Help me save this poor girl!

[Bighead]

A woman came into my store today with a box and said she had a female leopard gecko that hadn't eaten in three weeks and needed somebody who could take care of her. She appearently didn't know the age, but she said it had to be at least a year old because she has laid 8 eggs. This poor little thing was sooo skinny. The tail was like a little twig and the rest of her didn't look any better. She was on Calci-sand, so maybe it's impaction or something but I don't know. She was also with a larger male that is doing fine. He may be hording the food, but she didn't say anything about it. So, I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but I took her home. I pissed her off so she would gape at me and I put a wax worm in her mouth. She ate two this way but hasn't gone after anything on her own. I also put her in a 10 gallon with outdoor carpeting. What is the best thing I can do for her? I would love to get her back to good health and add her to my breeding pair. Anything you can let me know will be appreciated.

[Bartman]

No idea what it could be, but maybe get it checked by a vet..maybe shes got a parasite thats eating the food for it?
hope it aint anything to bad

[Emily-Fisher]

One thing I wouldn't do is piss her off. Sure it will make it easier to put a waxworm in her mouth but when they are really stressed, they often regurgitate their food and so not only is she not getting food but she's also getting even more stressed. I would hand feed her meatbabyfood mixed in with a bit of calcium through a syringe (without the needle, obviously). If she doesn't drink either, hand feed her pedialyte through a syringe too. Just drop small droplets of the pedialyte and the babyfood around her mouth and she'll lick it off. Good luck!

[C.m.pyrrhus]

First off, see a vet.
Second, limit the amount of stress in her environment and keep her quarantined.
Keep her temps right, allow her normal hides and husbandry...etc etc. Let her feed what she can, and try not to bug her to much. Let her access to water at all times and so on. IMO I would change the subtrate over to paper towel at least for the time being as well.
Best thing to do is basically give her as less stress as you can, be patient and have a vet check her out. Only then will you be able to honestly know what the future holds for her.

Good luck...

[Tim and Julie B]

Seems that with the information provided that she was not only improperly cared for, but was also very stressed by remaining with the male during egg laying. First things first be sure to place her somewhere with no contact from other leos. Use a simple set-up of paper towel for substrate, a humid hide, a dry hide and a heat source. Give her some clean, fresh water and add some Electrolize made by Exo-Terra. It's great for rehydrating. If that is not available then buy some pedialite at the pharmacy/drug-store/grocery store;use 3-4 drops for every ounce of water in the dish. Also provide a shallow dish of calcium powder. Don't give her any more wax worms. They are great when building up weight on healthy geckos, but you do not want a sick one becoming addicted to them. Give her some silk worms if you can, if not then some mealies in a dish. Leave her alone as much as possible for a few days. Check on her only long enough to change her water, and to monitor if she is eating or to give her more mealies. If she poops check to see what it looks like. Make sure it has a solid dark feces and a solid white urate. If both are present with no runny stuff then chances are she doesn't have worms or parasites, but instead was over bred. It would be in her best interests however to take a fecal in to a vet. You simply never know what is going on just by observation. Please keep us updated on her progress, and if you take her to the vet let us know what her results are. Take care and good luck!

Julie

[Bighead]

Thanks for the info so far everybody. I forgot to mention that she is actually acting very normal other than not eating and looking like crap. I have a water dish and a small bowl with a few mealworms in it right now. She's in her hide on the warm end and is probably out for the night- she did have a long day. I really can't afford a visit to the vet right now but I will take a fecal sample in if she craps. If she really starts to fail than I'll get a vet visit in. I still have both kidneys and I know a guy with some connections ;) I would like to get my other new herps checked out as well, although they're doing great. I will also try the baby food and pedialite suggestions tomorrow night if she hasn't eaten on her own yet. I also have some Repta-Aid insectivore formula that I can use. Would this be any better or worse than the meat baby food? Thanks for all your help and I would love to keep hearing suggestions and input. I will keep you updated.

[Tim and Julie B]

I don't want to disregard anyone's advice, but I do not believe in force feeding unless it is a last resort. Since we cannot determine what is going on with her, and there is no complete history, it would be best to give her at least 3 days or so to eat on her own. Many times when an animal is dehydrated and stressed they cannot/will not eat. Make the pedialite a "must have" item for her. You only need a few drops in her water like I said above. You won't have to give her any by syringe or anything like that, which will greatly reduce her stress level. The fecal should cost no more than $20, more likely $10-$15. Again, good luck.

Julie

[drewlowe]

Great advice so far. I would make it a high priority to get into a vet asap. Just incase this girl has some parasites, and i would have her checked out by a vet. If you take her in for a visit the exam should be around 40-50. Blah i'll finish later I'm at work and i have to do a few things. LOL

[bob_thesnowman]

great advise so far everyone,i was just wondering,if force feeding is neccessary i'm just wonder has anyone ever put a couple superworms i a 3 cc syringe so that the worms would get squished and the guts would come out the syringe? has anyone ever fed a sick gecko this way?i'm not sure if this would be a good idea or not as personally i'm unsure of where the superworms nutriets lay(whether or not they're in the guts or in the skin)idea's anyone?

[Bighead]

Not sure, but I had a sick water dragon a long time ago and I just mushed up some earthworms and put it in a syringe. That worked fine too and didn't make to big of a mess.

[Bighead]

The latest update:
I got home after a 2.5 day vacation. None of the mealworms I left in the cage were gone. I threw 6 calcium/mineral dusted crickets in. They were gone in 3 minutes. Definitely a good sign. Since then she has eaten 3 mealworms and 4 more crickets (in another 2.5 days.). So she is definitely doing better than she was. Hopefully she keeps this up. I also dunked my finger in the water a few times and touched my finger to her lips and she laped up the water. I'm going to try this as often as I can too. I don't have a day off for another week and a half or so but when I do I will take a fecal sample in and let you guys know what the results are. The wax worms I gave her the first night seemed to be a little bit underdigested when they came out the other end. This sounds like a possible parasite problem to me - what do you guys think? Several possibilities, right?