Horrible smelling gecko droppings and impaction

[Honeybadger]

Hello everybody, I bought a baby leo (Pudding) from the store around a month ago and Pudding eats well, is active, brightening colors, etc. However I noticed that Pudding is eating her paper towel substrate and I have tried preventing this by pinning down the sides and corners of the paper towel but she simply attacks the middle. Her poop has always smelled but it's been gradually getting worse with a fish smell, which is weird because my other gecko doesn't smell at all. since last week Pudding's droppings looked more like a ball of mealworm exoskeleton instead of poop (indigestion?). Today there was a gigantic all-white solid paper dropping next to her normal brown one. It smelled like the stench of a huge cow farm on a boiling hot day, and it was so bad it smelled dangerous. How could such a small gecko's poop smell so horrible?! I immediately changed out the paper towels to a smooth heavyweight paper that for a fact she can't do anything with. So now I can't use paper towel because she eats it, but I can't keep using this expensive paper as my gecko substrate. Please let me know of any alternative substrates, or if my gecko might have a deficiency, infection, or illness that is making her eat the towels!

Note / fresh water and vitamin powder is provided in the tank at all times so if Pudding is eating paper towel for additional nutrients I'm not sure what she is lacking. Their bedding is changed every other day or when soiled, she gets along well with my other gecko so no territorial stress, warm hide and cool hide is provided, she is fed gut loaded (oatmeal, vitamin powder and apple) mealworms daily and a waxworm once or twice a week.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Note / fresh water and vitamin powder is provided in the tank at all times so if Pudding is eating paper towel for additional nutrients I'm not sure what she is lacking. Their bedding is changed every other day or when soiled, she gets along well with my other gecko so no territorial stress, warm hide and cool hide is provided, she is fed gut loaded (oatmeal, vitamin powder and apple) mealworms daily and a waxworm once or twice a week.

Welcome aboard!

After you place regular paper towels in the enclosure, spray them down heavily with water. That will help them "stick" and not easily be eaten. You could also use rough textured ceramic or porcelain tiles as the substrate. Sometimes layers of paper towels in the poop spot will save you from frequently changing out all the paper towels.

Foul smelling feces is a sign that something is amiss. How about taking a sample to a vet? The sooner the better. Even dog and cat vets should be able to do fecals.

Are you housing these leos separately? Aggression by cagemates can be subtle. If Pudding is ailing, the other gecko may also get infected.

What sex is your older leo?

Keeping vitamin powder in the vivarium at all times could lead to an overdose. It's better to lightly dust the bugs and worms now and then. What brand of vitamins have you? Some are better than others.

What temps are you keeping them as measured by a digital thermometer or a temp gun?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Here's how my exotics vet recommends collecting a stool sample:

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!
3. 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.)
5. 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.)
7. Refrigerate this sample...unless you are taking the sample to your vet immediately. Do NOT freeze it.
9. Keep the sample cool enroute to the vet.
11. Take this fecal sample to your vet within 24 hours of collecting...the sooner the better!

[There are two types of fecals: fecal float and direct smear tests. For geckos, ask the vet whether both tests should be run.]