Head Pitting

So my new Sungow I got last weekend is rather thin. She is a great eater but I noticed she has some slight pitting on the top of her head. She eats mostly meal worms so I assume it is slight dehydration. In previous situations with other reptiles I have always soaked them in diluted gatorade, would this be acceptable with geckos? Also, I know alot of reptiles dont recognize still water so I am worried my geckos may not be away of their water source (I use shallow terra cotta pot bottoms).

wow never heard of soaking in gatorade lol. Im not sure on that one.

But i know what you mean on the head pitting, unfortunately it is a sign of being very underweight or malnourished.
Hopefully we can get the gecko back to normal health.

Leo's do seem to recognise still water, or at least they are fine at finding their water.
Maybe the water supply is too high? or too far from a hide that the gecko doesn't want to venture out?

That would be my first guess is that the gecko is too insecure to find the water. I keep my water dish just 5 inches roughly from the opening of the warm hide where they frequent the most!

Mine recognize and use the terra cotta pot bottoms so they should be ok. I have never heard of soaking them in gatorade but I DO know that you can soak them in just water for 20 minutes a day and that will help rehydrate them.

Also, I actually DO a soak once a week with my leo's just to make sure everything is "coming out alright". You might look into doing a weekly bath schedule too.

The only thing about bathing like that is if they are new and young and skittish and all you can easily stress them out and turn them off eating. i have some that will tolerate baths well and others that darn near lose their minds. Actually even now when they are having issues shedding I prefer to prepare a sauna for them rather then submersing them in even shallow water because it stresses some of them.

I wish mine tolerated their baths like your Kodieh. If yours is ok with it Vanessa then bath her more often if you wish, I just personally prefer not to stress them out if not necessary.

It's been a learned thing, they sort of freaked on me when I first was doing it but got more comfortable with it after.

How do you do your saunas?

The main issues with bathing often is the more you bath them more often they are at risk of getting any water in an oriface.

If you get water in their nostrils it can get in their lungs and drown them.
Leos can't cough it back up.

Or if you don't drown them you could end up with a really bad upper respratory infection that left untreated would eventually be their demise. If the pitting is caused by malnutrition what you need to do is offered a varied diet of feeder insects. Offering a varied diet offers a wider range of nutritional diversity that an emaciated animal needs moreso than a healthy animal (altho a varied diet is great for ALL herps ). I would be feeding a regimin of butterworms, waxworms and if shes large enough superworms. I wouldn't even bother with mealies at this point as she needs the higher nutirtional values of more easily digestable and processed feeders. Most herp stores or bait shops should carry a wide array of feeder worms... but I'd stay away from crickets because of the whole parasite issue that comes with them. You need a slow steady weight gain in order to avoid refeeding syndrom (please google this for a better understanding of it), it needs to be a gradual gain. She lost it slowly it needs to come back on slowly. For emaciated animals it is generally recommended to feed a higher fat lower protein diet, there's a nutrition guide in the feeding section that lists the different nutritional values of feeders. select at least 2 higher fat ones, and 1 higher protein one and rotate them thru the weekly feedings or make a mixed menu consisting of a couple of each feeder per meal. Could you define healthy eater for me please... how much is she eating per feeding? I have heard of the gatoraide thing for dehydrated chams because dehydration can be a fast death for chams but I haven't heard of it used successfully for leos. I would avoid it and just opt for a regular soak in luke warm water if you feel dehydration is an issue. You can also lightly mist your tank every couple of days and your leo will lick the droplets of water until theyfigure out where the water is and feel safe enough to comeout for it. You could try a couple drops of unflavored pedialite in their water or dropped on her nose so she can lap it off if you feel there is a need to boost electrolites and you could gutload feeders with banana for added potassium which is crucial to depleated animals. Low potassium can be responsible for many secondary system failures. Please keep us posted on her progress... hope some of this helped

Kodieh for the sauna I have a large glass cooking pan with a plastic lid. I put papertowel in the bottom and then put the leo inside. I use just slightly warmer than lukewarm water and put just enough water in to soak the papertowel then I quickly close the lid witht he leo inside. This makes steam and heat in there which helps get the moist shed off without actually soaking them.

