Oreo eating his mealworms!

[6duckie6]

Here's Oreo eating his mealworms. Yummy. :?

 

[cricket4u]

Is she always that slow to eat, even with crickets? She does not have a very good feeding response. I would expect a leo of her size to eat like a scavenger. If she acts this way all the time, perhaps you;ll need to improve husbandry. Make you have a reliable hygrometer to maintain humidity. When the humidity is too low, they can become mildly dehydrated and show poor feeding response.

 

[hmarie186]

She's adorable! I noticed her little teeth got caught in the reptile carpet though.

 

[6duckie6]

Is she always that slow to eat, even with crickets? She does not have a very good feeding response. I would expect a leo of her size to eat like a scavenger. If she acts this way all the time, perhaps you;ll need to improve husbandry. Make you have a reliable hygrometer to maintain humidity. When the humidity is too low, they can become mildly dehydrated and show poor feeding response.

You mean Oreo? He's always been this way. With the crickets, they are sometimes too fast for him...He does catch them though. But he does eat a lot. When we first got him, he was placed with a female the exact same size. He didn't eat for two weeks, and we figured the female was hogging the food or scaring him. We got him a fancy sliding cage, then he started eating like a pig. As for humidity and thermometers, they are the ones that suction to the wall. I am looking to improve that to a more reliable source...So I don't have a good idea of the humidity and temp. As I said, these are only temporary. And what do you mean by "Poor feeding response"? Is he not catching them fast enough? I will plan to make a video of him eating crickets. I hope my little baby is happy. I want him to be as healthy as possible. Any suggestions?

 

[cricket4u]

I'm a bit confused. You wrote Oreo as the topic, but then you posted this underneath the video.

Recently, I got both of my babies to eat crickets. Spotty, though (Adult) Seems perfectly content with her slow mealworms. (Lazy gecko alert )

You wrote that you got the two babies to eat crickets, yet you post a video of a leo eating mealworms?

After reading this below, the possibilities are greater. Have you taken any of them in to a vet for an exam and nutritional guidance? Supplementation is very tricky and not a one size fit all.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...h-diseases/74926-leopard-gecko-tan-stool.html

 

[6duckie6]

Sorry, was tired when I posted the vid. I'll change it, but I was just saying that separately.

 

[6duckie6]

And no, I haven't. I probably should, but not enough money. I'm not very educated with the gut-loading, the calcium dusting, when you should dust, etc. About a month ago, I was walking around with Infinity (Baby female gecko, same size as Oreo), and I opened my hand, and her leg was backwards. (If you look at it from above, with their tail facing towards you, the leg is a ^ shape. when I saw her leg, is was a v shape.) I'm worried it was a calcium problem? She's still very active, loves hunting and likes to run. It goes into a normal ^ shape normally, but if she walks a certain way, it bends the other way, and when she steps again it returns to normal. She doesn't seem to be in any pain...But, I noticed, if I push on her head just a little, it feels flexible...Almost soft. When I do that with Oreo, It's hard, same with Spotty. I'm worried for my babies. I just hope they are Ok. :sad:

 

[Yuk]

Aww very cute All three of mine eat like that too

 

[JIMI]

Mine is vicious! He likes his crickets fast and jumpy:biggrin:

6duckie6,
That sounds like something that needs to be seen by a vet:sad:.
Look through this thread for brief explanations regarding gut loading and a 24/7 feed:http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/leopard-geckos-husbandry-housing-heating/75160-new-leo-owner-lots-questions.html
You may find it helpful.

 

[6duckie6]

Update on Oreo: He's been getting a little skinny, and is now dwarfed by his adoption mate, Infinity, who is nearing 7 inches. He's staying at about 6 inches. We had to bring him to the animal hospital, because one of his legs was swollen, the other looked weird on the knee, and he couldn't feel part of his tail. My brother had accidently let go of him, and we found out he had gotten some minor leg and tail trauma. He's a little underweight for his age, but not by much. His bone density wasn't as good as it should be either. We are currently giving him calcium liquid once a day with an eyedropper, as prescribed by the vet. We are gut-loading the crickets with an even higher calcium diet and dusting them every time for him. He should heal up just fine though! Hopefully he recovers fast!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Update on Oreo: He's been getting a little skinny, and is now dwarfed by his adoption mate, Infinity, who is nearing 7 inches. He's staying at about 6 inches. We had to bring him to the animal hospital, because one of his legs was swollen, the other looked weird on the knee, and he couldn't feel part of his tail. My brother had accidently let go of him, and we found out he had gotten some minor leg and tail trauma. He's a little underweight for his age, but not by much. His bone density wasn't as good as it should be either. We are currently giving him calcium liquid once a day with an eyedropper, as prescribed by the vet. We are gut-loading the crickets with an even higher calcium diet and dusting them every time for him. He should heal up just fine though! Hopefully he recovers fast!

Sorry to hear about Oreo. Good he's been to the vet and been checked out!

Is he also getting vitamin D3 in some form to help him metabolize the calcium?

