Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Crunchie]

I've just been up to my room and found one of my new mourning geckos lying on her back in their viv. I picked her up thinking she was dead but I noticed she was alive but seemed to lack coordination. Her legs seem to seize up and when she's at rest her tail flops limply while the other keeps hers firmly coiled up.

I've had the geckos for just over a week. I saw this one eated small 1st instar sized crickets last Wednesday and the other was taking peach and banana baby food. I can't figure out what's wrong with this one but I feel awful.

They are in a 28x12x12 viv with branches and live plants. Could she have fallen and hurt herself? I thought she looked heavily gravid (could swear I saw eggs when she was stuck to the glass) but up until today she's been OK. In fact I saw her having a drink from the water dish this morning. I have seperated her from her fellow just now but she barely looks as though she could make it off of the ground. The temps are 23oC in the warm end and 20oC in the cool end and I spray with water every morning and night.

Has anyone seen anything like this before or can suggest a course of action?

[captainmerkin]

1st instar crickets are minute and not much in the way of energy content at that size either..

how big is the gecko? must be a fair size to be gravid unless they are a small species..

sounds iffy to be honest hope someone can give you a bit of better advise, but I would try some wax moths gut loaded on something nice (I am using pollen currently as a feeder food, seems to be really good even my decrepid old mantis have perked up). and its been a good few days since she ate..

plenty of people with more of a clue than me about so just hang on

[Crunchie]

The geckos body length is only about 2.5" maybe 3" at most, they are indeed a small species I was told that the two I bought were adults and sure enough there were babys running around the tank when I collected them. The crickets I fed were dusted with calcium, I doubt whether they would manage to eat wax worms.

In saying that she is crawling around on the cork bark I had in her isolation tank this morning but still her tail is limb and her movement isn't quite as smooth as the other.

[captainmerkin]

might me worth having them checked for parasites...

[Biohazard156]

She could have possibly fallen into her water and could be in shock? I never leave a water bowl in with my mournings, I see them drinking the spray off the sides of the tank/leaves so simply misting will do the trick. Has she any calcium sacs that you can see...should be on either side of her throat and be quite visible. The crickets should be getting dusted to help her keep the levels up. Everything else sounds ok...food seems right, though my adults can eat small 2's and i don;t have heat on my tank.. Hope she pulls through.

Anna
_________________
0.0.1 Corn
1.2.0 Hognoses
1.1.0 Royals
1.1.0 Dumerils
0.2.0 BCI
1.1.0 Mexican Rosys
1.1.0 ATB's
1.1.0 Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Beardie
4.7.4 Cresties
0.6.8 Mourning Geckos
1.2.2 Gargoyle Geckos
1.1.0 Tokays
1.1.2 Cave Geckos
1.2.0 Leos

[Crunchie]

I can see the calcium sacs on either sides of her neck. I'm about 99% sure she's carrying eggs. She looks fatter than the other and I can see two white bits inside her when she's stuck to the glass.

She seems to have improved since I've put her into the quarentine tank which apart from being smaller is in a darker place. Saw her stalking crickets and hatchling hoppers earlier and I got her to lick a bit of baby food off of my fingers. She's also not holding her tail limp any more and has it curled up like the other.

Strange!

[Biohazard156]

yay I am glad she seems to be doing better! I would just keep an eye on her for sure! fingers crossed!

Anna
_________________
0.0.1 Corn
1.2.0 Hognoses
1.1.0 Royals
1.1.0 Dumerils
0.2.0 BCI
1.1.0 Mexican Rosys
1.1.0 ATB's
1.1.0 Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Beardie
4.7.4 Cresties
0.6.8 Mourning Geckos
1.2.2 Gargoyle Geckos
1.1.0 Tokays
1.1.2 Cave Geckos
1.2.0 Leos

[Steve H]

You could move up a cricket size to size two.Make sure you always have calcium in there as these geckos eat alot of it,especially the females presuming you have the pathogenic line and not the sexed version of mournings.Go easy with the vit dusting.I only vit dusted once a week at most.
The female gecko has fitted but seems to be recovering.2 possible causes.Either you've overdone the vit dusting or used baby food containing a preservative.To be safe i never used baby foods only squashed up fresh banana.

[Crunchie]

I did make sure the brand of baby food I bought was organic, is even that not safe? I haven't dusted any of their food with vitamin power as yet only calcium. There is a small bowl of calcium powder in their tank should they wish to lick some.

Out of interest can anyone recommend a good brand of vitamin supplement for these geckos? I currently have Nutrabal (Vetark) powder but was wondering if something in their water might be better?

[Ace]

mourning geckos are sensitive to high levels of vitamin A. don't feed them baby food more than once a week or switch to an artificial diet or honey (they wouldn't naturally eat fruit in the wild simply nectar from flowers). as far as crickets go try moving to 2nd instar as i have no problems feeding mine with these. i only feed 1st instar crickets to those that are less than 1g in weight. i use neutrobal as a supplement every time i give them a cricket feed and have had no problems, i have them with a 5.0 UV tube and keep them at 27 degrees C. high temperatures can cause thermal stress and fitting in many species of geckos but mourning geckos have one largest ranges of thermal tolerance for any species of gecko so i doubt it would be this.

Cheers, will
_________________
61 and counting