Not eating or constipation?

Hi all, I got my first leopard gecko about a week ago. The morning after the first night home he/she had a poo. Since then, there been very little. From what I have read here it maybe that there not eating as there settling in? I was told to put a small bowl of mini meal worms in and top up as required, is that right? Should I worry about the lack of poo? Because I am a little. Hopefully just settling in.

First thing I would ask is that you fill out our care questionaire http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t134-please-read-and-fill-out-with-your-health-questions just copy/paste into this thread. When was the last time she ate? Depending on her age/size mini meal worms may hold no appeal for her. Leos can handle feeders that are no bigger around than the space between their eyes. Smaller food than what she can handle means feeding more of it which could cause problems with ingesting too much shell, risks constipation. Personally I would try a larger feeder dropped right in front of her. Prey drive is triggered by movement. A dish of bugs doesn't move very much, not to mention its hard to properly gutload your bugs if you're leaving them in a dish for days on end. Count how many you put in there to see what she's actually eating if you don't hand feed her. The fact she's poo'd is good, it could just be settlingin but we'll know more once you fill out the questionaire.

About your leo:
- Sex unknown
- Age & Weight was told about 6 months
- Morph (if you know) possibly a hypo tangerine carrot tail
- How long have you owned your leo 1 week 2 days
- Where was he/she obtained (Pet store, breeder, wild caught, etc.) porton aquatics
- Is your leo wild caught or captive bred unknown

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo once today when it was investigating me
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
B) Fecals
- Describe-Do they look any different than normal first one was raisin? Shaped then again but smaller then a bit of diareia then nothing
- When was the last time he/she went two days ago
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem/issue you are experiencing and how long it has been going on not really pooping it seem to eat

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size 24x12x12
- Type (ex. glass tank, screen enclosure, tub kept) wooden
- Type of substrate (sand, vinyl tiles, ceramic/stone tiles, etc.) a fake turf
- Hides (how many, location and type (hothide, humid hide, regular hide etc.) rock shaped hide in the cooler side
B) Heating
- What is your main heat source (heat bulbs, under tank heat mat etc) **Please include the brand and size of your UTH if you use one** 25w basking lamp and a thermostatic controlled heat rock
- What are your cage temps (hot side and cool side)
- Method of regulating your heat source (thermostat, rheostat, light dimmer etc.)
- What are you using to measure your temps (probe thermometer, infrared lazer tempo gun, stick on temp gauge, etc) thermometer and a probe
- Do you have any lights (describe type (red,blue, basking etc) and cycle duration) basking light. About 9-21:00
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females)
- Describe health, or previous problems of cage mates

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What are you feeding mini meal worms
- How often are you feeding your gecko and how much per feeding? Small bowl of meal worms always topped up as per sellers instructions
- How are you feeding (hand fed, tongs/tweezers, left in dish, ect) left in bowl. Did try feeding by tongs tonight. Licked it one then just kept turning head away
B) Supplements
- What calcium suppliment are you using (please include brand)
- What multi vitimin are you using (please include brand)
-How are you implimenting your suppliment program (how often do you dust with each suppliment, do you leave calcium in the tank 24/7 etc.) dust bowl every other night
- What are you gutloading your feeder insects with carrot strips

I'll be going to get a couple of new foods or it tomorrow as seems not to show interest in the meal worms. Any suggestions?
#2

By reading over what you filled out, it seems like you are missing an under tank heating pad. Heat rocks are not good to use with leopard geckos, they are known to burn them and cause injuries. Basking light can be done, but for a novice leopard gecko owner, it's much easier to purchase an under tank heating pad that covers 1/3 of the tank, and hook it up to a thermostat and never have to worry about it ever again.

Leopard geckos require belly heat to properly digest their food. Without proper belly heat reaching 90-95 degrees, they can not digest food properly. And if they can't digest food properly, they can't defecate properly either.

Also you will want to purchase a multi-vitamin powder to dust your feeders with prior to feeding them to your gecko. There are popular store brands like Repashy Calcium Plus, Zoo Med Reptivite, Rep-Cal Herptivite, all are good brands that you can find everywhere.

As for feeders, after you fix up husbandry, you can give crickets a try. I would suggest dubia roaches but they usually aren't something you can buy in pet stores. Get a small amount of crickets, like 5-10 from your local pet store, and see if your gecko likes them. Sometimes all it takes is a lil excitement to get them to start eating. Once they start to eat, you can then try to feed mealworms again if you choose. Variety is key in their diet so it won't hurt to have different feeders.

If you do try crickets, make sure to take any crickets your gecko doesn't eat in 15 mins out of the tank. They can cause stress and injuries to your gecko if left in the tank. You can also pull their hind legs to stop them from jumping and running so fast. It helps when you have a gecko that doesn't have their hunting skills mastered yet.

Hi. Thanks for your reply. I have a heat pad that I used on my scorpion before he died. Is only about a year old. What wattage would it need to be? If I can get a thermostatic controlled one, I need to set it at 90-95? I take it by pull the feedets legs you mean pull them off?? Ouch. Would it also be wise to take out the thermo heat rock? He/she seems to like it. There on it on and off throughout the day. I can get the multi vitamin tomorrow. Do I do the calcium and multi vitamin at the same time?

