Young leopard gecko: never coming out of moist hide.

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cmerchant1598

New member
Hello,

I've posted here a few times about Mango my baby leopard gecko. It has almost two weeks since I brought her home. I do not see her very often besides every once and awhile. She has been hiding in her moist hide for about three days without eating. I may just be a bit paranoid but my question is should I replace her moist hide with something more see through like a Tupperware container? She has plenty of other hides (warm and cold) at good temperatures. My concern is too much humidity or moisture could be bad for her since she isn't actually shedding (just hiding). I have added an image of the moist hide, if that helps. Any advice would be well appreciated, thanks!

moist_hide.jpg
slight_aerial_overview.jpg
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Thanks for the quick reply! Here are two pictures of the other two hides. They are both covered very well in terms of a space where she can hide and not be seen/or see out. Would you recommend exchanging the moist hide or any other methods?

Edit: The log is the warm hide and the rock is the cold hide. I moved a few tiny trees to give a better view of the cold hide but it usually has a few small trees in front of it.

rock.jpg
log.jpg
 
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acpart

Well-known member
Many geckos decide there's one place they want to be and that's where they are, until they decide there's another place they want to be. Others are all over the place. This is not unusual. If your concern is that the gecko is hiding all the time, this is pretty usual for juveniles. I had a gecko for 10 years that I named "Cameo" because I hardly ever saw her!

Aliza
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
acpart said:
Many geckos decide there's one place they want to be and that's where they are, until they decide there's another place they want to be. Others are all over the place. This is not unusual. If your concern is that the gecko is hiding all the time, this is pretty usual for juveniles. I had a gecko for 10 years that I named "Cameo" because I hardly ever saw her!

Aliza
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Aliza, once again you've given me comfort in the thought that my gecko is healthy. The last thing I would want is for my gecko to go without food and hide and find out she was sick the whole time. Thanks for the advice. I'd rather her hide and feel safe than be sick or something. Either way I suppose she'll come out and eat eventually! Thanks again.
 
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Sg612

Member
cmerchant1598 said:
Thanks for the quick reply! Here are two pictures of the other two hides. They are both covered very well in terms of a space where she can hide and not be seen/or see out. Would you recommend exchanging the moist hide or any other methods?

Edit: The log is the warm hide and the rock is the cold hide. I moved a few tiny trees to give a better view of the cold hide but it usually has a few small trees in front of it.

View attachment 47276
View attachment 47277
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The log is too open. I would switch the rock(not Dwayne Johnson, I’d keep him) and the log. Hey, I’m human and I’d prefer the center hide if I had to choose one to live in. However, do not touch the one he is in because it will just cause stress and then he’s less likely to eat. As a baby, he should be coming out daily for food. It may(not using the warmest spot) or may not be the reason, but worth a try.
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Sg612 -- That's a good point and I definitely agree. I think I will go out this weekend and buy her some more "secure" type hides for each end so she can feel more comfortable coming out. Thanks for the suggestion!

Edit: Read that wrong. Just switched out the log with the (non-dwayne johnson rock, haha). I may still go buy something a bit more hidden than the log though.

She doesn't come out of the moist hide at all so I hope she'll eventually come out to see it. It worries me a lot that she isn't eating daily (refused food for 3 days) and she's very young. If she doesn't come out to notice the warm hide (which I'm hoping will promote eating), what should I do?
 
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Sg612

Member
cmerchant1598 said:
Sg612 -- That's a good point and I definitely agree. I think I will go out this weekend and buy her some more "secure" type hides for each end so she can feel more comfortable coming out. Thanks for the suggestion!

Edit: Read that wrong. Just switched out the log with the (non-dwayne johnson rock, haha). I may still go buy something a bit more hidden than the log though.

She doesn't come out of the moist hide at all so I hope she'll eventually come out to see it. It worries me a lot that she isn't eating daily (refused food for 3 days) and she's very young. If she doesn't come out to notice the warm hide (which I'm hoping will promote eating), what should I do?
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One step at a time. Let’s see if she begins using the warm hide after you switch it to the more secure hide. Does she look ever thin to you?
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Sg612 said:
One step at a time. Let’s see if she begins using the warm hide after you switch it to the more secure hide. Does she look ever thin to you?
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Fortunately, she doesn't look too thin; her tail is a pretty good size for her age. I'll attach a picture of the first day I got her (2 weeks ago as of this upcoming weekend), she hasn't changed in size from that.

mango2.jpg
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Update: It has been almost another day or two since giving her some more coverage. I have not saw her come out at all and the carpet has no feces or calcium on it, the carpet is fresh and green so it would be noticeable. Unfortunately, she has not eaten anything for about 4-5 days now. Any suggestions on this? I'm growing more concerned over the fact she's not eating and that she may not have even noticed the warm hide is now more secure.
 
