Hi all! I've been lurking on these forums for a while, reading all the goodies and trying to soak up as much information as I can. But now I have some questions and was hoping you could help me. ^_^
I was given a freshly hatched leopard gecko about roughly ten days after she crawled out of the egg. (Or so I'm told.) She was very tiny and I fed her mealworms. All was well.
I eventually moved her into a 20 gallon long after she was 2 months old. We had her in a very small tupperware container before that. (Hard to believe now she so easily fit in there now!)
Anyway, moved her in and she was happy. On the left side, I put a UTH and put a hide over that. Next to that, I put a plastic container with a small opening in the top that is misted and has paper towels in it. This humid hide sort of straddles part of the UTH so it's half on, half off.
Over in the right back corner, there's a covered paper box hide that doesn't get too much use. But it's there. And in front of that is usually her toilet pad where she usually goes.
Substrate is just a line of paper towel.
In the middle, in the front of the hide is her little bowl of calcium w/o D3. Next to that, fresh water, and next to that, a bowl of little fat mealworms, rolling around in calcium w/ D3.
I have a thermometer with a little probe under her warm hide, on top of the paper towels there and it registers 88-90 degrees. I also have one of those sensor thermometers that you just press a button and it reads and I tested the cool side and it's about 70.3 degrees.
So she's about 4 months old and she weighs 41 grams.
She has started to eat less than she used to at the start of this month. (She would put away 10-20 mealworms in a sitting and then be good for a while, now she just eats 1-3 every few days)
But that isn't the weird thing. The weird thing is lately, she's taken to crawling under the paper towel substrate. At first I thought she was cold, but her hides read normal. And she doesn't stay under the paper towels. I literally caught her doing it today. She claws at the side until she raises it up, then she shuffles around and tries to shove her head under the paper towel, if it doesn't work, she just keeps trying. Then she goes under it, shuffles under, stays there for a while, then decides to pop up somewhere else, like near her food bowl. She caught me watching her as she appeared near her food bowl and after taking a lick of water, she quietly scuffled back under the paper towels. Almost like "You saw nothing!" lmao.
At first I was worried she might get near the UTH but she seems to have no interest going near the warm parts of the tank while exploring under the paper towels. And just when I thought maybe she would find herself stuck, she popped out from the towel completely and went to go sit in her warm hide!
I go to pat the (severely) ruffled paper towels down and she pops a head out of her hide like
"What are you doin'?"
She seems pretty active. She's eating, she's pooping. (Although to my dismay now, instead of pooping on the paper towel pad, she pushes ALL THE PAPER TOWELS AWAY and poops on the glass. T_T And then somehow unruffles the paper towels and puts it all OVER the poop.
She's bright yellow and I can take her out and she sits on my shoulder or crawls behind my neck and to the other shoulder. She waddles up to my chihuahua and stares at her, waddles back to me.
I read that her going under paper towels should be alarming and I should tape the paper towels down or switch to tile. Admittedly, I've been wanting to switch to tile but is it really bad for her to use the paper towel like an under ground subway to other destinations, (like from one side of the tank to her water bowl for instance) or just to sit under there and nap as long as she's shown she knows how to get out and go to her warm hide when she wants it?
Sadly, I took pics of her after every shed so far but none of her actual tank! I'll have to charge the batteries tonight and take a pic of that I guess but here's a pic of her at the end of October I had uploaded to the PC.
So, basically the questions:
Is her weight okay for her age? (4 months)
Is it okay to let her play under the paper towels?
Is it okay for her to eat less ferociously at this age?
When will she stop growing completely?
Should I really tape the paper towels down?
Is there anything I'm doing glaringly wrong that could cause the weird paper towel adventures/less eating?
She is stationed in the living room and it can get pretty busy in here but considering it's usually just my husband and I doing introverted things like watching TV or playing on the computers, that shouldn't make her flee to under the paper towels, right? I thought maybe it could be a stress thing?
I dunno, I'm a worry wart. I was sure I was going to accidentally kill her within her first week of living w/ me, lol. Lucky for me, she's a hardy little sweetheart. She's so sweet and I don't want anything to happen to her. But she doesn't seem to be one to complain either. She never bit, and she's only barked twice that I've heard and that was when she was in her cage, staring out of her cage from the other side of the living room.
