Rescue leo

lainezor

lainezor

New member
Hello everyone, yesterday I rescued a 3 year old female leopard gecko from a really terrible owner on kijiji (SEE PHOTOS!). The last owner fed her nothing but dead crickets which you can buy at the pet store and threw them into sand :-x. I have many feeder insects that are live and I am wondering how to get her to recognize the jumping crickets as a food source. I threw a couple in and she chased them around but didnt eat any of them. She probably never seen live feeders before. I am going to go get some mealworms today and put them in a dish for her. What is the best way for me to introduce live feeders to her?

For all interested:

BEFORE
photo(6).jpg

AFTER
photo(7).jpg
 
lainezor

lainezor

New member
Yesterday she ate about 14 mealworms. I did notice something though, when I put the mealworms in front of her she would bite beside them and miss about 6 times before she finally caught it, as if she was blind. Every time I put in a mealworm I would nudge it towards her with feeding tweezers and she'd bite at it until she caught it. If I didn't nudge it, it would get away and she wouldn't chase it.
 
Saskia

Saskia

New member
Kuddos on rescuing her!
Could you post a video of her to try to have a better understanding, how do her eyes look??
 
Geckologist.tj

Geckologist.tj

Member
lainezor said:
Yesterday she ate about 14 mealworms. I did notice something though, when I put the mealworms in front of her she would bite beside them and miss about 6 times before she finally caught it, as if she was blind. Every time I put in a mealworm I would nudge it towards her with feeding tweezers and she'd bite at it until she caught it. If I didn't nudge it, it would get away and she wouldn't chase it.
Click to expand...

When my oldest leopard gecko was younger, I wanted to keep him on sand so to reduce the chances of impaction, I fed him by hand. After almost a year of doing that, I took him off of the sand and put him on repticarpet. When I would try to feed him, he would miss 9/10 times. It wasn't because he couldn't see, he just was bad at hitting a moving target cause he was out of practice. Sounds stupid cause you would think it would be instinctual, but now he's a much better aim and hardly ever misses. FYI- I made a lot of other mistakes with him when he was young too. Thankfully he is none the worse for wear.
 
lainezor

lainezor

New member
She seems to almost feel her way around. I would put my hand near her face and she wouldn't move at all but she'd move if I tapped my finger on the floor beside her. Her eyes look normal to me, I did notice she licked her left eye a lot and squinted a fair bit even though there was only infrared light on. I took her into normal light to see her eyes and they look normal and the pupil reacts to light properly.
 
N8thegeckogeek

N8thegeckogeek

New member
try putting a small rimmed feeding bowl so its harder for the mealworms to escape. that old home looks truly awful! try jumbo mealworms and they will eventually choose a place to distribute their... dung. smart little creatures! you might want to get her a ten gallon tank
 
lainezor

lainezor

New member
The old owner had her for 6 months and she was in another home before that. She looks really skinny, I have already noticed her getting fatter from the mealworms i've been giving her and it has only been a few days. I know the cage is small, it's the one she came in from the previous owner. He claimed it to be bigger than it really was. It's not terribly small it's a 18" square but I do plan on getting her a new cage soon, hopefully tomorrow to be exact.
 
L

lanismama

New member
Ugh, that first photo breaks my heart. Thank you for rescuing her!

My Lani is the same way with hunting. He misses five times before he actually gets the worm (half the time biting me instead since I feed him with tweezers!), and I don't bother with crickets anymore, he doesn't even try to catch them. Yet his sight seems perfectly fine otherwise.
 
VivaNFLD

VivaNFLD

New member
Glad to hear she has been eating.

What is she getting for supplements. May I reccomend you purchasing some Repashy brand "rescue calcium"? I have a feeling she has a deficiency due to her previous owners improper husbandry. I think the reason she misses on a lot of her strikes is just as someone previously stated that she is out of practice. Her instincts are there but her 6 months of being offered dead prey has dulled her hunters edge. Animals rely on instincts, but that can only get them so far, instinct + experience makes a great hunter, be it gecko, wolf or even human!

Kudos on taking her in and giving her a new start on life! It is a great thing to improve an animals life.
 
lainezor

lainezor

New member
She has improved greatly. I have fattened her up with mealworms and shes catching them on her own. Only takes a couple trys. She is also chasing crickets and getting them too now. My little Jasmine is making a great recovery. I have now taken in a very young bell albino who has a tail that's insanely thin. I am concerned he isnt getting enough nutrients as he isnt eating very much.
 
N8thegeckogeek

N8thegeckogeek

New member
Wow that guy sound like a total word I'm not allowed to say on geckos unlimited. Glad to hear she's better no animal should be treated like that
 
lainezor

lainezor

New member
She is actually a he, lol. Whoops. Need a new name, was Jasmine...hmmm.... Also he is doing great! Eating LIVE insects like a champ. Catching crickets and everything, hes nice and fat too (not too fat ;) )
 
N8thegeckogeek

N8thegeckogeek

New member
Lol u could change his name to jay! Yesterday I was hearing a crackling noise coming from George's terrarium and saw he was shedding! It was so cool!
 
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