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Sg612

Member
cmerchant1598 said:
Update: It has been almost another day or two since giving her some more coverage. I have not saw her come out at all and the carpet has no feces or calcium on it, the carpet is fresh and green so it would be noticeable. Unfortunately, she has not eaten anything for about 4-5 days now. Any suggestions on this? I'm growing more concerned over the fact she's not eating and that she may not have even noticed the warm hide is now more secure.
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Unfortunately, this in itself can cause her to hide and/or stop eating:
I recently have started to leave my hand calmly in the tank for longer while feeding her (she eats daily and isn't picky); lately she has been screaming / attempting to run and hide / even lunging and biting. Very stressful for them.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...ing-and-heating/86814-baby-leopard-gecko.html

Of course the possibilities are many. I’m not sure how you are offering food? I’m not a dish person, but under these circumstances I guess try leaving insects(counted) in a dish, if you haven’t already? If that doesn’t work, try dangling an insect with tongs in front of the opening of the hide preferably in the evening.
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
I appreciate all of the help. She has not saw me or my hand in a few days because I do not want her to hide.

Elizabeth, that is a really good suggestion because I have not been doing that but I just put brown bags around the terrarium to give her some more comfort. For the first time in about 4 days I saw feces which means she had to have come out at some point. Unfortunately, she still has not eaten and it has been about 5 days (I have left a dish with food for her and have the mealworms counted to check up. My main concern is figuring out a way to get her to eat because she is a tiny baby.

I appreciate all of the help and support. I will continue to keep you all updated. Thanks again
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
cmerchant1598 said:
I appreciate all of the help. She has not saw me or my hand in a few days because I do not want her to hide.

Elizabeth, that is a really good suggestion because I have not been doing that but I just put brown bags around the terrarium to give her some more comfort. For the first time in about 4 days I saw feces which means she had to have come out at some point. Unfortunately, she still has not eaten and it has been about 5 days (I have left a dish with food for her and have the mealworms counted to check up. My main concern is figuring out a way to get her to eat because she is a tiny baby.

I appreciate all of the help and support. I will continue to keep you all updated. Thanks again
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Creating a stress-free environment is maybe the most important thing when acclimating any new gecko.

How are you doing for powdered supplements?

Best wishes that Mango eats soon.
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Thanks for all of your help, Elizabeth. I am A-okay on powdered supplements. All of his mealworms get powered with calcium with d3 and once or twice weekly with multi vitamins. Additionally, he has a small little dish filled with calcium w/o d3.

Do you have any suggestions for getting him to eat quicker? it has been 5 days and he has an extremely relaxed environment as well as perfect temperatures but he won't come out to eat and I am getting more worried each day, especially because I haven't saw him in five days. I have another leopard gecko named kiwi who has given me a good amount of experience with feeding and comforting but kiwi is naturally adventurous and really doesn't get scared or stressed. Mango is much more difficult to feed.

Or at some point should I lift up the moist hide to make sure she is okay considering I haven't saw her in 5 days and she hasn't eaten?
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
Elizabeth Freer said:
Patience is often the key when waiting for newbies to eat.

Have you seen this sticky?

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Not until now. Thanks for sharing that. I lifted the lid to the moist hide to make sure she was still alive and breathing after being paranoid for this long. She has lost a great deal of weight and her tail is much smaller than when I got her. In terms of husbandry, I have everything she would need and have done loads of research to make sure that I handle everything correctly. However, I think that she is just so scared to come out that she is refusing to eat and I am unsure of how to get her to eat under these conditions. I may just take her to the vet but then I may scare her more by transporting her. Either way she has lost a ton of weight and I just need to find my next best option. If she wasn't almost hatchling size I wouldn't be as nervous.


Should I replace her moist hide with something like a tupperware container or something less comfortable so that she chooses to hide in the warm hide which is much closer to the food and is very good at hiding her? This way she can get food or water if she needs it and not feel like she's being preyed to go out for food.
 
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cmerchant1598

New member
UPDATE:

I took mango to the veterinarian today and it seems that she has some kind of infection; they are not sure what because she is too small to run most tests on and she doesn't eat so I cannot get a fecal sample but pretty much her stomach is filled with fluid including the areas around her lungs. The vet has given me three different medicines to administer to her in small syringes which I will either put in her mouth or drip on her nose so she licks it off. In addition, mango has been given a vitamin b shot in hopes of kicking up her immune system. Hopefully, if I can get some weight on her and the medicine works than we can run tests and see if she's all fixed.

I really appreciate all of the support I have been given. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has assisted me and I will continue posting updates here as I find out more information!
 
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