My female and male leopard gecko are both SO SKINY!

Question
QUESTION: Hi There,

I'm so worried about my male and female Leopard geckos.
We bought them off a seller with 8 other geckos which are perfectly healthy, We have been told that these 2 are just 'stressed' from over breeding and will granular eat.
They are now both in 2 separate tanks and the female has just apparently laid eggs which is also causing the thinness. None of our other geckos are like this atall they are all fat and chunky which was also making us worry more about our female and male. We feed them both regularly by hand the male just isn't interested he struggles off to the other side of the vivarium, Where as the female will eat them wax worms and crickets but still hasn't put on weight she constantly looks sick 1 of her eyes is always closed which we have bathed her thinking it was dead skin but that didn't seem to change a thing, Please help! Megan

ANSWER: Hi Megan,
It does sound like the person you got them from did not separate them and allowed them to breed too much. She should not be that thin even after laying without some underlying cause such as the over breeding. I am so happy to see that you separated them!! They both need a very long rest from breeding. Waiting til next year, if at all is suggested.
It can also be in part due to the diet the previous owner was feeding them.  They may not have been getting properly fed(gut loaded) insects. Using that gel stuff isn't proper, nutritious gut loading.
It will take some time for them to get back to good weight.  They may even have some internal parasites due to the stress they have been through.
As to her eyes, she may have gotten scratched during breeding or she may have gotten sand or other substrate in her eyes.  I do suggest a vet visit to check them for parasites and also the females eyes.  She may have an infection in her eyes.
Do be careful on over feeding wax worms as they can cause fatty liver disease. You may want to try super worms or some silkworms...
Do be sure not to wait too much longer before getting them both to a vet.
Double check your temperatures..make sure that they have their cool area, a mid range area and their basking area with temperatures in the 88-92 degree range.


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QUESTION: Thats great thanks for all of your help and advise.
Via going to a vets we live in Maidenhead and there is no reptile Vets around here but we wont give up looking.
Where worried more about the Male, The female if we hand feed her she will eat which is a great sign even with her eye in bad condition. But the male even by hand feeding him he is far from interested he will just turn his head and also in his tank he looks like a little skeleton he is far from active just lays there 24/7.
We don't know how else we are going to get him to eat any ideas?

Thanks again,
Megan

ANSWER: Hi Megan,
Its good to hear that at least one is eating somewhat. With your male, a vet can prescribe an appetite booster which may help.  If you are able to get BeneBac at a pet supply store, that may help.  It is an appetite booster. It comes in a paste form.  If your male isn't drinking, chances are he is very dehydrated. This is even more deadly than not eating. It's a good idea to get water into him with a eye dropper or needle-less syringe.  Offer diluted Gatorade or water very carefully..basically one drop at a time. You may have to also grind up his insects to offer them to him via force feeding.  Again, I do recommend a vet check him out because there may be a health issue that is causing him to not eat such as an internal blockage.
Even though the vets near you do not see reptiles, many times they will consult with a reptile vet over the phone to discuss a case they are seeing.


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QUESTION: Hi There Again,
Sorry to be a pain we can not seem to find BeneBac in our area/uk.
Is there any other Appetite boosters that can be found in our area?

Thanks
Megan

Answer
Hi Megan,
The Benebac and other products below are pro-biotics..basically needed bacteria.
Human grade acidophilus can be used also.  Generally it comes in capsule form.  One capsule would give about 4 days worth of "dosing" one time a day.  It can be mixed with the water.
Also, Acidophiliz+ or NutriBac are of the same product nature.(both labeled for pets) Some cold blooded animals don't respond to the pro biotics but others do.
There is also a recipe for a slurry that many swear by for geckos that need to be force fed due to health or other issues. The link below will take you to the slurry recipe.
http://www.goldengategeckos.com/info.html