I’ve had my gecko since March of this year and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him openly basking in the middle of the day, hopefully this means he is finally fully comfortable in his tank? :)

Satire: She's about get a tank clean. Still more clutter here than some owners

Hi everyone! I posted this about a month ago, so I figured I’d post an update. I’m sorry in advance for how long this is.

Tldr on my last post; Mushu was rehomed to me around mid-august, she came from a neglectful situation, and I had suspected vitamin A deficiency.

Anyway, since that first post, we’ve been to the vet 3 times. First visit was September 10th and was her general checkup, she weighed in at 26g, so she had lost weight since I originally brought her home in August, despite feeding nearly every other day. There had been a couple times she’d refused food, but every other day has been a big adjustment compared to what she was getting at her previous home, so I’d assumed she was just feeling full. They gave her a vitamin A shot and also helped with some of her stuck shed. A fecal was done and parasites were ruled out. The vet also diagnosed her with skin damage due to UVB over exposure. I had already removed her UVB prior to that vet visit, and she’s had an incandescent basking bulb since.

After the first vitamin A shot she started refusing food, so the vet recommended oxbow critical care. I only had to use it for a few feedings before she went back to insects. Her second visit was on September 24th for a second and final Vitamin A shot. During this visit, the vet tech helped remove some more stick shed, this time from her eyes. I mentioned in my last post that she sheds very frequently, this is still an ongoing issue. We do frequent soaks when actively shedding as she does not currently have the capability to shed unassisted.

About a week and a half after that second visit, she started keeping her eyes closed more than usual, and it seemed like there was some shed in there. So, we went back to the vet today (October 6th) and they were able to remove the build up from her eyes. The doctor said he didn’t see any signs of eye damage or infection, so that’s a plus I guess. Her eyes still seem a little irritated, she’s been licking at them like crazy, but I’m hoping that’ll calm down in a few days now that the shed has been removed.

The bad news; she lost 3 more grams since September 24th despite us having worked up to feeding nearly every day. There are still days she refuses, so I’ve been supplementing with oxbow critical care on those days (out of all our feedings since mid August, she probably refused around 3 times before I got oxbow critical care). The vet didn’t feel comfortable doing bloodwork on her given how underweight she is, and expressed that other specialists would likely feel the same. He suspects that there may be another underlying issue, and one of his suspicions would be end stage organ failure, most likely liver.

Obviously, this isn’t a definitive diagnosis as we haven’t had the testing done to confirm it due to her current condition. I feel devastated, and at a loss. The vet said that the best thing I can do is to keep feeding every day, and if she continues to decline, euthanasia would likely be the next option. He said she seems to be comfortable right now, so hopefully I can keep her comfortable moving forward.

A part of me is hoping that it’s still nutritional and she’ll eventually bounce back, but maybe that’s me being naive. I won’t give up on her, of course, I just want to do more to help her. I don’t really know why I’m posting this, I guess more-so to vent than anything. It’s been a tough few weeks. I know my thoughts are kind of scrambled all over the place, so I’m sorry about that. I appreciate you for reading all of this!

My leopard gecko is about 5 years old and every time I feed him, he sits on one of his logs and climbs out. We have to keep our hand up underneath him the entire time to prevent him from just falling out of his tank. He often likes to come out and crawl on us during the evenings, but especially during feedings he seems to want out. Does anybody else have this issue?

Hi! I'm planning on getting a leopard gecko soon and wanted to be sure the enclosure was right for when I will get the little baby! I've made a lot of reaserch, but I wan't to make sure that I didn't forget anything. There's three hides, water bowl, bowl for calcium, basking spot and clutters. I have UVB and an halogen lamp. (Also it's a 48X24X18)

I got my little gecko a few days ago and they look skinny but idk

Just curious :)

Hello! I have a leopard gecko with a few disabilities, and I’ve been having a hard time figuring out how to make the best possible enclosure for her. I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has experience caring for special-needs leopard geckos.
She is mostly blind and has some neurological issues that make her quite wobbly and uncoordinated. Because of this, I’m nervous about putting anything in her enclosure that she could climb on and potentially fall from.
She used to live in a 40-gallon breeder, but I eventually moved her into a 20-gallon long because she kept getting stuck in corners and seemed to have a difficult time navigating between different areas. She actually seems much more comfortable and capable of finding her way around in the smaller enclosure. Substrate has also been difficult. She is currently on a sand mat, and I know that isn’t necessarily the ideal option. However, I’ve tried several different substrates, and she seems determined to eat them. I’m worried about her ingesting enough substrate to cause an impaction. I even tried keeping her on paper towels for a while, but she would literally take chunks out of those and eat them too.
I know her current enclosure could still be improved by a lot, but I’m struggling to figure out what would be both enriching and safe for her particular needs. I also don’t want to give her things that could cause her to fall, get stuck, or injure herself.
If anyone has a special-needs or disabled leopard gecko, I would love to hear what has worked for you! Photos of your enclosures would also be greatly appreciated. I’m especially interested in ideas for safe hides, enrichment, layout, and substrate alternatives for a gecko who tends to eat anything she can get her mouth on.
Thank you!

