Hello,

Okay I purchased a baby leopard gecko at the start of the new year. When I purchased him he wasn't a pretty average size for his age. There were no irregularities.

However, as the weeks progressed I've been having a constant losing battle with getting him to eat.

When he first arrived, he immediately ate 3 or 4 mealworms and 2 waxworms. Since then I've had a constant supply of mealworms and waxworms available but he would never eat them.

For the first two weeks, he ate a total of 11 mealworms, and that's when I realized his subtle weightloss.

So this past Friday, I gave up on the mealworm and waxworms and switched completely to small crickets. Within these past two days he's ate 8 out of the 9 crickets I've bought.

Then I thought that I've finally found something he would endulge in. Today I purchased 15 more crickets, calcium-coated them and drop them in the cage. Since I don't have enough space available to house crickets separately in their own house I decided to place their Flukers cricket quencher inside of my baby leopard's cage.

As of now, he's ate at least 2 more crickets... for a total of 3 to 5 today (he may have ate one or two this morning) and I noticed that he licked the cricket quencher.

There's is an available water dish, but the baby got into the dish of cricket quencher and drank for two minutes straight and he did this at least twice today.

Question: I was wondering if that's safe?!

A brief description of my enclosure:
1 baby leo
15 Gal Long
Under Tank Heater (85 to 90, or 90 to 95 degree fahrenheit hotside, 75 to 80 degree fahrenheit coldside)
ceramic hideout on hotside
calcium dish
shallow water dish
cricket quencher dish
empty dish (that will have mealworms or waxworms in there at all times)
sm. terracotta pot on coldside
strawberry shaped hideout on coldside
lid
aproxiamately 14 sm. crickets


Also, I have 4 years experience with Leopard Geckos... However, I am completely stumped. I've never had a baby leo have eating complications for such a long period of time.

P.S. Handling. I was handling him on a every-other-day or two basis for 10 or 15 minutes for the first two weeks but stopped to prevent further stress.

Definitely feel free to A.I.M. me with suggestions!

Welcome to HC. You seem to have everything set up correctly though you might want to add a moist hide. has he deficated regularly ? and if so is his stool normal ? He is eating some,,,,but for a juvie/baby leo his appetite should be greater.It is possible there is some impactation, try a warm bath a few times a day. Keep us posted.

__________________
Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Oh Thanks! I figured I was forgeting some info!

Actually the strawberry hideout in the coldside was/is the moist hide. As of now I temporary took out the moss to stop the crickets from using that as a hideout...

Defecation. Definitely. However lately (as in the beginning of this week) a majority of his defecation has been mostly urea/urine... or the white part of the feces, which is why I panicked and switched him over to crickets...

Even if it was impaction, I can't imagine that it would last this long. Petco (to my demise) did keep him on calcistand... but by now the sand should've went through his system b now?!

He is eating some but at a unnaturally small amount for a baby leo...

Anyways I am very stumped... is drinking/ ingesting the cricket quencher safe?!

Calcisand should be banned, whatever they claim it is NOT digestable. Impactation if it's bad enough will not pass through the digestive tract, if warm batsh do not help I would suggest a vet visit for an x-ray to determine if there is impactation. It could also be parasites.

__________________
Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Okay thanks! Just out of curiousity, how does a warm bath help impaction? And if the vet does determine that it is impaction, what are some ways that they go about to alleviate/cure/medicate? impaction?

Thanks again!

You need to find a new place to house your crickets. Crickets will take a chomp out of your gecko. A simple few gallon rubbermaid container would do just fine. Plus, try gutloading your crickets. That cricket quencher will kill them. Feed your crickets a well balanced meal of fruits and veggies. What goes into your cricket goes into your gecko.

here is a carsheet on crickets.
http://reptileguides.herpcenter.com/...-t30.html?t=30

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Fluker's cricket quencher will kill the crickets?! I would like to see some sort of evidence on that, please.

I have read some where that crickets may bite the tails of geckos if there was an already present sore/abrasion. However, that is usually more likely when the crickets don't have their own hiding places or are in large numbers or underfed...

My initial question was whether the cricket quencher is toxic to Leopard Geckos?

The two active ingredients are polyacrylamide coploymer and calcium...

Polyacrylamide copolymer is a water dissolvable gelatin. In Fluker's cricket quencher it acts merely as a medium to deliver the calcium to the cricket. Polyacylamide copolymer is "weak" enough to pass through a cricket's lymphadic system. Their body's are literally constructed as what goes in will come out, including the calcium as it is an element and cannot be further broken down.

So with that being said, I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced their leo "licking" the cricket quencher...

My only guess as to why is because of the calcium found in the material. Even though there's calcium powder, and water available. Is the leo smart enough to use this as some sort of 2 for 1 deal since the quencher can provide moisture?

crickets will die if given too much calcium. Cricket quencher is meant to gutload 12 hours before your reptile is fed. If they keep the calcium in their body any longer, they will start to die.

I know this because I used to give my crickets flukers and after about 2 days they would all keel over.

Now all I feed my crickets are fruits, veggies, oatmeal and some cat kibble for protein. I have next to no crickets die any more. I dust with calcium powder once a week.

Is it toxic to geckos? Probably in large quantities. I mean, too much calcium will hurt any reptile. Its the same with calci-sand. Too much of it injested will cause problems.

Think of it this way, whatever you give your crickets, then goes to your reptile. When YOU eat, is it more healthy to eat fresh fruit and veggies, or something out of a can or from the freezer section? I would assume the same thing would go for any living animal.

Not to mention, crickets in a leo cage for an extended period of time is just asking for a cricket to take a few bites...

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

as to your question about how the warm bath helps the impaction... It helps to hydrate the leo more so than he already is. The more hydrated it is the easier it is to pass large stools...

__________________

Okay thanks for the information about warm bath and impaction.

As a little update for my leo, well he's not constantly licking the gelatin like I first thought. He's actually sleeping on top of it. Which would actually make more sense since leo have the ability to regulate their own calcium intake. And wouldn't intentionally overdose on calcium.

But it seems a little strange to me to have a baby leo so interested in the cricket quencher.