Dory's Behaviors

So my lizard dory has been acting differently, and I posted a thread about her not eating but now I have more developments, she seems very inactive, I don't know about the time when I'm sleeping, she doesn't eat, she moves her tail A LOT now, kinda like a rattle snake. I seen her do that when she was eating, but now it's kind of a soft pattern back and forth, when I put her in the bath this morning, she sat there for about 10 minutes enjoying it, then I took her out and she wouldn't let go of my hand so I sat down in my chair with her for about thirty minutes. I put my hand at the bottom of the cage, and let her walk off she didn't let her bottom legs on, she clawed onto me and was moving her tail against my hand. I never seen anything like this with my gecko owning. I finally was able to get her off and now she's just laying in that same spot moving her tail, and with her legs sprawled out. Her breathing is faster then normal.. If someone could please tell me what this is I would be SO Grateful.

There is something upsetting her greatly. l am not sure what it could be but there is something in her tank she does not like. The tail moving that way is a communication of BACK OFF. If she did not want to go into her tank again I would think that there is something in there disturbing her. have you changed anything lately? Other than the temp changes that we suggest of course:)

smsararas2 wrote:There is something upsetting her greatly. l am not sure what it could be but there is something in her tank she does not like. The tail moving that way is a communication of BACK OFF. If she did not want to go into her tank again I would think that there is something in there disturbing her. have you changed anything lately? Other than the temp changes that we suggest of course:)

I had changed the log she fell off of .. and moved it to the floor just laying there, and I cleaned it out a few days ago. Should I just take out that log?

Can't hurt, maybe she has become "used" to be upset by it. Give it a try and see waht happens:)

I took out everything, and shes just sitting there looking at the cage moving her tail, it's kind of scary because I want to help her but I don't know what it is..

Well, you left her hide in and stuff right....

smsararas2 wrote:Well, you left her hide in and stuff right....

Yes, I am uploading a video in a moment she just freaked out a minute ago and I kind of got it on cam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISiVsrd5dsE this is what she's been doing.

she looks very scared :O i have no idea what could be causing that.. I'm not very good at recognizing tail movement but it looks as if she was angry at something, warning it to go away.. and then she got scared and ran off.

any sounds in your house? some geckos hate loud music or dogs barking and such. Some geckos get scared if they smell weird stuff.. they can react to perfumes and things. :/

can she see out of the side of her tank? if so, maybe try covering the sides and back with a background.. i didnt have a background so i used a black bin bag on my leos tank

gothicgurrrl wrote:she looks very scared :O i have no idea what could be causing that.. I'm not very good at recognizing tail movement but it looks as if she was angry at something, warning it to go away.. and then she got scared and ran off.

any sounds in your house? some geckos hate loud music or dogs barking and such. Some geckos get scared if they smell weird stuff.. they can react to perfumes and things. :/

can she see out of the side of her tank? if so, maybe try covering the sides and back with a background.. i didnt have a background so i used a black bin bag on my leos tank

There isn't any loud noises right now, she's used to the dogs barking downstairs that's about it we try to keep them quiet, I don't put on my axe in the room or let anyone spray anything in my room. I will try covering the sides because even when I took everything out she was still acting this way, I cleaned her carpet with animal safe dish soap along with everything else in her cage, should I attempt at re-cleaning or no?

Likely to be her reflection.

They arent clever enough to know its there reflection, to them its another gecko, aka a rival in their terrtory.

Yep.. so its a good idea to cover the sides up with something. that sounds like the problem

Okay, I covered up the sides and now she's doing better laying down in her rock.

awwww that's great to hear!
Please keep us updated on how she's doing!

gothicgurrrl wrote:awwww that's great to hear!
Please keep us updated on how she's doing!

Will do thanks everyone.

Hopefully stopping the reflection will work as that is the most likely cause of her upset.
I watched the video and there are a lot of shadows being thrown on the viv (although this might be just because you are stood over filming her). If the other suggestion doesn't work then you could try shielding the viv a bit from the light (if these shadows aren't happening just because of filming that is).

More often than not you get that slow arched tail movement when there is a rival and they aren't happy about it, so the reflection is your best shot, but at least you have something else you can try. Let us know how she gets on!!

Good job getting the video Zak. I am glad that all the grat advice here helped out. «i hope she is doing much better now:D

Hobbsy, smsararas2 she's doing much better today, she still hasn't ate but I happy that she's not scared anymore, I haven't seen her move her tail once today

Aww Zak, thats good news. Hopefully give her a few days to settle herself down and then she will probably start eating again.

That is great to hear Zak. I am sure that as Tracey said when she settles down from being frightened that she will start eating again:D. You are taking good care of her Zak

Thanks you guys hopefully she'll be eating, and thanks Jolene for this pointing me to this great forums, I wouldn't be at where I am today without this.

\ I thought you would like it here:D

smsararas2 wrote: \ I thought you would like it here:D

Loving it here, couldn't be happier with the help and the support I am getting.

glad to hear Dory's doing better... keep up the good work, let her depressurize and I bet she'll be eating in no time

She's not really doing as good as I thought, after having that up she went in her rock, and wouldn't leave for the life of me, and she was just staring like she saw a ghost or is in shock, and I don't know why this is.. it's making me nervous I just want her to be back to normal. If anyone could help me on why this is happening it'd be great..