Leopard Gecko Help

Elliemay

I have a 3 yr old female and I'm concerned about her diet! She will only eat locusts, crickets and mealworms etc will stay in her tank until we take them out again, she'd rather starve than eat them. Also she has baths on a regular basis but her toes are still in a bad way, is she getting enough nutrients from the locusts? Have tried websites but am still unsure.

Our man in Havana

Have you tried the odd wax worm? If her toes are bad bath her when she sheds to soften the old skin & gentle help remove the skin from the toes only.

Are you dusting the locusts? How fat is her tail? & what is her general body condition like?

bikki

You should gut load the Locust before you feed them the Gecko. What i mean by that is that you should feed the locust cabbage/carrot before you feed them to the gecko.

tallus

To prevent the toes from getting any worse, why not use a margarine tub, and cut out a hole in it and use it as a hide and put some damp sphagnum moss into the tub. It will help with the shedding.
Also... it sounds like you may be putting too much food in, why not feed her one at a time until she stops because crickets/locusts will eat away at the leopard gecko's toes.
The toe thing could also be symptomatic of a lack of calcium, do you supply the female with a calcium supplement of any kind ? She's a female so the vit power will not be enough. If you can, get some cuttlefish bone and pear it down and put it into a bowl for her and she can take it as she needs it.

buttercup21

Hi there

Had a similar experience with our one, sometimes when bullied by other gekos they tend to starve themselves.

The diet is fine, just get some calcium powder and pour over the locusts, meal worms ect.

Try hand feeding her, sometimes it works a treat if you dont get squeemish holding the bugs lol

Good luck

Elliemay

Thanks, I've pretty much tried or am doing all those points but I think it must be something more because she gets plenty of baths especially when she's shedding but because some of her toes are dying off I can't get the fresh shedding over it, it seems to hurt her.
She's on her own so no bullying but maybe lonely! The locusts are gut loaded for 24hrs and are dusted before hand and also we only put them in 1 at a time. She has a cave hide but I'll try keeping it moist all the time.

Didn't know about the calcium powder so I'll definately try that and where do I get cuttlefish bone and how do I prepare it, no idea about it.

In general her health is grand, she's still eating and has a really good sized tail, she's active enough and isn't loosing weight. Thanks for the advice though.

tallus

Any pet shop will sell you the cuttlefish bone. I used to pear it down with a knife, it's pretty easy to do.

monty_python

www.reptile-community.com the guys on that site will be able to give you some expert advice. And its an irish based forum

tallus

Just as a matter of interest OP, do you cool her down at night and does she have a hide in a cool end of the viv/enclosure ? Too much heat can cause the toe thing too.

Elliemay

Well her bulb is turned off after 10hrs so I assume the temperature drops? She has a cave in the cool end away from the heated pad but tank is small enough though so maybe it's still very warm. We've had her 3 years and this is a new problem so thought it might be more of a health issue?