Baby Leo Not Eating!

[torrbail]

I bought a baby leopard gecko about 2 weeks ago. He had a big appetite, eating about 10 little crickets every night. 3 nights ago he stopped eating. The next morning he was very powdery pale and shed his skin. He ate the skin, which I hear is normal. However, when I went to feed him last night, he seemed interested in the crickets, but kept looking like he was gaging. He ended up vomiting up a big chunk of the skin he ate. Still not eating anything-- is this normal? I also noticed that he has a lump in his belly - maybe another chunk of the skin? Not sure if this is a problem or not?? Any advice?

Thanks!

[bleeding_sarcasm]

check the temperatures [should have a hot spot of 90]. take it to a vet.

[nomadbean]

Baby leos should eat..give him until tomorrow(3 days of no feed) and if he is still not eating send him to the vet. Make sure he has water for drinking, if it is just skin, he will be fine, may just be hard to digest. Good luck with the little guy.
Trina
OMNIherp, LLC

[bleeding_sarcasm]

regurging shed is a syptom of serious problems, such as crypto, or a bacterial infection. shed skin is not hard to digest. take it to a vet.

[torrbail]

I took him to the vet on Saturday. The Dr. said he looks good. He gave him a parasite treatment just incase and a laxative incase there is anything else stuck in his digestive tract. I am giving him laxatives (yes, giving my gecko a laxative) every day for the next week.

I'm no vet, but he seems to be getting worse. Still not eating (tomorrow it will be a week since he's eaten) and very lethargic. He seems to sleep all the time. He'll just lay in my hand and let me rub his head and back. I called the pet store I purchased him from to see if they've had any other issues and (of course) they said no. I'm at a loss??

[bleeding_sarcasm]

what "parasite treatment" did your vet give you? it doesnt seem like your vet knows a whole heck of alot, is he expierenced with reptiles? he didnt suggest supplamenting the geckos food? is he still maintaining weight or loosing it? you want to pay particular attention to weight loss in the tail and hip area. is he drinking? if it was an internal parasite, he would have perscriped you something called flagyll is an "anti bacterial agent of considerable use in treating disturbances of intestinal flora" or panacur which is a de-wormer [works well on internal parasites and tape worms] that can be diluted for use in reptiles and is incredibly safe. or he might have perscriped oral baytril, a wide spectrum antibiotic if he didnt know what it was. did he do a fecal stain?

giving a laxative to an animal that doesnt eat, i might be wrong, but wont that just dehydrate the animal to death? go to the store and pick up a feeding syringe, if he didnt give you any [which he should have] try giving a cc or 2 of WATER, or as much as he will hold down, a few times a day. If you see his skin getting stiff, like.. poking out, out .. like meringue [spelling?] or like when you can pull it, forming peaks and staying there, those are signs of dehydration, and if you are expierenced with giving injections, you can try to inject some fluids. also pick up SWEET POTATO baby food, you wouldnt think leos would eat this stuff, but put that in the syringe and feed that twice a day also. its sweet so they will lick it up, and its SOMETHING in their stomach, and calories is what they need, it may cause wet poop, but wet poop is better then no poop. this is something MY vet reccomended to me. [and what substrate do you keep him on that could cause impactation?]

also, pick up something called "nutra-cal" which is "high calorie dietary supplement for dogs and cats" you can get it on beanfarm.com [along with panacur and a book called "understanding reptile parasites" you might want to pick up for your vet]

um... honestly, it might already be dead [aka as close as it can get, definitely not comming back]. the laying in your hand and rubbing its head side to side is usually a sign of heat stress. does the room have adiquate ventalation? was it in direct sunlight at any point in time? does the room stay above ~75 and is there an additional heat source on top of that?

and, i think you need to find a new vet. call around for one that has an "exotics specialist", because the truth usually is that youll have a better chance asking a breeder that never went to vet school for an accurate diagnosis and treatment, then a vet who spent 8 years in school and sees cats all day.

[torrbail]

The vet I took him to was a reptile specialist, but I didn't feel confident about what he was telling me. Unfortunately, I'm from a small town and he's the only one within a 90 mile radius.

The room the gecko is in is well ventilated. The tank has a undertank heater on one side and a heat lamp on the same side -- this is what was recommended by the pet store and the vet seemed to agree that it was right. He does seem to prefer the heated side, but he has hides on both sides.

I spoke with the pet store again and they offered to "exchange" him, because his tank mates there are all doing very well. I'm having some difficulty with that though - feel like I'm abandoning him. I'm starting to think that it won't matter though - he just looks so pitiful that I can't imagine him living much longer. I really appreciate all of your suggestions.

[VoodooChile]

Just do everything bleeding_sarcasm told you to,
I would also let the petstore know you want to give it a shot, to try to nurse it back to health.. then if it dies you want them to give you another one..
Make sure you get the name of the person at the store who agrees to do this..

[bleeding_sarcasm]

i would take the pet store up on their offer, its nice of them to do as much, i doubt youll have much luck nursing him back to health. if he dies, they might retract their offer, in which case, all youll have is a dead gecko. he'll probably die either way. good luck, quarentine this next one you get, make sure to pick one that is active, aware, and with the fattest tail you can find.

[geckogirl100]

my leo had exactly the same thing about 2 months ago. He was about 4 months old and he just stopped eating and became very thin. I took him back to the breeder and they said he looked thin and they would exchange him, i was very hesitant at first about changing him because i had beccome attached but i didn't want him to die. i exchanged him for his brother and everything is going fine and the breeder helped nurse my old one back to health and he was sold to another reptile owner.

[torrbail]

I did end up taking him back to the pet store and exchanged him for one of his siblings. The sibling is fine, but not nearly as docile as the other one - it hisses occassionally and does not like to be handled.

I went into the pet store 2 days ago to get some crickets and the guy who agreed to exchange him stopped by to ask how he was doing. I was afraid to ask about the original one because I was afraid he'd tell me he died. A few minutes later he walked up to me holding the original leo. He said he was eating fine and doing really well. He looked good and was no longer lethargic. Long story short, now I have 2 leos! Both are doing great and really get along well. Now I'm just waiting and hoping they are not both males.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Congrats!! My 2 babies were not eating well for a while but I just wa