Is my leo constipated?

Hi everyone, how would you know if your leo is constipated? And if they are, how would you go about fixing the problem? Is there a home remedy one could use?



Should they poo every day regardless of whether they are eating or not? Or is it normal for them to skip a poo here and there?



A lot of questions I know but I need to make sure my leo is ok and if she is not then I need to act quickly.

Leos who eat every day are likely to poo every day, but not always, also leos who only eat every few days sometimes poo every day, sometmes not... but if you think your leo may be constipated first thing I would do is dab a little mineral oil on their nose to lick off to kind of "grease the tracks"... mineral oil is a laxative so it will help move things along. If that does't help you can always try a warm soak for about 15 minutes,. Try to rub his belly a bit to help break things up so he can pass them. Feeding a varied diet will help avoid constipation which usually happens when a leo is on a mostly mealie or super diet because of all the shell. Adding a wax worm or butter worm to the diet once or so a week will help.

Thanks Kel, I will buy some mineral oil tomorrow. It won't be a problem giving it to her if she is not constipated will it? She is fed a varied diet of mealies, crickets & dubias. She does not always eat every day but when she does, she eats plenty.

All those have a pretty high chitin (Chitin is a polysaccharide found in the outer skeleton of insects (shell) and our fingernails, pretty hard to digest) content... you're not really using a lot of soft bodied insects 'cept for the crickets and at that if you're not removing the jumper legs still a lot of hard to digest aprts. Again I'd add a soft bodied feeder to your regimen like butters or waxies at least once a week to make sure your fat/fiber/protein content is well varied which will promote proper Gi function. Giving mineral oil if they are not constipated won't hurt. It'll likely just make a runny poo or 2 if it is un needed... BUT when using it, it is just a dab or 2 for them not a whole lot. A little goes a long way.

I would like to make a suggestion for your feeding regimen tho... if she is eating a LOT on the days she is feeding you may want to cut her back a bit and feed her more often insted of larger less frequent meals... leave her hungry so that if you do try to feed her every day at least she isn't gorging herself which would lead to the constipation. Also making sure your viv temps are appropriate... for a leo that eats less frequent large meals I would keep her a bit warmer, around 94-96*F honestly to make sure she has the optimum chance for proper digestion. If you're providing a proper temperature gradient she should thermoregulate herself with out any problems so the higher temps shouldn't be an issue.

Approximately how many bugs is she eating per sitting? How old is she?

I have some that go every day, some every other day, some like to go once every 3-4 days and lay the biggest pile of poop each time. All of them eat every day for the most part.

If your leopard gecko simply skipped a poop here and there, I would suggest to not worry and to leave it alone. If you use loose substrate and suspect impaction, then that's something different. But if your gecko is simply skipping a day on the poop cycle, it's perfectly normal.

Unfortunately, we dont get the soft-bodied feeders here in SA, so I am left with mealies, supers, crickets & roaches. She is very spoilt and has a 20 gallon enclosure all to herself. She has a hot hide, a warm hide, a cool hide, a moist hide and a few other items to climb/lie on.



She is 9mths old and seems really healthy, it was just that she stopped pooping every day and now poops every 3rd or 4th day so I wanted to check that this is normal.



Also, last night when I fed her I noticed small calcium bubbles behind her front legs so I removed the little dish with pure calcium from her tank and did not dust the feeders I gave her. I am going to stop supplementation for a while (apart from the multivitamin) until the bubbles disappear.

Those bubbles can also be caused by excessive protein, and you are feeding a lot of higher protein feeders... if the bubbles don't disappear with in a month of cutting back the suppliments it is likely protein bubbles and you'll need to adjust your feeders. Any soft bodied insect woud do, caterpillars, phoenix worms, fly grubs (maggots) those you could grow yourself with a nice piece of rotting meat and a jar with some holes in the lid large enough for flies to fit thru. I know it sounds gross but they are a great feeder esp. when you grow your own you know exactly what theyre gut loaded with. I imagine in SA. that you have quite an array of bugs, you could alwyas field collect some and start your own colony. I know the arguement about field caught bugs and the potential for pesticide or other chemical exposure BUT if you get them into a keeper and gutload them for a week or 2 any toxins should be gone, not to mention most herbicides don't usually have secondary toxicity meaning if the bug eats it and doesn't die then it likely won't affect your herps. Just use caution and your common sense when using field collected bugs. I've done it with Eros when he was on a hunger strike, a few mayflies and some baby locusts from the gardens but I do everything organic here, no pesticides.

Good news! I soaked her in warm water and massaged her stomach a little last night and there was a perfect looking poop this morning.

Is it possible for a leo to still poop if they are impacted or partially impacted and would that poop look normal? Also, would mineral oil work with an impaction or would more drastic measures be needed? Sorry for asking so many questions but I am trying to get as much info as I can while we are on this topic.



Thanks for info about alternative feeders Kel. I have a question that I want to ask you regarding the maggots but it will take this thread off topic and I know how strict the rules are with this contravention so I am going to post a new topic under food and feeders. Hoping you will have a look there and give me your answer.

YAY for poop glad to hear that things worked out jonell... feel free to post something in the feeders section, I check them all also with impaction usually there is little or no poo as the leo will usually stop eating which will lead to Gi stasis (when the GI totally shuts down from lack of food to process, bad stuff), strain to poo and gets no where. Partial impaction you could see scrawny mal-formed poos that look ribbony or runny. Mineral oil can help if your leo is completely impacted but it could be hit or miss, usually a complete impaction requires surgery or at the very least veterinairy assitance to start helping to remove the blockage via eternally probing the rear end and using a different type of laxative injected directly into the anus, but it could def. help with a partially impacted leo for sure.

Ok thanks, that explains everything nicely. How did you get to be so knowledgeable? Is it just years of experience or did you study the subject?

I'm an animal behavior specialist for the last almost 17 years so a lot of studying, a lot of practical experience and a bit of good luck altho my tru area of expertise is with canines, I study herps as well since they're a bit of a passion of mine as well

I often read through a topic and its posts only to find that there is no "end" to the story and one is left hanging. So, I am adding the end of this story and thank goodness, its a happy ending.



Jane (my female leo that was not pooping) is back to normal and pooping every day again. In fact, she pooped twice yesterday, once in the morning and then again sometime during the night. I did not need to use the mineral oil altho I now have it on hand for just in case. It seemed as if the warm baths really did the trick.



I also soaked her in the evening for a bit when I noticed that she was all white and ghostly (obviously about to shed) and then saw her all bright and new early in the morning without any skin left anywhere. Previously she took longer to get her shed off and sometimes I had to help her get it off her head.



What surprised me most was how calm she was when I put her in a tub of warm water. I had never done this to her before and all she did was walk around the tub twice, probably looking for a way out, then she relaxed and just stood there until I took her out. So, don't underestimate the power of a warm bath but be careful that the water is not hot, only warm, and don't put a lot of water in the tub as you want to avoid any water getting into their nostrils.

Yay... glad she's all better... just a side note... I also notice that when Eros is coming into a shed his litterbox stays cleaner so maybe shedding has something to do with their not pooing as usual.

Interesting side note...cos Jane was a week from shedding when she stopped pooping. Hmmm...

Shedding disrupts so many other basic functions, eating, breeding, day/night activity/disturbance, and I guess we can add pooing to the list as well aye