Any advice/pointers would be much appreciated, thanks in advance!
I was given a freshly hatched leopard gecko about roughly ten days after she crawled out of the egg. (Or so I'm told.) She was very tiny and I fed her mealworms. All was well.
I eventually moved her into a 20 gallon long after she was 2 months old. We had her in a very small tupperware container before that. (Hard to believe now she so easily fit in there now!)
Anyway, moved her in and she was happy. On the left side, I put a UTH and put a hide over that. Next to that, I put a plastic container with a small opening in the top that is misted and has paper towels in it. This humid hide sort of straddles part of the UTH so it's half on, half off.
Over in the right back corner, there's a covered paper box hide that doesn't get too much use. But it's there. And in front of that is usually her toilet pad where she usually goes.
Substrate is just a line of paper towel.
In the middle, in the front of the hide is her little bowl of calcium w/o D3. Next to that, fresh water, and next to that, a bowl of little fat mealworms, rolling around in calcium w/ D3.
I have a thermometer with a little probe under her warm hide, on top of the paper towels there and it registers 88-90 degrees. I also have one of those sensor thermometers that you just press a button and it reads and I tested the cool side and it's about 70.3 degrees.
So she's about 4 months old and she weighs 41 grams.
She has started to eat less than she used to at the start of this month. (She would put away 10-20 mealworms in a sitting and then be good for a while, now she just eats 1-3 every few days)
But that isn't the weird thing. The weird thing is lately, she's taken to crawling under the paper towel substrate. At first I thought she was cold, but her hides read normal. And she doesn't stay under the paper towels. I literally caught her doing it today. She claws at the side until she raises it up, then she shuffles around and tries to shove her head under the paper towel, if it doesn't work, she just keeps trying. Then she goes under it, shuffles under, stays there for a while, then decides to pop up somewhere else, like near her food bowl. She caught me watching her as she appeared near her food bowl and after taking a lick of water, she quietly scuffled back under the paper towels. Almost like "You saw nothing!" lmao.
At first I was worried she might get near the UTH but she seems to have no interest going near the warm parts of the tank while exploring under the paper towels. And just when I thought maybe she would find herself stuck, she popped out from the towel completely and went to go sit in her warm hide!
I go to pat the (severely) ruffled paper towels down and she pops a head out of her hide like
"What are you doin'?"She seems pretty active. She's eating, she's pooping. (Although to my dismay now, instead of pooping on the paper towel pad, she pushes ALL THE PAPER TOWELS AWAY and poops on the glass. T_T And then somehow unruffles the paper towels and puts it all OVER the poop.
She's bright yellow and I can take her out and she sits on my shoulder or crawls behind my neck and to the other shoulder. She waddles up to my chihuahua and stares at her, waddles back to me.
I read that her going under paper towels should be alarming and I should tape the paper towels down or switch to tile. Admittedly, I've been wanting to switch to tile but is it really bad for her to use the paper towel like an under ground subway to other destinations, (like from one side of the tank to her water bowl for instance) or just to sit under there and nap as long as she's shown she knows how to get out and go to her warm hide when she wants it?
Sadly, I took pics of her after every shed so far but none of her actual tank! I'll have to charge the batteries tonight and take a pic of that I guess but here's a pic of her at the end of October I had uploaded to the PC.
So, basically the questions:
Is her weight okay for her age? (4 months)
Is it okay to let her play under the paper towels?
Is it okay for her to eat less ferociously at this age?
When will she stop growing completely?
Should I really tape the paper towels down?
Is there anything I'm doing glaringly wrong that could cause the weird paper towel adventures/less eating?
She is stationed in the living room and it can get pretty busy in here but considering it's usually just my husband and I doing introverted things like watching TV or playing on the computers, that shouldn't make her flee to under the paper towels, right? I thought maybe it could be a stress thing?
I dunno, I'm a worry wart. I was sure I was going to accidentally kill her within her first week of living w/ me, lol. Lucky for me, she's a hardy little sweetheart. She's so sweet and I don't want anything to happen to her. But she doesn't seem to be one to complain either. She never bit, and she's only barked twice that I've heard and that was when she was in her cage, staring out of her cage from the other side of the living room.
Any advice/pointers would be much appreciated, thanks in advance!
