Looking for opinions on sick gecko

About your leo:
- Female
- 8 years old, unsure on weight (vet said was good weight tho)
- Morph - no idea
- Her whole life aside from the month or so she was in the pet store.
- Bought in pet store
- Is your leo wild caught or captive bred - I don't know.

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - everyday
- Is your leo acting any different today? Today? No, not any different since the problem began.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe. None that are serious. She has had poop get stuck to her butt sometimes and needed help with shedding but nothing like this.
B) Fecals
- Describe- Much Small and more liquidy and clumpy.
- When was the last time he/she went - yesterday
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem/issue you are experiencing and how long it has been going on
Started by a bad batch of waxworms or so I thought. She was less than thrilled about them and puked them up. She has refused to eat by choice since then. She keeps her head in the air most of the time. She gets irritated when held too long. Breathing seems to be heavy. Her tail seems to be losing weight but yet her body/stomach seem large and bloated. She is apathetic and lethargic (except when I take her out of the tank she wants to run and roam). She shed a few days ago and would not take it off herself at all. I left it alone for the day but when I came home from work it was falling off around her and some was covering her eye so I soaked her and helped her take it off. This has been going on for about 2 weeks now.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size 29 gallon
- Type Glass tank
- Type of substrate Vinyl tiles - the ones that don't bend and no adhesive on them. Prior to this she was on paper towel.
- Hides One hothide and one regular hide. Plus a ramp to climb on top of the regular hide which she also likes to hide under.
B) Heating
- What is your main heat source Heat pad with a lamp for as needed.
- What are your cage temps Hot side: 80-88 Cool side: 70-80
- Method of regulating your heat source not sure?
- What are you using to measure your temps stick on temp gauge
- Do you have any lights UV basking 25watt bulb
C) Cage mates
- How many Lived with one male mate for about 5 years. He became aggressive and separated them. Has been on her own for almost 3 years now.
- Describe health, or previous problems of cage mates Mate had many problems. Cysts under his eye for first couple years of life and vet could never say why. Finally they just stopped. Always had some pooping issues and died to impaction last year with unsuccessful treatment from vet. Impaction was *not* due to substrate.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What are you feeding Gutloaded and dusted crickets and waxworms.
- How often are you feeding your gecko and how much per feeding? Every other day sometimes 2 days, was my feeding schedule. 4-6 crickets and 3-4 waxworms.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, tongs/tweezers, left in dish, ect) tweezers.
B) Supplements
- What calcium suppliment are you using (please include brand) Reptocal
- What multi vitimin are you using (please include brand) Reptocal covers this also I believe?
-How are you implimenting your suppliment program I dust the crickets with the calcium
- What are you gutloading your feeder insects with Orange cubes and water

Before responding Please note:
She has been to the vet twice in the past two weeks, but he is at a loss for what is wrong so I am hoping to find something here. This is the 4th herp vet I have been to in this area and he appears to be the most knowledgeable and actually know what he is talking about. He owns 3 leopard geckos of his own.

The vet said she does not have a parasite, is not impacted, is not eggbound and he has done xrays along with his own physical exam. He was interested in a stool sample which I've been unable to obtain until now and will probably bring it up to him this weekend. He believes it is nothing serious but I disagree. He has recommended force feeding her for the time being and that sometimes geckos just refuse to eat and that he has 2 right now refusing to eat. I've bought baby food and been giving her small amounts every other day. She still is mostly unwilling but will lick it off after a few minutes.

I feel something is not right and I want to catch it now before its too late. My last gecko died to impaction and I know it was my fault for not taking action soon enough. I will not let that happen again. She has never refused to eat ever and this is just not like her. I know in my heart that something is wrong and its not just a lull.

And to address two things I know people will point out right away.. Yes I know now that her waxworm intake was too frequent.
As for temps.. I did keep her hotside around 85-95 but the vet said that was too high. She was avoiding that side of the tank and since bringing the temps down to mostly 80-85 she is not avoiding it anymore.


Any ideas for what could be wrong with her would be much appreciated!