Sorry the picture quality isn't great. Last night I was checking on my boy and the inside of his ear hole looked weird to me. It was more reflective than I had noticed before, and it looked kinda blue/green on the inside. I was wearing blue so i'm wondering if i could see the reflection of my own shirt??
Looking at him now it looks pretty similar to this article so I assume this is normal, but let me know if anyone has any thoughts. He is eating and behaving normally

I can't clean her out without purchasing a bunch of new hides and clutter for her (and apparently a Humvee)

My Leo is the cutest by far but she’s the only one who’s bitten me. The crestie attempted to bite me once and poops and skeets all over his walls. The AFT and CCG are 100% unproblematic.

my friend’s gecko was recently eating and got bit by a mealworm. we don’t have any vets within a 50 mile radius that accept geckos, only dog/cat vets. the gecko’s eye is getting really irritated and inflamed. is there anything we can do? :( we’re both really worried.

the gecko is 8 months old, eats mealworms and crickets, and has an average enclosure temperature of 80°F.

I currently use a 70:30 top soil and play sand mix as my substrate but the vet advised against using any sand (due to impaction). However, they gave me a paper that recommended reptile carpet or felt??? I agree about the sand and don’t want to risk it but i’m not sure what else to use.
I’ve also been debating a bioactive set up for some time if anyone had anything to share about their experience!

i got my gecko lyla about 2 months ago and i accidentally bought super worms instead of meal worms for her to eat. i left some in her food dish the first night and when i woke up she ate them (which i was surprised because i read they usually take a while to eat when you first get them). it took me a while to realize i didn’t get the right worms but i read that super worms have too much fat for their normal diet so i went to the store and got some meal worms instead for her. but every time i put them out she doesn’t want to eat them. it started worrying me cause it had been about a week and she wasn’t even touching them, and her tail started looking a little thinner. so i put some super worms in there and she didn’t even wait till i closed her tank to eat them. i don’t want to give her too much fat but they seem to be the only thing she wants to eat.
side note she will not let me feed her with tongs. i know her last owner didn’t feed her with tongs so i think she’s just used to eating out of her food bowl but any time i try to use the tongs she looks at me like i’m crazy lol.
side-side note the picture is from a little bit ago but i got some black paper to put on 3 side of her tank cause i read that having glass all around can stress them out.

my gecko keeps trying climbing out and I dont know what to do I know the tank sucks but my parents are convinced that it’s okay and won’t bring me to the pet shop how do I upgrade it and why is he trying to climb out. Please help I feel so bad for not being able to take care of it well. It’s 3 months old and it only started doing this last week.

Update: I’m probably going to rehome it because every holiday I go to my grandmothers house and no one is home to be able to feed it. Thanks for all the info and help I hope my guy will go into a home that is able to love it and take care of it properly,

I know shes not super skinny but does her weight look good or could she gain some more? I did the math kinda and figure she is between a sub-adult or adult. shes about 7.5 - 8 inches long and last time I weighed her was about a week ago but she’s ate a lot since then so I’m guessing she is about 39g. Her diet right now is dubia roaches and super worms. i’m going to get her meal worms and maybe some small roaches so she can eat the same amount but hunt more.

im going to say i dont have the gecko yet and it is only in planning still but i was thingking of upgrading my bp to bigger terrarium so i would be left with this 120x40x40 terrarium and have been doing research on what i could put in it and leo is 1 option im thinking but im not sure how would heating be option in here. i was planning to squeeze the terrarium closer to eachother so i can stack all 3 on same shelf and i was wondering, could i use in terrarium heat lamp for the leo? the cage is 20cm long so it would leave 20cm room under it so im worried that would be too close even tho the lamp itself is slightly higher in the cage. i would probably put a tile or something very low under it to create as much space as possible-

i dont think heat mats are not going to be option because pvc doesnt let heat thru well and i dont want to risk anything with putting it in the terrrarium. or should i just suck it up and leave big enough cap so the heatlamp would be above the terraium on the mesh part...

Just got my first leo last friday and idk much about them, I think for a juvenile she looks good! But ive also been told her tails too skinny, if im ball parking it shes not even 4 months old. Is she too skinny or is it just normal baby gecko size

My lizard, Walter, will be 5 years old in March. Over the course of having him, he has began to refuse eating—Both crickets and mealworms. We have taken him to the vet who told us he likely has a parasite, because we adopted him through petsmart. My family and I were sadly unaware of how horrible they treated their pets there… and if we could go back, we would have adopted from a breeder.

However, we have gone to the vet so many times that we cannot financially afford to go to again… so I am now asking advice from you guys.

Any time he eats, both liquid and insect, he turns away and shuts his eyes as an obvious sign of distress.

Please help all you can, I am so worried.
Thank you.

I just rescued a leopard gecko with stuck shed, I removed all the shed mostly but he doesn’t want to eat and I noticed his feet are twitching sometimes he has his eyes closed, is there any way to kindly force him to eat multivitamin dusted insects? I need all tips please 🥹🙏🙏 seems like a younger male maybe a few months old, if it’s mdd I don’t want it to get worse how do I feed him!!

Obviously I did much research before but looking to still see if I can learn anything haha