infrared lamp and just hoping for the best, as so many home breeders seemed to be doing similar things with remarkable levels of success!

All the hatchlings so far are getting on great, but I have just had the eldest - at just 21 days old - "Wibble" - get over excited while feeding and swallow a long thread of spagnum moss, gobbled it right down.. He's also eaten 3 2nd gen crickets (about 8-10mm long, smallest we can get) before going for the moss.

Here's a pic of newborn, but at least a few mm bigger now:



I am really concerned about impaction, as I realise this isn't necessarily the best substrate to use (we were not prepared for these eggs to hatch, and we just had sphagnum moss to hand).

I have read some horrible things about impaction causing instant death, and of course the animal is barely 3 inches long including most of the tail (been growing very quickly, nice level of red and eating very well!). He is the most promising hatchling so I want to know I am doing everything I can, but am not an expert on rearing baby animals (as a teenager I wasn't competent enough to incubate leo eggs and this lot has happened pretty much by accident!)

So tl;dr I would really appreciate some advice on how to mitigate this. I have read suggestions of adding a small amount of vegetable oil to crickets - I figured I could also only feed Repashy superfood for a few days (but none of the hatchlings seem interested in this even though the adults do lick at it 2-3 times a week) so that what is in the belly doesn't get too much.

I've also read suggestions of massaging from the belly to the cloaca but that was for leos, and as I'm sure you know fully grown Grandis are frisky enough yet alone a baby! No chance of this without crushing the poor blighter!

I may be able to get discounted access to a vet from a store and know a local herp store owner well, but I don't know what they can do for such a tiny creature??

To avoid this situation, I will be removing the moss right away and replacing with moist paper towel or reptile carpet.

Please help!! :sad:

Many thanks in advance, I am sure I will have a lot to contribute to this community - looking forward to learning more and sharing stories.

Update: He's quite suddenly gone a pale colour a few hours later, although I had misted quite heavily to give him plenty to drink, so he is probably just shedding. I know sudden shedding can sometimes result from stress, so I'm just logging this.

 

[mkschaefer]

I honestly would not be concerned. I keep hatchling, juvenile, unsexed, and even pairs of many species on substrates consisting of or containing sphagnum moss. For adult cages, I mix it in with the soil and compost. I had a young standingi grab a hunk of it, spit some out, and ingest a strand as he was eating a cricket the other day. I just happened to see it. I find this substrate preferable to paper towels and others for young geckos. I would just make sure he has decent water and warm temperatures. He should be fine. I have yet to have a problem with it and have had more problems with hatchlings surviving on paper towels, but this was with species more sensitive than grandis. I think rubbing his belly, etc. will add stress to the gecko that will kill him, if you don't crush him.

 

[Lunalacerta]

Oh goodness thank you for alleviating my fears. I really just didn't know if a hatchling can digest that kind of roughage.

As my other half had thought, surely they have eaten it before without us noticing.

Indeed, they seem very resilient! One of my hatchlings was not even incubated for months because I thought it was dead, kept the egg as a curio (like when you find birds eggs) then it hatched out of the blue.. But that is another story.

I had thought, that the moss is so effective at raising humidity levels with the adults, it made sense to use just this for the hatchlings. At that moment in time we had no forest compost mix left.

Have picked up some orchid bark chippings so will probably try a mix similar to the adults.

Oh and would never dream of manhandling Phelsuma, they're far too fragile for that. That is one thing that makes Leo's so much easier to inspect etc.

Thanks again for your insight.

 

[mkschaefer]

I would be alarmed about orchid bark than sphagnum moss as those are sizable chunks. I have not heard of anyone having problems with bark nuggets or chippings, but just make sure those pieces are not able to be ingested. I use organic dirt and compost with sphagnum and have never had any problems. I know other keepers who just sphagnum moss. One of the best keepers I know does this. Glad to hear it is doing well!

 

[VonDragon]

I have several Leos that are about 4 months old. One of the smallest went in his moist hide and gobbled down a 3 inch piece of moss. You are correct we did massage his tummy and he was able to pass it.