Food besides crickets, dubias, and mealworms

JessJohnson87

JessJohnson87

New member
It's probably the poop in the container. I always sit my container with the lid down so the poop falls to the bottom and you can dump it out without having to take the hornworms out of the cup. I would let the hornworm scurry across the floor of the tank and see if that entices her to eat, I usually just drop them in there and Ziggy gladly accepts them.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Thanks Jess, I'll try that. I was also keeping them upside down and emptied the poop (wow, it smells awful). I think she just isn't hungry, but it was weird that she had that reaction to them. She is pooping and active at night, so I don't think anything is wrong with her. She did shed over the weekend, so maybe that's it? I've read conflicting reports on that...some say they won't eat for a few days after a shed, some say they will eat voraciously after a shed because of all the energy it takes. I dunno, I'll just keep offering it up and hopefully she'll start eating again.
 
JessJohnson87

JessJohnson87

New member
Ovulation could be a factor as well, breeding season is starting up for leopard geckos. I know about hornworm poop, I've been experimenting with breeding them and good lord does it start to smell after a day, thankfully those eating machines have burrowed in the soil to pupate.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Ok, now I'm wondering if I should start worrying. Today when she pooped it looked weird and her urate was yellow. It was normal up till today and she still seems physically fine, but I wonder if a vet visit is in order. I'd hate to stress her out with an unnecessary trip (she just finally seems like she's settling in) so I'd like to get some opinions. She has has a bowl of water which I clean and refresh daily she also has a bottle cap of calcium (no d3), and I've seen her lap at both. But, as has been stated in this thread several times, she hasn't been eating. What do you guys think? 20160316_220432.jpg
I was going to make a new thread in the health section but I figured I should keep it all together.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Yeah, I figured I should. I found a highly rated vet with reptile experience so I'll make an appointment with them as soon as they open. Hopefully I can get in either today or tomorrow. I'll keep updating this thread.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Ok, she has an appointment for 9am tomorrow morning. Any tips on how I could make her trip as comfortable and non-stressful as possible? I still have the cardboard box I brought her home (I think..) would that be fine? The vet is a bit of a drive (anywhere outside of a 2 mile radius is a long drive in bay area traffic) so she'll be in transit at minimum 30 minutes.
 
JessJohnson87

JessJohnson87

New member
The box is fine, just make sure to keep her warm with some hand warmers wrapped in paper towels. That's about all you can do. I drove 4 hours in my car with my crested gecko and he did fine.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Thank you Jess! You, and everyone else, have been super helpful this last week! I appreciate it so much!
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
#2---Fecal Sample Collection Procedure

My exotics vet recommends:

1. Place a piece of clean plastic where your leo usually poops. If your gecko poops somewhere else, take the poop to the vet anyway. Some poop is better than no poop! (Thanks to TheOneBlueGecko - 25 July 2011)

2. As soon as your gecko has passed some poop and urates, but without physically touching the sample, place the feces and urates directly onto a clean plastic bottle cap. (Vet has fecal sample containers if you can stop by first.)

3. Then place the bottle cap with fecal sample directly into a plastic ziploc bag. (Do NOT use paper towels or newspaper because those will absorb some of the feces necessary for a proper culture.)

4. Refrigerate this sample...unless you are taking the sample to your vet immediately. Do NOT freeze it.

5. Keep the sample cool enroute to the vet.

6. Take this fecal sample to your vet within 24 hours of collecting...the sooner the better!
 
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Britt005

Britt005

New member
Hi Elizabeth! Sorry for the delay..
Her eating habits have been sporadic so we don't really have set schedule. She has only eaten semi normally for about 3 days total since I got her. One was 5 or 6 gutloaded crickets. The gutloaded was made at the adoption place, and to be honest I forgot what was in it. Calcium and...milk powder? Some other stuff, I'd have to call them. Then one day she ate about 8 meals worms dusted with zoo med repetivite. The two days later she ate 3 or 4, dusted with d3 calcium, also zoo med. At the point I found the exoskeleton so I stopped giving her meals and she pretty stopped eating. Well except one Phoenix worm, so supplements. I did put a small thing of calcium without d3 (zoo med) in her tank. Ive seen her lick at it a few times. Sorry bout any typos, it's hard to use this forum on my phone.
 