When my sicky leopard gecko was dehydrated, I would get a dropper (like the one get get with eye drops) and drop it on their nose. They will usually lick it up and it is the least stressful method in my books and it does work!

When my sicky leopard gecko was dehydrated, I would get a drop (like the one get get with eye drops) and drop it on their nose. They will usually lick it up and it is the least stressful method in my books and it does work!

I would do what Becca said. It does seem a lot less stressful...

Yes that is a great way for a dehydrated Leo...that is also the best way that I find to give medicine:). The sauna is only for shedding assistance, not for a dehydrated leo.

I'm sorry. What is a sauna leopard gecko-wise?

LOL, I explained it in a post about 5 above this one. I find it really helpful to help with shedding without having to soak them in water. If it isn't clear in the above post just let me know and I will explain it better:)

How does that make steam?

As the heat rises and is not allowed to leave the container, it's trapped inside and then engulfs the entire container.

But how do you heat it? I highly doubt you cook it?

Thanks for the help. I have been feeding her supers, and crickets (I feed them a mixture of carrots, endive, bran, oats, berries, and green beans for a few days before feeding). She is an endless pit when it comes to food. She is an odd girl. She is out all day finally snoozing in the late afternoon. She is active, not bony, and fiesty! After her soak on Monday she looks aout 50% less pitted. Now someone mentioned about them getting water in their nose, is it normal for them so try to swim under water? Two of my 6 that I soaked went under. The soak was just up to their arm pits so not too deep.

Thanks again for the great advice!
Vanessa

P.S I have used gatorade on a baby beardie that was so weak and frail that he could not hold his head up, couldnt eat, drink, or climb. When he got bad I had to pick him up to see if he wa breathing to see if he was still alive! After 2 days of soaking in diluted gatorade slightly warmed, using a dropper to get some to roll into his mouth he came around and slowly started eating worms again and then before I new it he was chasing crickets with the others. Its pretty much pedialyte just a lot cheaper.

Lol! Never heard of that before!

thanks for the advice on the beardie Vanessa. Just because we have never heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't work. We can only offer suggestions we know...lol. Well it sure sounds like you are well on your way to making this one a nice healthy little one. I look forward to pictures!! Or have you posted them and I missed them, I was away for a few days:).

Jess, it is like taking a hot shower...the water produces steam and because it is a small container it steams it up with not being overly hot. As long as the water put into the container is warmer than the air, it will produce steam. And please don't bake you leo....lol...I just put it in a baking dish because that is the type of dish that works well

Lol! Whoops!

i have a good friend who is a pretty successful breeder, he has two sunglows that have big pits on the top of thier heads (where the venom glands would be in a venomous snake), they are both very healthy and from a very reputable breeder, and we both think it may just be a genetic goof. they both are males, both eat, drink, breed, and act very normal...it is more cosmetic and has no effect as far as health on his animals, could be the same thing. also a side note, niether of these animals started out life with these, they developed after around a year in age.

If it is considered a genetic goof then wouldn't it be right to breed them, not for a reputable breeder anyway.

(without sparking an argument lol)

i totally agree, they were two of about fifteen he got from him, and the breeder agreed to replace them, but the offer was declined and he is keeping them as pets only for his kids. we are not sure if it is a heritable defect, just a genetic flaw that caused something goofy to happen, kinda similar to something like if someone is born with a missing finger or something...we are not going to do any test breeding to find out. just interesting that they are also sunglows....? maybe even something like fluctuating incubation temps could be the cause, i have seen this do other goofy things to animals in the past(collared lizards, crested geckos). when people start breeding for different traits as far as morphs go, they are ALL genetic defects! albinism, hypomelanism, anything aside from wild type reptiles are ALL DEFECTS of the genetic code of a given animal, so anyone breeding for morphs is technically breeding genetic goofs. just saying.