Under tank heating pad usually go by size, you want it to cover 1/3 of your tank, no larger than 1/2 of your tank. As long as it can reach 90-95 degrees, then it'll work fine. Remember that's the temperature on the substrate inside the tank, where your leopard gecko will lay on. So you would usually need either a heat gun or digital thermometer with probe to test the floor temperature properly.

By pulling legs, yes if you pull the 2 hind legs off crickets (or dubia roaches) it'll impair their movement. This helps your gecko catch them better if you have one that is bad at aiming and not motivated.

Yes it's best to take the heat rock out, it's been known to cause problems. If you get an under tank heating pad hooked up properly, that's all you'll need heating wise.

For multi vitamin, if you get the all-in-one supplement like Repashy Calcium Plus, or Zoo Med Reptivite with D3, you can use them 2-3x a week and not have to worry much about anything else. You can skip the calcium once you start using these all-in-one supplements because they also contain calcium.

Ok. Thanks very much! I'll have a look tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on. Also how the gecko gets on with the new food.

Also, would the pad go under the tank on
The base where is sits on my cabinet. Or under the fake turf substrate? Sry for the questions but I want to make it right. I used to have a 450ltr and
A 160ltr tropical fish tank. Always did the best possible. Had
To give them up due to healt reasons though:o(. I just want
To do my upmost to make it the best it can.

They go on the outside, underneath the tank itself. You'll want to make sure the corners of your tank are lifted up a bit so the UTH doesn't sit flat on the bottom of the tank with no air flow.

Ok thanks

If you're using a wooden viv it'll have to g inside as it'll likely be too thick to heat thru the wood. If you're using a glass viv it goes underneath but I'm pretty sure I saw in your questionaire it was a 24x12x12 wooden viv.

Whoa good catch, I missed "wooden". UTH has gotta go inside if it's wooden.

Ok thanks. Between the floor and the fake turf I'm gathering?

no prob hon, that's what were all here for, to help eachother out

KillerKlown wrote:Ok thanks. Between the floor and the fake turf I'm gathering?

Correct, you don't want your gecko to touch the UTH itself, the pads can get extremely hot.

KillerKlown wrote:Hi. Thanks for your reply. I have a heat pad that I used on my scorpion before he died. Is only about a year old. What wattage would it need to be? If I can get a thermostatic controlled one, I need to set it at 90-95? I take it by pull the feedets legs you mean pull them off?? Ouch. Would it also be wise to take out the thermo heat rock? He/she seems to like it. There on it on and off throughout the day. I can get the multi vitamin tomorrow. Do I do the calcium and multi vitamin at the same time?

Hi,

I just wanted to add that you don't want to use carrots as gutload alone or on a daily basis. Carrots can bind calcium and mealworm are a very poor source as it is and lack nutrition. Vary insects and use veggies high in calcium like mustard greens, collard green, kale and provide water gel.

Hi, I do provide water gel, I also, provide some different veggies

Just had a text from my wife. It looks as if the reason may be have found. My wife says it looks as though there are two eggs by the heat rock that they lay on. She is going to send me some pics, and when I have them, I'll upload them to here. If they are eggs, would that explain the situation?

Hi, here is a picture of what I presume to be eggs, which also means I know now the sex of my gecko

Yep those are eggs. Their likely not any good at this point so I would just freeze them and throw them away. Def. A girl aye it would certainly be a good reason for all the issues you've been experiencing.

Carrots block calcium... Thats a new one, never heard that before and actually according to this article from the national academy of science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC45746/ says that Solubilized proteins from carrot (Daucus carota L.) membranes bind calcium channel blockers and form calcium-permeable ion channels (P Thuleau, A Graziana, R Ranjeva, and J I Schroeder). Which means carrots actually keep open the calcium permeable channels. Also carrots are a source of calcium as well as providing a multitude of other health benefits http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/nutrition2.html. The one downside of using too many carrots would be a build up of calcium oxalates which can lead to kidney stones in the host animal (ie, the feeder, not the eater), these stones, if they were formed in the feeder would be passed by the eater as undigestable waste.

Herp would you happen to have the source of the information that led you to believe carrots blocked calcium absorbtion?

Thanks Kermit. Just out of curiousity, why would they be no good? Not that it'll happen again, as she is kept on here own.

Oh it will happen again killer, females lay eggs reardless if they're bred or not, they will usually have up to 3-5 clutches with 2-4 eggs each clutch. Theyre not likely good because they were laid on a heat ssource and not in a moist substrait. One is already dented which is not a good sign. You can candle the eggs and look for the tell tale veining that would indicate a viable egg, but just the process of moving them could detach the yolk sac if they were good. Besides I don't think your equipped to deal wih eggs (ie incubator and incubating medium etc) so in the long run you're better off just disposing of them honestly.

There in the freezer now. I couldn't do the breeding thing yet. New to keeping them for starters lol. Thanks very much for your help

You're welcome killer. Thanks for doing the responsible thing. Soon enough you'll be ready if you dcide to undertake breeding. Were here to help ya

Maybe one day lol. I take my pet keeping seriously, I always try to do tr right thing for the animal in question. Thanks again mate