I work at a local petstore and yesterday a man came in with a very sick/skinny looking Leopard Gecko. He said that he had the proper lighting, water, etc. He told me that the gecko has not eaten in a long time. He has tried to feed to everthing, Crickets, mealworms, waxworms, even bugs in the back yard. As of right now he is very alert and can even walk fine but he/she looks as anerexic as it gets. The leo's tail is skinnier then its legs. Luckily for the leo, the owner did not want him anymore so I brought him home and set him up in a ten gallon aquarium with undercage heat and a heat lamp, Paper towel substrate and a hidebox. I had fed him once last night by mixing up some baby bird food in a syringe. It was not much trouble getting his mouth open and it ate it willingly. This is were I need the help. What could be the problem with it (i am thinking parasites?), How or can I save it, Do I have things set up correctly, and what should I be feeding him (Is that baby bird stuff ok, would human babyfood work with vitamin supplements, finally, I have a bunch of left over crested gecko diet would that work?) I am going to try and get some pictures and weight vs length measurements on later. Thankyou guys so much!

Hello,

The first thing I would do is look over our caresheet on leopard geckos found here:

http://www.herpcenter.com/showthread.php?t=6982

What you are describing does sound like parasites and he needs to see a vet. Force feeding him works for the very short term, but he won't gain weight and get healthy if the parasites aren't taken care of.

His heating could have also been inadequate before. If it was, the leo could have stopped eating since it couldn't digest its food.

If you will be force feeding the little guy until the vet sees him, I would suggest mashing up waxworms with some calcium/vit. supplements added. The waxworms are high in fat and will be good for him right now.

Set the vet appointment up asap though. The tail is the storage compartment of the leopard gecko. If the tail has no nutrients to draw on, it will die from malnutrition.

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Looks like rich got you taken care of, as he always does, listen to him, he knows what hes talking about, and keep us posted of his progress... Good luck...

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Jayr & Mandy Robinson
J&M Herp Shack
"Are you watching closely?"