Jonas Sandstedt
New member
Hello, we have a female leopard Gecko named Elvira that we bought 1 year ago, she was then three years old. The previous owner had only fed her zoophobas worms, and we continued with that. She was active and alert and quickly ate 3-4 worms a couple of times each week. During the winter she ate less, about 1-2 worms and perhaps only once a week, otherwise she was not interested. In March she stopped eating completely and had become less active during the late winter. 13 April she weighed 68 grams. 21 April I took her to the vet where she was examined and x-rayed. They did not find any apparent problems with her, and I explicitly asked them to look for signs of egg binding that had been fatal for our previous leopard gecko that died last spring. The x-ray revealed objects around the liver and an enlarged liver, and the diagnosis, in view of the food, was that she suffered from liver fattening (no signs off egg binding), and we were to give her lactulose and try to feed her crickets and also feed with Carnivore Care food substitutes if she did not eat the crickets. I gave her the lactulose according to prescription, and fed her with Carnivore Care since the crickets did not attract her attention at all. Nothing happened, and I never noticed that she ate any crickets. 27 May I went back to the vet and Elvira was examined again, but the vet (a new one this time) could not find anything wrong and supported the previous diagnosis. We were advised to try dubia instead of crickets and continue with lactulose for a couple of weeks, but discontinue with the Carnivore Care. She looks at the dubia but is not interested in them, I have not seen her eat any one of them. Today, 26 June, she weighed 58 grams and the tail has become slightly smaller. During this time, I have tried to feed zoophobas worms occasionally as a test, and she ate one of them once, but is otherwise always uninterested. Interestingly, since April she has become more and more active and curious, often walking about in the terrarium and often coming when I open the terrarium door. But she does not eat.
Elvira lives in a 90cm*40cm*50cm terrarium, pictures are enclosed. We have changed the bottom material from sand to tiles, at the warm side (about 1/3 of the bottom surface) there is about 30-35 degrees Celsius, and at the cold side about 25 degrees Celsius, she has a moist “cave” partly on the warm side where she likes to spend time. Although she does not eat, we find faeces 1-2 times a week, and she sheds regularly without problems. I am very grateful for any tips regarding how to continue. Best regards Jonas
Elvira lives in a 90cm*40cm*50cm terrarium, pictures are enclosed. We have changed the bottom material from sand to tiles, at the warm side (about 1/3 of the bottom surface) there is about 30-35 degrees Celsius, and at the cold side about 25 degrees Celsius, she has a moist “cave” partly on the warm side where she likes to spend time. Although she does not eat, we find faeces 1-2 times a week, and she sheds regularly without problems. I am very grateful for any tips regarding how to continue. Best regards Jonas
