[loobyloo]

Thank you for the advice. I have just removed the old bran from the crickets box and put fresh in. I have taken out any remnants of satsuma and will try some other fruit/veg.

The temps in the viv I have measured with thermometers on the sides of the viv (low down on either end). The cool end is around 77-80 and the warm end is around 80-84. The floor feels pretty warm as there is a heat mat and a heat rock so I think it must be around the 88 mark but I will get a better thermometer to check that with. She sits above the heat mat a lot when she comes out in the evening. Her main hide is in the cool end and there is a moist hide in the warm end. Would you suggest moving her main hide to the warm end?

I will monitor the situation over the next 48 hours and if nothing changes I will take her to the vet.

 

[loobyloo]

Just been to our local reptile shop and the guy suggested we may be giving her too many vitamins as I've been dusting the crickets each day so gonna cut that back. He has suggested a good local reptile vet too so I will contact him. I showed him a pic of the gecko and he said she looked healthy but could do with fattening up a bit as her tail isn't as fat as it should be. Fingers crossed we get a good result at the end of all this.

 

[loobyloo]

Dusting with Komodo cricket dust. I think this is a multivitamin. I asked in the shop about calcium today as I'd heard some people keep some in a dish in the viv but they said this was not a good idea as they can overdose.
The heat mat is under a layer of green reptile carpet. The viv is wooden with glass doors. I'm not sure how I would get it any hotter than it already is with the heat mat and rock one end and a light during daytime hours (the heat rock is warm to the touch but not hot, they are made so they switch off when they are warm so they cannot burn - according to the box!). So frustrating as we've been looking into geckos for ages and had the viv set up for a week beforehand and all seemed fine! Will see what the next bowel movement is like and if it's still runny I'll keep it as a sample to take to vet. Put a few crickets in an hour ago and she hasn't come out for any yet but it is still early inthe evening. She usually wakes up around this time so I'll keep an eye on her.

 

[loobyloo]

Vet visit

Hi Everyone!

An update: Saw her eat 3 or 4 mealworms last night but she didn't go for any crickets. More very smelly diarrhoea this morning so took her straight to the local reptile vet. He suggested maybe a tummy bug/infection and gave her some medicine orally but this came back up once I got home, along with the undigested meal worms from last night. I called the vet to tell him and they said just keep an eye on her for a few days.
Checked temp on warm side floor with a digital thermometer I picked up this morning and it was around 97 on the reptile carpet above the heat mat so maybe too hot for her? The vet said I should put the heat mat on the wall of the viv rather than the floor so I have done that. She does tend to spend all her time in her hide on the cool side so perhaps if it was too warm for her she was avoiding it and not getting warm enough to digest anything.
I am at work now so will see how she is doing later tonight. She will have an empty belly now so I hope she will go for some crickets later (there aren't any in the tank at the moment, I took them out so they wouldn't pick on her). I hope she will get some rest today as there is no-one home to disturb her. The vet said she definitely needs to put more weight on so that all depends on her willingness to eat something. She is still pretty lively and alert looking when she comes out, and she was very wriggly when me or the vet tried to hold her this morning so she doesn't seem to be particularly lethargic.

Anyone got any other thoughts/ideas?

 

[loobyloo]

I took a feacal sample to the vet and he looked at it but didn't want to test it for anything. T
he mat wasn't connected to a thermostat due to the fact I thought the viv was only just about getting warm enough - now I see it was probably too warm! The vet said that they aren't designed to go underneath substrates and that it is a common mistake to use them under things....I'm confused as everywhere there seems to be conflicting info! I had seen on other websites that they should be placed on the side rather than underneath. She can always sit on the heat rock for warmth through her belly as that is thermostatically controlled. I'll let you know how she is this evening.
Thanks for your advice!

 

[loobyloo]

Hi,
Yes the vet specialises in exotic pets and has kept geckos for years - our local reptile shop recommended this vet for any type of lizard. He said he thought the cause was most likely a bacterial infection or just stress-related from moving to a new home. The medicine was supposed to sort out an infection if she had one but as it has all come up it won't be doing much good! I called him immediately to say she had vomited it up and he said to continue to monitor her for the next couple of days and see what happens. I feel a bit helpless but all I can do is take their advice and hope she prefers the new arrangements in the viv. It's hard being at work today and not being able to check on her but it's probably a good thing because at least she'll get some rest without my face peering in through the glass!

 

[loobyloo]

The day after the vets...

Hey everyone,

I said I'd keep you posted so here's the situation over the past 24 hours:

Got home yesterday dinner time and she was sleeping (as expected). There was another small pool of diarrhoea, very watery this time (no food in her tummy after she threw up her medicine and last meal so not a surprise really).

Put approx. 4 fresh gut-loaded crickets in the tank late in the evening and she wasn't around much before we went to bed but when I got up in the night for a drink she was on her heat rock looking fine.

This morning she was up and was in her toilet area next to another little puddle but this one didn't have the awful smell that the previous ones had and it showed signs of some food in it - unidentifiable, so digested but just not much of it. She went back in her cave to bed once I started cleaning the pooh out and I saw a couple of crickets in there but no sign of the other two or of any regurgitated ones. :2thumb:

When my partner left the house at around 8:30am she had her head sticking out her cave eyeing up another cricket. I hope when I get home they have all stayed down.

I spoke to the shop I bought her from today and they said to keep her on crickets only and she will probably be OK. They seem to think it's the mealworms that have upset her.

We'll see!! Good thing is she's lively and active at night (although still nervous of people - not surprising after moving house and then being manhandled by a vet!).
I'll update again tomorrow. :whistling2:

 

[loobyloo]

Good result!

Things are looking up! After moving the heat mat so the floor wasn't too hot, the temps went quite low and she wasn't keen on chasing any crickets so we got her a red night viewing bulb which raises the temp a few degrees when she's waking up and we have an extra heat mat on the wall for the daytime so the day temp is slightly higher too. She has been up all evening stalking crickets and in the past two days there have been two much more normal looking bowel movements! Still a bit soft but she's only just started eating again so hopefully in a couple of days they'll be back to normal. Thanks everyone for your advice, that combined with seeing the vet and speaking to the local reptile show has really helped us solve the diarrhoea mystery! :2thumb:

 

[loobyloo]

Hello,
I agree, I was surprised about the heat mat as I'd thought it needed to be underneath, but mine is a wooden viv rather than glass and the extra heat mat I purchased this week said in the instructions that in a wooden viv it should be taped to the side. The floor temp on the warm side is now 90-92 and she's looking so much better. If the pooh does stay soft I'll probably send off a sample as that sounds like a really good service.
Thank you so much for all your advice and information.