Leo ate some paper towel

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Well, I just fed him and he ate like a champ. I had to give him Wax Worms because lately all he wants to do with the Crickets is just kill them. He'll bite them, kill them, rip their legs off, but doesn't seem too interested in eating them, and I don't want to risk leaving one or two in there to bite his tail.

Thursday I'm going to pick up some hornworms. I know he likes those for sure. I don't want to keep giving him mealworms, and wax worms are just a treat I give him every 2-3 weeks or so. If anyone knows a cheap place where I can order Dubias that would also be very helpful for me. I know LLL Reptile sells them, but they are 16 bucks for 100 small Dubias. That seems REALLY expensive to me, not to mention the shipping charges.

Caution feeding many, if any, waxworms.

Excellent on the hornworms. Get the smallest ones you can find.

Click: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...feeding-issues/68585-hornworm-guidelines.html
 

Andi

New member
I thought I would update this post because there have been some recent changes....

After my Leo ate the Paper Towel and dropped his tail he seemed to bounce back 36 hours later. He was eating and pooping again and I thought I was in the clear. After about 4 days of this behavior he stopped eating. I really had no clue as to what the problem was because I thought eating + pooping = all good. But after 3 days of not eating I decided to give him a long soak (about 15 minutes). That night he passed the impaction. It was the paper towel. It looked whitish/grayish, large, and oblong, and it looked like it was mixed in with digested food as well.

This actually happened late Saturday Night/Early Sunday Morning....yesterday he did not eat anything again, so he's actually gone 3-4 days with no food, but I feel very confident that he has pass the impaction.

At this point I'm pretty worried about his lack of eating. I threw in Hornworms, Mealworms, and Crickets yesterday...didn't want anything. I will try to feed again tonight.

should that not work I will be mashing up some mealworms and applying the mixture to his nose to hopefully get him to lick it up and get him going again.

Temps are still good and his tail is healing nicely. It hasn't grown much but it has healed and the pink stub is starting to grow.

I'm not sure if anyone has had a Leo who had an impaction passed it, and stopped eating because of it, but I'm assuming the impaction definitely impacted his appetite. Again, any help or advice would be welcome.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Thanks for clearly sharing all the details!

Good passing the paper towels.

How about holding back on any food for a couple days? Perhaps your leo's tummy or intestines are irritated by passing this impaction. Just have 24/7 access to fresh water. Then begin anew. Start with one hornworm.
 
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Andi

New member
Thanks for clearly sharing all the details!

Good passing the paper towels.

How about holding back on any food a couple days? Perhaps your leo's tummy or intestines are irritated by passing this impaction. Just have 24/7 access to fresh water. Then begin anew. Start with one hornworm.

Ok. I will give this a shot.
 

Andi

New member
Both correct. He didn't eat for 24 hours after passing the paper towel. Than he shed. I offered the hornworms but he didn't go for them. I really have to take the blame though because I bought them on Friday, a whole bunch in fact, with the food any everything...but I left them at room temperature. By Tuesday they had more than doubled in size and totally useless to me (I was thinking about cutting them in half but thought better of it).

Since than he's gone back on mealworms, but still is not that interested in eating crickets....only ripping legs off. I hate giving him mealworms and the hornworms are tricky. I just need to order the dubias already.

Also.... went to 3 hardware stores in the city by my job and no one had the extra strong paper towels, but I haven't given up!
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Both correct. He didn't eat for 24 hours after passing the paper towel. Than he shed. I offered the hornworms but he didn't go for them. I really have to take the blame though because I bought them on Friday, a whole bunch in fact, with the food any everything...but I left them at room temperature. By Tuesday they had more than doubled in size and totally useless to me (I was thinking about cutting them in half but thought better of it).

Since than he's gone back on mealworms, but still is not that interested in eating crickets....only ripping legs off. I hate giving him mealworms and the hornworms are tricky. I just need to order the dubias already.

Also.... went to 3 hardware stores in the city by my job and no one had the extra strong paper towels, but I haven't given up!

Have you tried smaller crickets for your leo?

Did you feed those giant hornworms to the birds?

Click here for some tips keeping hornworms: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...feeding-issues/68585-hornworm-guidelines.html

Did you see Scott's Blue Shop paper towels? They are a little tougher than kitchen paper towels.
 
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Andi

New member
I actually only use small crickets....I was thinking maybe they are too small for him, but my other one has no problem eating them, and they are roughly the same size.

I threw the Hornworms out into the snow bank for the birds, but who knows if they ate them or not, we had horrible weather the last few days over here.

Haven't found the blue paper towels :(
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
I actually only use small crickets....I was thinking maybe they are too small for him, but my other one has no problem eating them, and they are roughly the same size.

I threw the Hornworms out into the snow bank for the birds, but who knows if they ate them or not, we had horrible weather the last few days over here.

Haven't found the blue paper towels :(

My local Home Depot carries Scott's Blue Shop towels. Did you try looking in the automotive or tool departments?

Hope your weather improves soon! Our 3 inches of powdery snow barely lasted 3 days.
 
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