Hi,
I'm new here although I'm not new to leo's or reptiles. I have 2 female leo's housed seperately. One (Raven) is getting skinny. I have taken her to the vet and we treated for parasites. Two weeks after her last dose of meds I took another fecal sample back and everything checked out ok. I have to now take her back because she is just not gaining any weight back yet. I've tried the wax worms but go figure, she doesn't like them. She will eat mealies, cricks, butter worms, and silkies. Right now I am supplementing her in the mornings by feeding her baby chicken food with some vitamins and pedialite (sp?) mixed in. I don't want to do this at night because then she is too full to eat her insects. When I go back to the vet I will get more of the A/D cat/dog food for supplementing. She is active and alert. Eyes and nose are clear and the inside of the mouth is normal.
Any ideas what could be wrong with her? We go back to the vet this week but I was wondering if anyone else has been through this. How long should it take to put weight back on her?
Thanks,
Char

Char,

Welcome to the site. I know NOTHING here, but am learning. You have come to the right place though, someone here will be able to advise. Enjoy!

Steve

How big is her enclosure?
What substrate is she kept on?
What are her temps?

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

Hello,

If she is eating and not regurgitating, she will put the weight back on. The silkies and the butterworms are great. Keep feeding them regularly. If she is clear for parasites, you can stop the chicken and pedialite. Clean water daily and the diet of silkies and butters will put the weight back on. If she lost a lot of weight, you would be better off weighing her to see if she is gaining any. It could be a few weeks before she gains enough that it is actually noticeable.

Just as a review, she IS eating on her own? She is defecating? Temps are good?

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Thanks. Temps are good. She is currently in a 10 gal as it was easier for me to keep clean while she was being treated for parasites. She is eating on her own although her appetite is much smaller than it was before. She is drinking and defaecating. Currently she is on paper towels since it's easy to clean daily but she was on carpet before that. I'll keep the vet apt. just to be sure but hopefully we will start seeing the weight put back on her soon.
Thanks again. Any more advice and I would REALLY appreciate it.
Char

If she is eating and defecating then she WILL gain weight, if she IS eating the butter worms it WILL help her gain weight, just keep at it, weigher her often, do you have a scale that measures in grams? if so you can measure her weight on a daily or bi-daily basis to see if she is gaining at all. Keep us posted.

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

I don't have a scale that measures in grams. I'm going out this weekend to try and find one. I'm sure Wal-Mart will have one (or should I say I hope). She is eating and drinking. She moves around but I don't know. Something else seems really off. I know she just doesn't feel good and probably feels weak but I really feel like it's something else too. We go to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully it will be good news. Keep the fingers crossed.
Char

how is her stool now- runny or formed? Since she was just treated for parasites it might be a good idea to give her some probiotics or yogurt to help her replentish the natural gut flora in her intestines so that she can digest her food completely and get the most out of it. The parasite meds might have altered some of her natural gut flora and she might not be digesting her food as well as she should be right now.

Just an idea.

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Tricia

I did start her on probiotics. I ran out and recently got some in. I'm hoping that will help. Her stool is well formed. It was runny but is now better. We did go to the vet. The second parasite test came up clean. That's good news. Eyes, nose, mouth...all normal. Bloodwork came back in "normal ranges". She didn't loose anymore weight but she hasn't gained any either. I'm stumped.
Char

Give her time, she's probably just building back up, including the size of her appetite! It takes awhile to bounce back after an illness, and you're definitely keeping well on top of everything she needs. Just stuff her with as much food as she'll take and make sure she's getting her vitamin supps (calcium in particular), they're important. One question tho, are you gutloading the insects? The better the gutload in the bugs, the better the bellyfull for the animal. I hope she's doing better!

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I give up! I've officially lost count of the critters...