The vet doesn't think she has upper respiratory infection? sounds like it if she is keeping her head in the air like she can't breath. It's too cold and maybe you are measuring the air temp? I keep the air temp 77-85 and belly heat 92-94. You need to measure the heat on the floor with a thermometer probe. her diet does not sound too healthy. You have to gutload better and feed more types of insects. I use Sandfire super foods cricket diet ILF to gutload. You should not be dusting D3 all the time. She also needs vitamins. I use Reptivite. Zoomed plain calcium and one bottle with d3. Read this made by Kermit.

http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t2888-how-to-basics-on-supplimenting-your-leo

I hope he would have noticed if it was an upper respiratory infection. My last gecko also did this head in the air thing alot towards the end but I think it was from nausea.
Her temps were higher prior to the vet visit, I only lowered them at his insistence so I don't believe this could have been cause from too cold of temps.

Also what is so unhealthy about her diet? Aren't crickets pretty standard? She is very picky. She has been on mealworms and crickets for a long time but she started having problems digesting the mealworms. She would poop them out and they would be complete worms still. I tried smaller and bigger and still the same issue. I'd rather not push that issue since like I said before impaction is something I am very afraid of so I stopped giving her mealworms. (Oh and btw on that issue the vet I went to at the time told me "well that happens when geckos get old")
I ordered phoenix worms from all the rave reviews hoping she would love them. She hated them. She reluctantly ate 3-4 the first feeding. The next one she refused to touch them. She would act interested and walk over to them and stare but then walk away.
Crickets has been the only food she will eat on a continuous basis.
As for other "insects".. I don't know where to purchase these since crickets is the only insect at the pet stores around here.. and I am not exactly swimming in cash to keep ordering things online.

As for vitamins and gutloading.. I was recommended both orange cubes and reptocal from this site.. it seems every time I come here I get conflicting information and am told once again I am doing it wrong.

Sorry to be defensive.. very frustrated :<

Leesah wrote:I hope he would have noticed if it was an upper respiratory infection. My last gecko also did this head in the air thing alot towards the end but I think it was from nausea.
Her temps were higher prior to the vet visit, I only lowered them at his insistence so I don't believe this could have been cause from too cold of temps.

Also what is so unhealthy about her diet? Aren't crickets pretty standard? She is very picky. She has been on mealworms and crickets for a long time but she started having problems digesting the mealworms. She would poop them out and they would be complete worms still. I tried smaller and bigger and still the same issue. I'd rather not push that issue since like I said before impaction is something I am very afraid of so I stopped giving her mealworms. (Oh and btw on that issue the vet I went to at the time told me "well that happens when geckos get old")
I ordered phoenix worms from all the rave reviews hoping she would love them. She hated them. She reluctantly ate 3-4 the first feeding. The next one she refused to touch them. She would act interested and walk over to them and stare but then walk away.
Crickets has been the only food she will eat on a continuous basis.
As for other "insects".. I don't know where to purchase these since crickets is the only insect at the pet stores around here.. and I am not exactly swimming in cash to keep ordering things online.

As for vitamins and gutloading.. I was recommended both orange cubes and reptocal from this site.. it seems every time I come here I get conflicting information and am told once again I am doing it wrong.

Sorry to be defensive.. very frustrated :<

No worries, I don't get offended easy. Everyone does things a bit diffrent. I am just telling you what the vet has told me and what works for me. Every insect has diffrent nutrition. So if you are only feeding one and not giving a vitamin supplement than they are going to lack some vitamins. Just think of all the vitamins we need. They need it too. That is why vitamins and diffrent insects are so important. The gutload needs to have all the vitamins.You are what you eat. If you eat pizza every time, eventually you will become ill because your diet is missing some vitamins and minerals the body needs. They can't just live off of calcium and chitin. Start reading the ingredients in the labels when you buy gutload. hey I am not rich either but if I want a healthy gecko I have to provide all they need. Silkworms are very healthy to add to crickets. I think one of your problems was you were reading the air temp and the air temp was too high. The air temp should not go higher than 85 on the warmest part. The belly heat temp is important. I think you need a better calcium product too. Too much d3 can damage there kidneys.

If Reptocal is all you were giving then you must be be giving too much d3 and this has no vitamins or minerals.
http://www.petco.com/product/5693/TetraFauna-Reptocal-Reptile-Supplement.aspx
Look at all the problems lack of vitamin a can cause.
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/reptilehealth/p/vitadefrept.htm

You have to start reading so you can learn.