 

[6duckie6]

Yes. The Calcium comes with D3. Little guy doesn't like his medicine though, so the Vet told us how to get him to take it. Basically, you hold him backwards with one hand, and rub the tip of the eyedropper against his mouth until he gets ticked off and bites it. Poor little guy. They actually X-Rayed his pelvis...With a dental X-Ray that they usually use for teeth. I can't tell if he's getting any better or not, but then again, they heal so slow. He's probably not going to be very big when he gets older, because of his size right now. I am hoping for the best though! Apart from slightly dragging his swollen leg, he seems to be catching insects just fine. He's not as good of a cricket hunter as Infinity, but he doesn't give up until he catches them all! We love you, Oreo.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Yes. The Calcium comes with D3. Little guy doesn't like his medicine though, so the Vet told us how to get him to take it. Basically, you hold him backwards with one hand, and rub the tip of the eyedropper against his mouth until he gets ticked off and bites it. Poor little guy. They actually X-Rayed his pelvis...With a dental X-Ray that they usually use for teeth. I can't tell if he's getting any better or not, but then again, they heal so slow. He's probably not going to be very big when he gets older, because of his size right now. I am hoping for the best though! Apart from slightly dragging his swollen leg, he seems to be catching insects just fine. He's not as good of a cricket hunter as Infinity, but he doesn't give up until he catches them all! We love you, Oreo.

What did the vet say about Oreo's bone density? Did he/she spot signs of metabolic bone disease?

 

[6duckie6]

The vet said he might have a very, very mild case, but that it will improve if we give him enough calcium.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

The vet said he might have a very, very mild case, but that it will improve if we give him enough calcium.

Be very consistent with his calcium with D3. As you may know some D3 is necessary to metabolize the calcium Oreo gets.

Lightly dust crickets, Blaptica dubia, and mealworms with Zoo Med's supplements like this:

Monday - lightly dust with Zoo Med's Reptivite without D3
Wednesday - lightly dust with Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3
Saturday - lightly dust with Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3

Use the Reptivite multivitamin sparingly! The directions on both containers suggest dusting according to your gecko's weight.

 

[6duckie6]

That calcium medicine has D3 in it also

 

[PowayRock]

My two Have different growth rates both bought together as hatchlings. My two have been to a vet, though no bone test was done. One (male) is quite aggressive, the other, (female) Pretty docile. Both Healthy. Hunting skills are quite different. Male is fast and aggressive. Female takes much more time. She seems to be over stealth if that makes sense. Her eyesight seems to be poor too. I would like to suggest tile for substrate. You can see in your video how his teeth get stuck. Tile is easy to clean, cheap, and last for a long time. I did like the video. As of your last post You can see how important calcium is to your gecko. They need it. I mostly wanted to share with you how I set up my crickets for my two geckos. First I would find if there is a reptile store near you for crickets. I dont advise petco its robbery if you compare prices elswhere. Online is a great option as well. I buy weekly about 60 crickets. I bought more before I added in dubia roaches every other day. Anyhow there is a cricket keeper that is very useful, Ill add pictures, One is a large and the other is small. In the small tank I keep about twenty crickets with only my gutload feed (mazuri high calcium) and water crystals for forty eight hours at a time. These cricket go directly into the gecko tank Mon, wed, and friday. (This also Is my dusting schedual days) I replace the crickets I fed to geckos from small cricket keeper (gutload tank), with crickets from the larger Crciket keeper (wherre the rest of the crickets live [60-100]). They are fed zoo meds adult bearded dragon food and water crystals 24/7. I also add cholard greens and dandelion greens. These have vitamins that are useful to your gecko but mostly makes happy healthy crickets (Crickets dont retain any of that food past the gutload tank) . For the first year or so juvenile geckos usually eat every day. Variety is highly suggested. So far, I have added Dubia roaches to the off days without gutload. I keep them the same way I do the crickets in the Large tank with the bearded dragon food and greens. The gutload is high calcium, Mon, wed, and fri. so it is easy to be confused beacuse We are basically doing the same thing with the beartded dragon food and greens. Now other than the roaches being fed well and healthy, the bearded dragon food and greens get to the geckos now because the roaches are fed only that 24/7 to where as the crickts lose all thats eaten from there large tank (w/bearded dragon food and greens) during my gutload process for 48 hours eating only the Mazuri Gutload Diet. SO i hope that help and is not confusing. That was hard to type. :shock:



I would like to add that my dust schedual and diet had been discussed with a vet. But Mostly from care sheets and user advise here. I discussed diet and dusting thouroughy with expewrienced owners from this site. I can say im still adjusting but I have reached a healthy urate and feces consistancy and color and so far actice healthy geckos. I share this with you to give you a better Idea with your feeders and gutloading them. Cricket4U makes a good point that each individual gecko can have different needs and is good to keep that in mind. Ultimately these are your geckos and you are responsible for them. They will live a long time if you care for them right. Proper husbandry is important these are delicate creatures and have alot of standards that are neccesary for your geckos life. Im hoping your discuraged finacially by pet store prices like petco, because I found a store called LLL reptile that sells everything from crickets, heat mats (UTH), thermostats, anything you can think of for literally 30-40 % of petcos prices. They have online oredering too. You may be able to house your gecko properly for cheaper than you think... I hope. Anyway good luck I hope Ive been able to help and not have you feel overly critcized. Take any criticism constructivly and use it to better your geckos life and happiness.

 

[6duckie6]

Thanks! I'll check it out, PowayRock. I have a small cricket keeper exactly like yours too. I'm going to try and dust the crickets with the reptivite. I'll get some at Petsmart.