Spotty the Leopard Gecko

Spotty the Leopard Gecko

New member
Depending on how big she is, you can vary her diet by feeding her super worms. Just be sure to crush their heads a little before offering it to her as I have heard stories of leopard geckos eating these and later them chewing through their stomachs, MOST of the stories are just fiction and a rumor. However, just to be on the safe side I would recommend doing so.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Britt005 said:
Ok, she has an appointment for 9am tomorrow morning. Any tips on how I could make her trip as comfortable and non-stressful as possible? I still have the cardboard box I brought her home (I think..) would that be fine? The vet is a bit of a drive (anywhere outside of a 2 mile radius is a long drive in bay area traffic) so she'll be in transit at minimum 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

Britt005 said:
Hi Elizabeth! Sorry for the delay..
Her eating habits have been sporadic so we don't really have set schedule. She has only eaten semi normally for about 3 days total since I got her. One was 5 or 6 gutloaded crickets. The gutloaded was made at the adoption place, and to be honest I forgot what was in it. Calcium and...milk powder? Some other stuff, I'd have to call them. Then one day she ate about 8 meals worms dusted with zoo med repetivite. The two days later she ate 3 or 4, dusted with d3 calcium, also zoo med. At the point I found the exoskeleton so I stopped giving her meals and she pretty stopped eating. Well except one Phoenix worm, so supplements. I did put a small thing of calcium without d3 (zoo med) in her tank. Ive seen her lick at it a few times. Sorry bout any typos, it's hard to use this forum on my phone.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

That's a lot of Reptivite if that's all she ate. Do you have the plain (no D3) Reptivite? Try lightly dusting just half the bugs or worms.

What are the ground temperatures under the warm dry hide as measured by a digital with a probe? If they are too cool, that's one reason why you saw an undigested mealworm exoskelton in her poop.

Have you a laptop or other computer to use? All these details are hard over a cell phone. :(
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Hi!

So I took Rizzo to the vet this morning. It looks like she has a mild GI infection and is dehydrated from not eating. The vet gave me some antibiotic drops (something that has a very long name) to give her every 24 hours and recommended that I soak her in warm water preferably once a day to keep her hydrated until she starts eating again. She told me to follow up within a week, and if she doesn't improve they will have to do some more intensive tests. But other than that, she said she was pretty healthy. She was very active again last night. She crawled onto my hand and immediately started to try to climb up my sleeve, so I took her out for a little run around. She has this fascination with my window, and it seems the more I pull her back the more she wants to go for it! But what she doesn't see (or care about) is the gap between the bed and the windowsill. So after saving her life about 10 times I put her back. I dunno what that's about, haha.

In case anyone is curious, my local vet charges $62 for an exotic pet exam and the drops were $22. But we got 50% the exam for being first time patient, so yay for us! They are a little more expensive than other vets I called, but they are more diverse as far as the animals they treat and quality of care seems pretty high.

Thanks for the tips Elizabeth! Yeah, I have a laptop but I carry it around a lot and am sometimes too lazy to go get it and hook it up lol. Hopefully when she starts eating more we can get her on a set schedule. Currently the only repitivite I have has D3. Guess that one more thing I can add to my quickly filling shelf of reptile supplies!
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Alright, I'm at the end of my rope
Any tricks on how to give Rizzo her antibiotic drops? She just won't. Stay. Still. As soon as a single drop gets on her lips she freaks out like I'm pouring acid on her. And the rubbing a q tip trick on her mouth to get her to open up is not working. After two days of fighting with her I'm about done lol. She is a figitey little thing.

On the plus side, I got her to eat a dubia today! A pretty sizeable one too. She showed mild interest in the rest when I lowered the container so she could see them. I'm gonna try another when she comes out of her cave.
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
Thanks for the quick reply jess. I'm going to take a deep breath, have a glass of wine, and try again in a little bit.
 
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